Denial and Delusion
The Legal Case Against Economic Growth
Marc Willers KC is leading an exploration to establish whether a case can be lodged against the United Kingdom government for pursuing an ecocidal model of economics that relies upon growing Gross Domestic Product. Marc was involved in the climate case that was brought against the Swiss government. I am funding the exploration into the viability of this environmental case against the UK government.
The proposed case against the UK government is likely to rest on the insights from I=PAT, the data from the Global Footprint Network about ecological overshoot, and the human rights resolution 48/13 recognizing that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right. I am in the process of downsizing my home to ensure that the case, if it is viable, can be pursued to a conclusion. A crowdfunding exercise will also be launched to raise awareness and possibly spare my personal expense. The case will urge the UK government to change its declared ambition from GDP growth, to an aspiration to strategically shrink GDP for the UK.
Degrowth Delusions
Within environmental organisations, institutions, and movements, there is wide recognition that something needs to change to allow ecosystems to recover. There is a diverse Degrowth movement. Nowhere within this broad spectrum, will you find any consensus on the fact that humanity are exceeding the carrying capacity of Earth, nor is there any suggestion that in order to return within that safe level of operation, the global economy will need to shrink.
The Global Footprint Network are the recognised body who collect and maintain the data on global biocapacity and resource usage. For over fifty years they have warned us that we are exceeding the biocapacity available. This phenomenon is called ecological overshoot. Carrying capacity is exceeded when a species starts to degrade its environment. This limit is passed long before ecological overshoot is reached. We can use the records of insect decline starting from the 1920s as a guide to the degradation that humans have caused. This informs us that the carrying capacity of Earth for humans is about half the total biocapacity available. This estimate was also suggested by the biologist EO Wilson in his book ‘Half Earth’.
In summary, humanity is consuming 1.75 Earths, whereas the carrying capacity is about 0.5 Earths. Therefore to get back within carrying capacity, we need to shrink the global economy by about 70%, thus:
100*(1.75–0.5)/1.75 ~ 70%
Nailing Our Collective Coffin Down Tight
We are witnessing frantic forays globally, as governments try to grow their economy faster than the economic injuries arising from climate breakdown and ecosystems collapse. It is like trying to walk up a downwards escalator, whilst the speed of the escalator is increasing. We are all headed in the wrong direction; until that changes, our collective chances of avoiding catastrophic global civilisation collapse are daily diminished.
My African friends seem to understand this problem so much better than anyone else.
Barbara Williams is the author of the book Saving Us From Ourselves, and the social science paper: A Roadmap to Ecological Justice.
