Saving our Environment from Washington and Wall Street: Switching to a Steady State Economy

Over the past century, total world production has increased an incredible twenty-fold, placing increased pressure on the ecology of our planet. Everywhere we look -- in the atmosphere, oceans, watersheds, forests, and the soil -- it is now clear that rapid ecological decline is setting in and threatens to extinguish all economic activity if something is not done soon.

This fact, however, seems to be completely lost on Wall Street analyses and the federal government who assure us that continual economic growth will lead to prosperity for all and a cleaner environment.

But is this the case? Even if those in power believe our economic system can grow forever without destroying the planet, is there evident that continual growth is increasing prosperity for all?

Or are we simply liquidating the natural resource base for the prosperity of a few?

Several statistics from the World Trade Organizations own web site would suggest it is in fact the few who are reaping the benefits from our continually expanding economy. For example during this era of the great expansion in global foreign trade:

• The numbers of people living on less than $2 per day has risen by almost 50% since 1980, to 2.8 billion-almost half the world’s population.



• The richest fifth of the world's populatin now have 80% of the world's wealth while the poorest fifth have 1%; this gap has doubled between 1960 and 2000.



• World wide, wages of unskilled labor declined by ~25% between 1984 and 1995, while in the US unskilled wages have fallen by 20% since the 1970s.



• The ratio of real incomes per household between the world's richest and poorest countries has risen to 60 to one. At the start of the 19th Century, it was only three to one.



• 51 of the 100 largest economies in the world are corporations. The Top 500 multinational corporations account for nearly 70% of all worldwide trade.

The Treadmill of Production

The central organizing force that makes possible the immense growth in global economic activity is what Ecologist John Bellamy Foster calls the "treadmill of production." The logic of this treadmill is that it must continually expand production forever to keep the economic system from going extinct.

To do so the treadmill manufactures "wants" in a manner that creates an insatiable hunger for more, forces workers away from self-employment and into low wage jobs, makes governments subservient to the production of national economic development over the needs of their citizens, and gives raise to an educational system that serves to reinforce the treadmills priorities and values.

The end result is an ever increasing accumulation of wealth by a relatively small group of elites at the top of the social pyramid, accompanied by an ever increasing rate of depletion of our natural resources.

In essence, the growth guru's in Washington and on Wall Street are pushing us down an economy path that will eventually liquate our planets resources for the benefit of a few, while providing little benefit for the majority of the world's population or future generations.

If we want to save the planet, we can no longer afford to blindly worship at the altar of growth economics.

Environmental Protection Requires a Steady State Economy

The world's economy has grown so large that its demands are overwhelming our planets ability to generate resources and absorb waste. If you consider that our economy grows at about 3% per year then it is predicted to double in size every 23 years, grow 16 times in size in 100 year, 250 times in size in 200 years, and 4000 times in size in 300 years.

It is unlikely therefore that the world can sustain many more doublings of industrial output under the present system without experiencing a complete ecological catastrophe. Indeed, we are already overshooting certain critical ecological thresholds.

For us to persist and preserve our environment, we must realize that economic growth, as gauged by increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is a dangerous and obsolete American goal. The most viable and sustainable alternative is a steady-state economy, in which the path of economic progress must shift away from quantitative expansion (growth) to qualitative improvements (sustainable development).

In a steady state economy, factors other than just production and consumption become important measures of the health of the economy.

For instance, measures of economic health would include the assessed value of non-monetary goods and services, the rate of infant mortality, life expectancy, the quality of public education, the state of the environment, and the level of health care provide to all citizens.

Another important measure economic health is the gap between the most fortunate and the least fortunate in our society, which tells us how well or poorly we are doing in creating an economy that does not benefit some at the expense of others.

For many devolving nations with widespread poverty, increasing economic growth remains an appropriate goal. Ultimately, however, the global ecosystem will not be able to support further economic growth. Therefore, an equitable distribution of wealth among nations is required, if we are to remain in balance with the earth’s ecosystem and maintain a sustainable society.

A global economy with inequitable wealth distribution will be subject to continual international strife and conflict. Such strife and conflict, in turn, ensures greater economic un-sustainability for poorer nations, a greater chance of terrorist attacks aimed at wealthier nations, and increased environmental destruction for all nations.

We must start to act now

Many of the countries in the world have acknowledged that there is a major problem and are moving forward quickly to address it. Countries such as Germany and Japan are moving forward with innovative legislation and comprehensive awareness and education programs to educate their populace to the existence of a global environmental problem and the need to reduce growth.

The U.S. however, does not seem to be aware of the problem or it feels that it does not exist. Perhaps our government officials feel it is not proven "scientifically", that environmental destruction is merely a natural course of events and there is nothing to worry about. We must be careful to understand the difference between what we "know" and what we "think" we know. This is a very dangerous method of analysis and it often leads to failing to see the forest from the trees.

What America needs NOW are fewer Democrats and Republicans who put growth at any cost ahead of societal needs and more Americans who will put corporate politics second and the future of our planet, our children and our grandchildren first.

What America needs NOW is a viable, consistent, "long term" economic plan to ensure the ecological future of America and the entire world! The expanding world treadmill is totally dependent on fossil fuels, water, minerals, forests and a host of other resources which are limited in supply and are rapidly being depleted.

If we don't act soon it may be too late.

We must find a way to implement a steady state economy that puts people first in order to protect the environment. There are many ways of reducing the economic stakes in environmental destruction, but this means taking seriously issues of social and economic inequality as well as environmental destruction.

Given the increase in resource usage and pollution resulting from our ever expanding economy, America needs leadership NOW that is willing to tackle our environmental problems head-on and will work to balance economic concerns with the need for creating sustainable communities.

For more information visit the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy