There is no hiding the fact that the whole world is experiencing the most serious financial meltdown, probably since the depression of the 1930’s. This meltdown is destroying jobs and creating a whole lot of distress.
It’s also destroying savings and wealth. No country will escape the effects of this meltdown.
What is not so obvious is the fact that the Earth’s ecosystems are on the point of a meltdown that might threaten our whole future as a species. It is far more serious than the financial strife that we face.
These are very sobering times and they call for sober responses. However, the economic meltdowns will be seen by later generations as necessary to clear the way for a new era to emerge.
There are three ways we can respond to the challenges we face, join the wave of change, resist the change, or do nothing. The second and third alternatives carry the risk plunging us all into a bleak future. The only viable option we have is to join the wave of change.
Joining the wave of change involves:
- Becoming part of a green revolution;
- Developing the skills and capacities to be able to contribute to the day to day operation of a green revolution;
- Developing the spiritual awareness that will result in redefining our relationship to ourselves, the Earth and all other living forms;
- This will enable us to contribute to an ecological culture that abandons the idea that success depends upon economic growth, and that starts to seriously address the social divisions of our world and heal widespread psychological alienation.
The green revolution scenario emerges out of what Thomas L Friedman argues has happened on the Earth that has become hot, flat and crowded. Friedman shows that the population of the Earth is 6.7 billion, but by mid century on current projections there will be 9 billion of us. Much of the population growth will almost certainly occur in places that are least able to sustain it, leading to the potential for much greater social division than now exists
By flat Friedman refers to the convergence of three forces arising out the micro-electronics revolution and the Internet that has enabled many millions of people to enter the global economy and where many have been lifted out of poverty.
The flattening of the global economy has seen countries like China, India, Russia and Brazil just to mention the most spectacular, grow their economies at a bewildering rate, and if their rate of growth continues at anything like the current rate then the Earth’s ecosystem services will be overwhelmed. Many of the people in these countries are obviously looking to grow in much the same way as people in the developed world have done since the time of the industrial revolution.
The reference to hot is about the warming of the Earth and the threat of climate change. Friedman also includes under this broad heading the degradation of the ecological services upon which human beings and other living forms depend for our and their very existence.
Since the time of the industrial revolution the average temperature of the Earth has warmed by 0.8 degrees Celsius. This has been accompanied by a rise in the level of carbon dioxide from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 380 ppm today. Carbon dioxide plays a critical role in the way in which the Earth’s greenhouse effect operates, although it is not the most common green house gas.
The principle source of the growth in carbon dioxide is the burning of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas associated with our modern industrial civilization as well as the destruction of tropical rain forests.
We simply do not know the extent to which global warming will go but what seems clear is that given the current momentum we can expect the Earth to warm by at least three degrees Celsius by mid century. This would involve a build up of carbon dioxide to around 550 ppm. There are many scientists who believe that this level will set off major changes in the Earth’s climate that will be irreversible. Some argue that we need to reduce the level much below the 550 ppm.
John Holdren President Barach Obama’s chief scientific advisor describes the dilemma we face as like driving in a car with bad brakes in a fog and heading for a cliff. We know for sure that the cliff is out there, we don’t know exactly where it is. Prudence would suggest that we start putting on the brakes. (Hot, Flat and Crowded, page 125-126)
A green revolution is the only viable option that we have, but it will involve major challenges and changes for us all, particularly in terms of how we develop as people. A green revolution also faces a major obstacle in terms of those who will resist the wave of change.
It’s also important to ask what a green revolution involves. Jay Forrester and emeritus professor of the Sloan School at MIT had some interesting things to say about these issues in a recent interview. A green economy is needed because of the damage being done to ecosystem services that we depend upon for our very survival. This includes the problems associated with climate change.
It means balancing our collective life style with the Earth’s capacity to provide the resources we need. The issue of needs means we must question how we live. It also means redefining what business is about. In a truly green economy that respects the limits of the ecosystem services we need to learn how to manage successful no growth businesses. It will be about keeping the business vital and improving products and services and within a fixed demand on the ecosystem services.
It’s doubtful if this requirement can be achieved in terms of how capitalism has been defined and operated for the last 250 years.
A green revolution is unlikely to occur, however, unless there is a major lift and development of our collective spiritual awareness and major changes to our cultural values that equates success with economic growth. Just knowing that we face a threat to our very survival is unlikely to motivate people to change their ways when to change means taking on board a whole new way of defining our needs, how we satisfy those needs, how we define success and our relationships to the Earth, other people and other living forms, not to mention the changes required at the collective cultural level.
The revolution in spiritual awareness and culture that needs to take place is as big a challenge, if not greater than learning how to manage our businesses in a no growth situation.
Joining the wave of change involves developing a spiritual awareness and contributing to a culture where honoring the Earth and all living forms is the central feature. There are a number of movements emerging to address these issues and my own initiative is a small attempt to respond to the opportunities that are opening up. If you would like to learn more then visit my website by clicking here.
About the Author
Dr Bob Calkin has launched a new website dealing with spiritual, social and political issues to assist people live a spiritual life through the engagement with everyday life. If you feel that you would like to experience in a heightened way the wonders of, to feel gratitude and to feel blessed by an energy or power greater than yourself then you might like to join this program.
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