Materialismand

Environment

Arthur Lyon Dahl Ph.D.European Bahá'í Business Forum (EBBF)‏

http://www.ebbf.organd

International Environment Forum (IEF)‏http://iefworld.org

Madrid, 3 December 2011

Present unsustainability

•Population will grow to 9 billion by 2050•20% of population uses 80% of resources•Energy challenge / climate change threats•Growing water shortages•Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services•Food production capacity at risk•Extremes of wealth and poverty widening•Financial system has imploded

The wealthy live unsustainable lifestyles

Ecological footprint• Surface needed to supply the needs and absorb the

wastes of an individual, community, or country• Global average 2.7 ha/person‏• Spain 5.7 ha/person (biocapacity 1.3 ha/person)• Resources available 2.1 ha/person• We overshot the earth's capacity in 1975http://www.globalfootprint.org/http://www.ecologicalfootprint.org/http://www.myfootprint.org

Globalization

is the logical next step in human evolution, but• Economic globalization is driven by powerful

governments and multinational businesses for their own benefit

• Social globalization is being strongly resisted• Globalization of environmental problems

threatens future sustainability• Globalization of information makes us aware

Planetary Boundaries• Climate change• Rate of biodiversity loss• Nitrogen cycle and phosphorus cycle• Stratospheric ozone depletion• Ocean acidification• Global freshwater use• Change in land use• Atmospheric aerosol loading• Chemical pollution

Climate Change

Temperature increase last 50 years

What the models sayIPCC 2007

Arctic Sea Ice September1982 and 2008

BIODIVERSITYLOSS

- Extinction rate (species per million species per year) preindustrial 0.1-1, boundary 10, actual >100

- The annual cost of forest loss is $2-5 trillion- There will soon be no natural ecosystems left,

requiring increasing human intervention to maintain some biological diversity

Nitrogen Cycle(part of a boundary with the phosphorus cycle)

• Amount of N2 removed from atmosphere for human use (mt/yr): preindustrial 0; boundary 35; actual 121

• Burning fossil fuels produces nitrogen oxides

• Nitrogen fertilizers come from petrochemicals

• More than half the fixed nitrogen on the planet now comes from human activities

Global Freshwater Use

By 2025, 1.8b people will live in regions with absolute water scarcity, and 2/3 of the world population could be subject to water stress as climate change reduces rainfall in these areas

Predicted changes in rainfallfrom climate change

Percent change in precipitation 1900-1999 to 2000-2099December-February and June-August

IPCC 2007

Forecasts of Peak Oil(WBCSD, Vision 2050, 2010)

Double economic challenge“On current trends, ...humanity will need twice as

much energy as it uses today within 35 years.... Produce too little energy, say the economists, and there will be price hikes and a financial crash unlike any the world has ever known, with possible resource wars, depression and famine. Produce the wrong sort of energy, say the climate scientists, and we will have more droughts, floods, rising seas and worldwide economic disaster with runaway global warming.

John Vidal in The Guardian Weekly, 9-15 February 2007, Energy supplement, p. 3

We shall probably do both at the same time

Population Growth Scenarios

Soil degradation

The coming soil crisis

• Since 1945, erosion has degraded 1.2 billion hectares, equal to China plus India, 38% of global crop land

• Annual soil loss is 75 billion tonnes, with 12 million ha abandoned, 1% of total

Start of a Global Food Crisis

• Climate change, drought, floods, soil erosion, overfishing are reducing food production

• With grain being diverted for biofuel, 800 m motorists are competing with 2 bn poor

• There are 1 bn hungry people, increasing due to higher food prices

• Food is being priced out of reach for the poor

Resource DepletionMany key materials are being exhausted rapidly

(estimated years left: predicted/today's rate)‏• Phosphorus (fertilizer) 142-345• Copper (wire, coins, pipes) 40-60• Hafnium, Indium (chips, LCDs) 5-15• Platinum (catalysts, fuel cells) 15-360• Silver (jewelry, catalysts) 15-30• Tantalum (cellphones, cameras) 20-115• Uranium (weapons, power stations) 30-60

Where is the Economy going?• Origins in American consumer society living

beyond its means, accumulating debt• Head of European Central Bank (Feb. 2009):

"We live in non-linear times: the classic economic models and theories cannot be applied, and future development cannot be foreseen."

