The Ubuntu PhilosophyThe philosophy of Ubuntu is quite common throughout Africa. An anthropologist learned about this generous cultural theme as the result of an experiment. Having put a bowl of fruit under a distant tree, he then challenged a group of youngsters to compete by running over to the basket. He promised that the first to arrive would win the whole basket of fruit. He then observed the children holding hands as they went over to the basket at a leisurely pace; they then shared the fruit amongst themselves. When he queried this behaviour, they told him that this generous and philosophical attitude in life, is called ‘Ubuntu’.
The GDP Growth PhilosophyUnlike the Ubuntu philosophy, the competitive aspect of our modern culture is very injurious to all those who are caught up in the race to exploit natural resources. Even those who have become exceedingly wealthy are threatened from escalating climate and ecological collapse which now threatens us all; especially as this is now causing instability in the global financial markets. The two images that follow demonstrate the extreme ecological injustice which our culture of GDP growth economics has caused.
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UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2020. Click the image to enlarge.
Fiduciary ResponsibilitiesThe consequence of decades of our vastly unequal demands upon our shared natural resources, is that the Bank of Nature is now going bankrupt. Our Pension funds amount to some 60+ trillion international dollars. Pension fund managers are obliged by law, to invest in a manner that is sufficiently prudent to ensure that pensioners can subsist with dignity. The legal term for this obligation is ‘fiduciary duty’. There is increasing awareness that dignity in old age cannot be achieved with any amount of money as climate and ecological collapse play out.
Consequently, awareness is growing in the financial world that investing these pension funds on a stock market driven by the pursuit of eco-costly GDP growth contravenes their fiduciary obligations. Once we shift the global economy out of this reckless pursuit of eco-costly growth, into something genuinely fiduciary, we can subsequently explore the possibility of expanding the pension promise to include some kind of universal basic provision.
There is even a legal case stated against the economic model of GDP growth, because it contravenes our Human Right to a healthy environment. The I=PAT equation tells us that investing on a stock market driven by GDP growth objectives is sure to end in tears. Ignoring I=PAT, is like ignoring the law of gravity as you jump off a cliff, it will not make your landing any softer, as we are rapidly finding out.
We could use this pension money to finance basic provisions to anyone who cannot currently afford to subsist. This strategy could alleviate global human suffering, and also buy some time whilst we consider how to restructure our society to repay the huge ecological debts that we have now incurred. BUT, unless we simultaneously jettison the GDP growth mindset, we shall only succeed in exacerbating the same negative feedback loop which started decades ago when we first introduced industrial agriculture.
GDP Growth Mindset - Negative Feedback loopThe negative feedback loop is shown below. The messages supporting coercive consumerism and pronatalism are constantly amplified by our education system and our media, despite the ever-increasing evidence of ecological collapse.
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This negative feedback loop means that it will be self-defeating if we try to implement Universal Basic Provision without addressing the coercive consumerism and pronatalism which underpin the current GDP growth economic model. The result of ensuring subsistence rations for all, without calling for a global aspiration to minimise our use of natural resources, will simply increase the pressure on our collapsing ecosystems and accelerate ecological collapse. We exceeded the carrying-capacity of Earth well over fifty years ago, in that time our population has more than doubled, and climate and ecological tipping points are now past. Our future now lies in the very high-risk category.
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The philosophy behind every modern enterprise currently remains rooted in the GDP growth mindset, even the Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations. The urgent need to realign the SDGs to focus on eliminating global ecological overshoot, is explored in the Unity in Diversity paper which was published in June 2022 by the UN Commons Cluster. Within this same paper there are sections that elaborate on the reforms needed within education and gender equality.
The Benefits from Universal Basic ProvisionBy funding a Universal Basic Provision, we can allow people to leave eco-damaging jobs. We can free everyone from food, water and fuel poverty. We can alleviate economic and climate migration. We can buy ourselves time to rethink, to build emotional resilience and to face up to reality. We can consider replacing eco-costly medical and social care for the elderly and the sick with care in the community. We can free up manpower to develop cultural pastimes at minimal ecological cost, which will build community spirit and resilience in the face of escalating adversity. We can release manpower to replace industrial agriculture with regenerative farming, and permaculture. For elaborations on how we might rethink all aspects of modern society, the reader may find the book ‘Saving Us From Ourselves’ thought-provoking, it is free to download.
Universal Basic EducationIn order to extricate ourselves from the negative feedback loop of a society dedicated to the pursuit of GDP growth, we need to introduce some key elements into the insights that we teach both our children and our adults. Namely:
- We have exceeded the carrying-capacity of Earth for over fifty years. We urgently need to operate within the biocapacity of our planet, but at the moment our behaviour is working to further reduce the biocapacity available. This is the result of the negative feedback loop created by the GDP growth mindset, described earlier.
- The I=PAT equation warns us that the three key drivers in ecological collapse are: population size, affluence and extensive use of technology. Therefore, to reverse the ecological damage peacefully, we need to aspire to reduce all these drivers voluntarily and equitably. If the United Nations were to ratify the Charter for Ecological Justice, this will provide the appropriate aspiration, together with quantifiable objectives. We can summarise this aspiration with the phrase ‘voluntary, equitable IPAT Degrowth’. To ignore the scientific insights from the IPAT equation, is like choosing to ignore the law of gravity, when you jump off the cliff, your landing will still be tragic. We jumped off the IPAT cliff when we introduced industrial agriculture in the context of a pronatalist culture which promotes overconsumption. It takes quite a while to kill off a thriving habitable planet, even for an extremely clever and determined species. We are now into the final stages of chaotic collapse; we have the Club of Rome officially recognising that we need profound paradigm shift in their recent Earth4All publication. Despite this, most of us are still trapped in the negative feedback loop of GDP growth.
