The Environmentalist’s Paradox

ENN-Environmental News Network,
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Published September 1, 2010 10:06 AM

The Environmentalist’s Paradox--The signs are all around. Many places in the world show degradation of the air, water, and soil. Species becoming extinct as natural habitats are being destroyed. The emissions of greenhouse gases that can alter the planet's climate are unacceptable. All the environmental issues put together amount to a very serious threat to human welfare. Yet at the same time, all accepted measures of well-being show that, on average, quality of life is improving around the globe. How does an environmentalist call society into action under such conditions? <<Click here to find the answer--Ecosystem Brittleness!>>

Although a good answer, and a great study, the work beats around the bush--the source of ecosystem degradation and resulting ecosystem brittleness is the daily machinations of the human economy. Every dollar increase in GDP and associated measure of current human welfare also systematically degrades ecosystem productivity and resilience, increasingly compromises associated ecosystem services, and brings us closer and closer to irreversible degradation and fatal compromises to ecosystem services, which are critical, nonsubstitutable inputs into the human economy, GDP and current measures of human welfare. Thus, declines in both will eventually occur, and sooner than anyone would care to guess.

The answer is not necessarily to reduce consumption, reduce production, and simplify lifestyles, although there are a range of conditions underwhich these are good ideas. Why are these not the answer? Because they do not address the root cause of the systematic destruction of the earth's life support system and critical nonsubstitutable inputs into the human economy that lie at the heart of the human economy--the current methods and materials of economic production and consumption. Thus, the answer is reinventing the human economy so that it is at least ecologically benign, if not ecologically enhancing. Doing so requires reverse engineering nature, the primary economy, to learn the ecological-economic design and investment lessons from 4.5 billion years of the biosphere's evolution required to produce its current, rather exquiste constituion.

How could such an audacious and ambitious undertaking be possible, let alone affordable?  Because doing so would reduce costs and improve ecological integrity, therefore pay for itself and increase profits even under current business context of incomplete financial accounting methods and imperfect prices. Because, doing so would reveal the more accurate accounting methods and real prices upon which the optimum results of capitalism depend, which in turn would amplify profits for adopting firms and point the way to system-level reforms. Because doing so would illuminate, even profitable? Because doing so would unleash a new source of "deep" innovation that would lead to the new business models, production methods and processes, supply chains, products, and services, social contracts, community governance, finance, and services of an economy and society that enhances ecological integrity of the biosphere just social relations. Early adopter firms of sustainability innovation at the heart of their business, community, state, and nation strategies would reap the rewards of being first in the market place to combat the next-period threats from our destabilized biospheric and climate system and seize the benefit opportunities of responding effectively to the sustainability challenge. (see links below, forthcoming).