YOU can help save the world by not buying unnecessary stuff and it would even help curb global warming and make our economy more sustainable.
T RADITIONALLY I’d be reminding you to shop locally this issue. But, I’m sure you’re ethically supporting your sustainable local independent community. I hope so, so in addition, I’d like to promote a future of frugality. As I write this the festive season is still some way away. Yet by the time you read this we’ll all be only weeks away from noticeably longer days and feeling the optimism of a new year. It’s likely that we’ll have another snow free Christmas. No doubt, to prove me wrong you’ve had to wade through waist deep drifts to pick up this copy now in your hands. But, if previous years are anything to go by you are more likely to still be in shirt sleeves. We’re all quite aware now that there’s the potential for a climate catastrophe in our future. That Christmas card image of snow is getting further way from us as global temperatures rise. I’m starting to wonder if that’s part of a lost message as we exchange gifts and are constantly reminded of the corporate behemoth that is Christmas capitalist consumerism. The good news is there is something we can do about it. As we head into the new year it’s worth considering that if we all consume just five per cent less, we could help curb global warming by ‘de-growing’ our economy. Climate change theory warns us that it’s only going to get worse, all despite our individual efforts to go green by upcycling, recycling, and investing in clean energy and efficient technology. Yet the green commitments we’re making to greenhouse gas emissions are being more than cancelled out by our economic growth. This summer saw the biggest, most destructive storms and monsoon flooding in recorded history, resulting in millions homeless. The global economy keeps growing by more than we’re able to reduce our carbon intensity (CO2 per unit of GDP). New models published last year, show that with a background rate of 3 per cent GDP growth it’s not possible to achieve any level of emissions reductions at all, even under best-case-scenario conditions. Study after study shows the same thing: keeping global warming below 2 degrees is simply not compatible with continued economic growth. Yet nearly every government in the world makes GDP growth their primary policy objective. We in the west are not going to be able to decarbonise our economies unless we stop the pursuit of economic growth and start to scale down our annual production and consumption. This ‘planned de-growth’ sounds like voluntary poverty and austerity, if we think GDP growth is the only way to improve the incomes and lives of ordinary people. But, redistribution is the real solution. We will have to share what we already have more equally, making equality a substitute for growth. It’s the only solution to bringing global warming under control, sharing what we already have more fairly, we can render additional economic growth unnecessary. De-growth is actually the opposite of austerity. Austerity means cutting social spending and slashing taxes on the rich in order to – supposedly – keep the economy growing. De-growth, by contrast, calls for cutting the excesses of the richest while redistributing existing resources and investing in social goods – universal healthcare, education, affordable housing etc. We can sustain and even improve human wellbeing without the need for economic expansion. Our economy is already more than abundant enough for all of us – we must learn how to share it. In 2018 we must find ways to share our abundance, stop producing or buying unnecessary stuff, and release some of the pressure on our planet. We don’t have to get rid of the stock of stuff that we already have, or completely stop producing and consuming new stuff. We can degrow by 5 per cent per year (which is what scientists say is necessary), by cutting our consumption of new stuff, and completely stopping buying the unnecessary stuff. We need to start repairing, sharing and reusing the stuff we all already have. A de-growth economy may not be compatible with capitalism, but neither is catastrophic climate change. The choice is clear: we need to continue to evolve a future beyond capitalism, or we won’t have a future at all. If you’re reading this before the festive celebrations consider that in your purchasing of gifts this year. Instead of buying more stuff consider gifting the opportunity to develop insights and techniques to improve the rest of their lives, it’s what Reconnect is all about. southwesterlies… Scott