- The Jevons paradox warns us that improving energy efficiency simply drives up demand. We shall need powerful resolve to curb the impulses that drive this behaviour. We shall need to accept that technology should be exploited very cautiously indeed, if we are to successfully soften our collapse. Essentially the Jevons paradox warns us that technology will not help us, unless it is exploited solely with a mindset focussed upon voluntary, equitable IPAT Degrowth.
- Insights 1–3 explain why our pursuit of GDP growth has now resulted in free-fall exponential climate and ecological collapse, with no genuine mitigation in sight.
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Many adults are currently unaware of the four insights explained above. Those who are aware, are currently constrained from discussing them openly, by the Overton Window. Important matters that currently go unsaid in most common discourse are as follows:
- Climate breakdown tipping points are already past
- Ecological collapse is escalating, the Sixth Mass Extinction is well underway, and humanity will soon be engulfed.
- For maximum mitigation we need to define surplus affluence as that which remains after our essential needs are met. Namely: food, water, fuel and the least eco-costly methods that are needed to maintain our emotional resilience. Our artistic skills and imagination will play a key role in with regards to building emotional resilience. Having identified our surplus affluence in this manner, we need to voluntarily deploy that surplus on goods and services which will globally deliver the full reproductive health services, eco-restoration and reparations.
- For maximum mitigation we shall need to choose to minimise our reliance on technology.
- Our pronatalist culture is very unwise in the current context of exponential ecological collapse. Choosing to go childless, and encouraging others to do the same, constitutes a very wise survival strategy, for as long as the global ecological collapse plays out.
- Recognising that Earth’s biocapacity is diminishing daily, because of the negative feedback loop created by our reverence for GDP growth economics.
Until we can break through all these barriers of discourse, we shall remain unable to achieve maximum mitigation, and trapped in the negative feedback loop created by our unwise reliance with GDP growth. The quote ‘Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever on a finite planet, is either a madman or an economist’ originated with Kenneth Boulding’s famous remark to the United States Congress in 1973 (ref link). This informs us how long our prevailing culture of coercive consumerism coupled with pronatalism has prevented us from achieving any genuine mitigation. An earlier article The Cultural Causes of Climate Injustice goes into greater detail.
Paradigm shift away from GDP GrowthThe author of this article has been working for nearly four years to inspire the global awareness needed to break through the
Overton window
in order to achieve maximum mitigation from the escalating climate and ecological collapse. There are many signs that this shift in mindset is now well underway. For peaceful maximum mitigation we all need to develop a mindset that will embrace rapid voluntary and equitable IPAT Degrowth.
The mindset shift needs to happen very rapidly if we are to salvage much from our failing ecosystems. These related documents may help the reader to see a way forward in their own sphere of work: A Framework for Maximum Mitigation, The Ego to Eco Journey in Leadership and Governance and Saving Us From Ourselves.
There are relevant projects already underway that dovetail with the idea of delivering Universal Basic Provision. BUT, unless they are delivered within an IPAT Degrowth mindset, these ideas will all fall into the same negative feedback loop that was explained earlier, because of our reliance on the GDP growth mindset. The UN Commons Cluster are promoting the SIFA plan (Supplementary Income for All), this proposes to deliver some extra income to everyone within a separate system of global finance in which only good and services which are deemed to be ‘sustainable’ can be traded. The International Movement for Monetary Reform are looking to introduce new constraints on the issuing of money by private organisations. They recommend this series of videos, especially #2 about the seven debt imperatives.
It may be preferable to deliver the Universal Basic Provisions with a rationing arrangement rather than with money, possibly with the SIFA allowance on top. This is because of the risk of the collapse in the global financial market. This is increasingly likely in the context of escalating climate and ecological disasters, coupled with growing awareness of the negative feedback loop in which we are enmeshed. It will require extremely bold leadership in the direction of voluntary, equitable IPAT Degrowth in order to avert the collapse of our existing social structures, as well as our existential support systems.
What needs to GrowThere are many things that we can grow safely in the midst of chaotic collapse:
- Imagination, both how awful it will get, and how much we could do
- Realisation, recognising we are travelling in the wrong direction
- Remorse and growing willingness to make reparations
- Reparations to both humans and the wildlife suffering at our hands
- Humility, letting go of the drive to dominate other people and Nature
- Emotional maturity and resilience, learn to laugh at our former folly
- Selflessness, integrating personal aspirations within the common good
This article was written on behalf of the Anti-Growth Alliance, check out our vision.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barbara Williams is the author of the booklet ‘Poems For Parliament’, and the book ‘Saving Us From Ourselves – Can we repair 50 years of ecological overshoot?’. The book was written to help people in affluent countries understand the extent to which we can change our behaviour to salvage our eco-system. It is free to download here. After writing the book she came to realise that we need a UN ‘Universal Aspiration for an Altruistic Anthropocene’ to inspire the necessary behavioural changes, read the petition to the UN here. She has been a climate and environmental activist since April 2019, and maintains this website. The mission statement for the Anti-growth alliance is available here. Barbara can be contacted on bw@poemsforparliament.uk.
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