• Derivatives over $500 trillion by 2008 (x4 5y),‏ $700 trillion in 2010; uncontrolled speculation

• European countries on brink of insolvency• Debt can only be repaid if the growth rate is

higher than the interest rate

Accumulating economic, socialand environmental debt

• Financial crisis from excessive debt• Governance failures; increasing poverty;

youth in revolt; insecurity• UK Chief Scientist (19 March 2009): the

world faces a 'perfect storm' of problems in 2030 as food, energy and water shortages interact with climate change to produce public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migrations

This is a crisis of consumption• The economy is driven by consumption. Much recent

consumption reflected increased borrowing and rising debt levels (individual, corporate, government)

• Anything increasing consumption was good for the economy: planned obsolescence, aggressive advertising and marketing, encouraging addiction, carefully orchestrated changes in style

• Information technologies and media have globalized this and created a generation of passive consumers

• Economists and politicians insist on growth (to avoid collapse)• People expect constantly increasing purchasing power• But returning to consumption-driven growth and respecting

planetary environmental limits are incompatible

International Environment Forum

Economic thinking is challengedby the environmental crisis

- It can no longer insist that there is no limit to nature's capacity to fulfil any demand made on it

- Attaching absolute value to growth, to acquisition, and to the satisfaction of people's wants is no longer a realistic guide to policy

- Economic decision-making tools cannot deal with the fact that most of the major challenges are global

(based on The Prosperity of Humankind, Bahá'í International Community)

Scenariosplausible futures

• Business as usual in a materialistic society ignoring the future

• Retreating to a fortress world of old values

• Making a transition to sustainability

Scenarios from World 3(Meadows et al. (1992) Beyond the Limits)‏

Business as usual Transition 1995 Transition 2015

End of the growth paradigm

• Can we expect endless material growth in a finite planetary system?

• Economic growth has depended on population growth, the fossil energy subsidy, resource discoveries and technological innovation

• The first three all end within a few decades

Denial, Depression or Action?Do we have a choice?

Can we go and hide on a remote island?

At the rootof all this

is what could be called an

ethicaldeficit

EnvironmentalSustainability

is fundamentally anEthical Challenge

egotism versus altruismme first versus all together

The human environmentWe cannot segregate the human heart from the

environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.

(Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 17 February 1933, Compilation on Social and Economic Development, p. 4)

A self-centred materialism• The early twentieth century materialistic interpretation of reality has become the dominant world faith in the direction of society• Rational experimentation and discussion are expected to solve all the issues of human governance and development• Dogmatic materialism has captured all significant centres of power and information at the global level, ensuring that no competing voices can challenge projects of world wide economic exploitation

(based on Universal House of Justice, One Common Faith, p. 3-5)‏

The unsustainable consumer culture - Materialism's vision of human progress produced

today's consumer culture with its ephemeral goals

- For the small minority of people who can afford them, the benefits it offers are immediate

- The breakdown of traditional morality has led to the triumph of animal impulses and hedonism

- Selfishness has become a prized commercial resource; falsehood reinvents itself as public information; greed, lust, indolence, pride, violence are broadly accepted and have social and economic value

- Yet it is a culture without meaning (UHJ, One Common Faith, p. 10)‏

Threat from materialism

Pervading all departments of life... is the crass materialism, which lays excessive and ever-increasing emphasis on material well-being, forgetful of those things of the spirit on which alone a sure and stable foundation can be laid for human society. It is this same cancerous materialism, born originally in Europe, carried to excess in the North American continent, contaminating the Asiatic peoples and nations, spreading its ominous tentacles to the borders of Africa, and now invading its very heart, which Baha'u'llah... denounced in His Writings, comparing it to a devouring flame and regarding it as the chief factor in precipitating the dire ordeals and world-shaking crises that must necessarily involve the burning of cities and the spread of terror and consternation in the hearts of men.

Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, p. 124-125

Moderation in Material Civilization

The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men.... The day is approaching when its flame will devour the cities...

Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892)

The search for a cure

That materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to satisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a fresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing problems of the planet.

(Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace, I, p. 8)

Looking for a new purpose

Loss of faith in the certainties of materialism and the progressive globalizing of human experience reinforce one another in the longing they inspire for understanding about the purpose of existence.

(Universal House of Justice, One Common Faith, p. 13)‏

Welcome to the new sustainability paradigm

• balance• optimal size• subsidiarity• efficiency• de-materialization• closed systems

HOW DOES NATURE DO IT?Sustainability in the

coral reef ecosystem:• Efficient solar energy and materials capture by generating large surface area

• Efficient energy transfers within system, symbioses

• Little waste, effective recycling• High complexity and integration• Maximizes total productivity, not just most productive

Cooperation and Reciprocity

Cooperation and reciprocity are essential properties of all natural and human systems, increasing in more highly evolved and complex systems

THE ROLE OF SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE

There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which solutions can be found for every social problem.... Leaders of governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts to solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles involved and then be guided by them.

(Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace) ‏

The environment isa global challenge

Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for the reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind.

(Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace, p. 13-14)

JUSTICE

It is unjust to sacrifice the well-being of most people -- and even of the planet itself -- to the advantages which technological breakthroughs can make available to privileged minorities

(based on Baha'i International Community, Prosperity of Humankind)

Sustainability – an ethical concept

- We are trustees or stewards of the planet's resources and biodiversity. We must:- ensure sustainability and equity of resource use into distant future- consider the environmental consequences of development activities- temper our actions with moderation and humility- value nature in more than economic terms- understand the natural world and its role in humanity's collective development both material and spiritual

(based on Bahá'í International Community, Valuing Spirituality in Development. 1998) ‏

Environmental sustainabilitya fundamental responsibility

• Sustainable environmental management is not a discretionary commitment we can weigh against other competing interests• It is a fundamental responsibility that must be shouldered, a pre-requisite for spiritual development as well as our physical survival.(based on Bahá'í International Community, Valuing Spirituality in Development. A concept paper written for the World Faiths and Development Dialogue, Lambeth Palace, London, 18-19 February 1998)‏

The true purpose of economicsEconomics has ignored humanity's broader

social and spiritual needs, resulting in:- Corrosive materialism among the wealthy- Persistent poverty for masses of the world's

peoples

Economic systems should give the peoples and institutions of the world the means to achieve the real purpose of development: the cultivation of the limitless potentialities in human consciousness.

(adapted from Bahá'í International Community, Valuing Spirituality in Development, 1998)‏

We need new economic models that- further a dynamic, just and thriving social

order- are strongly altruistic and cooperative in

nature- provide meaningful employment- help to eradicate poverty in the world

(Bahá'í International Community, Valuing Spirituality in Development)

They should give the right signals for challenges like climate change, sustainability and the development of human potential (not just GDP)‏

Spiritual traditions have always taughtContentment – moderate lifestyles...be content with little, and be freed from

all inordinate desire.(Bahá'u'lláh)

What does this imply for the consumer society?

Voluntary simplicity

Take from this world only to the measure of your needs, and forego that which exceedeth them.

