A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only.
www.brucenixon.com
Steady-State Economics is almost unthinkable. It is by far the most challenging, radical and controversial
proposal in this chapter. That is how conventional thinking makes it appear. It could equally be described as
common sense.
There are two unpalatable truths. One, we have to drastically reduce our consumption of the Earth’s
natural resources. We need to bring down average individual CO2 consumption to 2 tonnes per person per
year and average eco-footprint to 1.7 global hectares, a per capita "fair share" of the planet's resources. In
the UK, where the average person currently has an ecological footprint of around 5.4 global hectares, or
three times the global per capita target, we need to reduce our ecological footprint by two-thirds. The other
unpalatable truth is that human population cannot be allowed to continue growing at the rate of 80mn a
year which it is estimated will lead us to 9bn by 2050. We need to bring it down to a sustainable size.
Space Ship Earth, our beautiful, miraculous home has limits as has been said many times. We are using up
our children’s and their children’s legacy from nature. We ignore this at our peril. It is hitting back hard and
we must take notice. We need to acknowledge that we are animals, not higher than other animals, and we
are part of a self-regulating, inter-connected ecological system.
We need to re-define what a “higher” standard of living means - not more stuff but a higher quality of life
for everyone in the world. It means giving up some things that are not important to our wellbeing. Do we
really need the current rate of technological innovation? Would it be better to have innovation created
greater all round well being? Much innovation is to more money rather than serving us. My new printer
lasted less than 18 months, was obsolete when it broke down and could not be fixed. Since I bought it,
numerous new versions were born. Dealing with the manufacturer cost me days of stress. Luckily, the
retailer replaced it free of charge.
Less is more and more is less
Less can mean less stress.
Politicians and economists are wedded to continuous economic growth as measured by (GDP). Ever “faster
and more” gives us more stress, higher cost and more debt. We see that most clearly in motorway
enlargements and bypasses and the increasingly complex, disruptive and intrusive new applications of
technology, many of which overrun time and cost estimates and keep breaking down or failing to meet the
original need. Governments want to save the economy, save jobs by restoring economic growth and
unfettered free trade. But that is using methods that destroy jobs and got us into the fix in the first place.
G20 leaders repeatedly say there must be “no protectionism”, nothing must stop growth. Growth is the only
solution, never mind the planet’s limited capacity or the possibility that the planet may be unliveable for
human beings later in this century. If all else fails we’ll move to other planets!
Herman Daly, an ecological economist, proposed the idea of Steady-State Economics in 1977 in his book,
Steady-State Economics. It caused a sensation when it put forward his radical, yet commonsense view:
"Enough is best"
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