(Bahá'u'lláh, Súriy-i-Mulúk §19, in The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 193. Haifa, Bahá'í World Centre, 2002) ‏

Ethical Governance• The present systems of governance are

characterized by competitive and conflictual expressions of power, which must be replaced by the unifying and mutualistic exercise of power

• Justice and equity are the only means by which unity can be maintained on an interdependent planet

• A concern for justice and equity is the indispensable compass in collective decision-making, in achieving unity of thought and action, and in engaging lasting commitment and support for implementation

• Effective international governance must support mutual empowerment of all countries, including

Globalization Requires World Order A world federal system, ruling the

whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources,... liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet,... such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving.

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 203-204)‏

Living within environmental limits is possible

To maintain the planet's ecological balance, we must:- base the economy on renewable energy and

resources (agriculture, forests, fisheries, bio-industries), closed materials cycles and integrated product life-cycles

- reduce human impacts to a level appropriate to the vulnerability and resilience of the systems

- restore damaged systems to the level necessary to maintain natural and human ecosystem services

- allow population growth and development only to the extent that system improvements extend the carrying capacity of the planetary system

What can individuals do?

There are many things that individuals can do to live more sustainably within environmental limits. We can:– re-examine our values,– educate ourselves to the issues,– change our way of thinking to be more integrated, systemic and long-term,– look outward with more solidarity, and– live lightly on the earth, being content with little.

What can individuals do?

There are many practical applications of principles of sustainability in daily life.

Water can be economized in washing, bathing, laundry, and gardening, and efforts made to reduce pollution.

Energy can be economized or used more efficiently in heating, cooling, cooking, lighting and appliances.

What can individuals do?

The need for transport can be reduced, and motor vehicles replaced by public transport, bicycles, or walking.

Food offers many choices of lifestyle: fast food or organic, meat or vegetarian, local or fair trade, nutritional balance, risks of contamination with pesticides/hormones/antibiotics, and the possible presence of genetically-modified organisms.

What can individuals do?

Clothing can be made of natural fibres, with possible agricultural impacts, or synthetic fibres that are persistent and non-renewable.

In our role as consumers, we can consider issues of socially-responsible manufacture, changing styles or using things until they wear out, and the desirability of making choices based on brand names and fashions.

What can individuals do?

Housing can be looked at for location, materials, health impacts, energy efficiency, and social effects.

There are sustainable dimensions of recreation, tourism and entertainment, such as their impact on the natural environment, effects of transport, and ecotourism.

The aesthetic aspects of the environment cannot be ignored, such as beauty, natural versus man-made, and respecting cultural diversity.

Environmental sustainability requires fundamental change

We are in the middle of a major transformation in societyThe past is not a good predictor of the futureChange is inevitable, and the rate of change is accelerating,

requiring adaptive managementGlobalization cannot be stopped, but it can be transformedInstitution building for international governance will continueWe can consciously work for change, or wait for catastrophe

to force us to changeThere will be new forms of wealth creation and business Creativity and innovation will be increasingly necessary for

successValues and ethics will be fundamental to social and economic

transformation

The goal:an organicallyunited world

The years ahead will be difficult, but there is reason for hope

The environmental crisis can only be resolved by transforming our

materialistic society

Sources for recent activitieshttp://iefworld.org

CSD-15 side event on The Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change http://bic.org/statements-and-reports/featured/the-ethical-dimensions-

of-climate-change and http://iefworld.org/activities.htmInternational Environment Forum 10th Conference (Oxford University,

Sept. 2006) on Science, Faith and Global Warming (http://iefworld.org/conf10.htm)‏

11th Conference (Ottawa, Oct. 2007) on Framing a Human Response to Climate Change (http://iefworld.org/conf11.htm)‏

12th Conference (Netherlands, Sept. 2008) on Sustainability or Growth? (http://iefworld.org/conf12.htm)‏

13th Conference (Washington, D.C., August 2009) on Environments (http://iefworld.org/conf13.htm)‏

14th Conference (Brighton, U.K., December 2010) on Making the Invisible Visible (http://iefworld.org/conf14.html)

Climate change page: http://iefworld.org/climate.htm International Environment Forum