I think it is important to make a distinction when it comes to economic growth; in this article the author states, “To achieve a more equal world without poverty the world needs very large economic growth.” In the reference material the blog referenced states, “if we want global poverty to decline substantially then the economies that are home to the poorest billions of people need to grow.” The latter statement seems indisputable, whereas the former results in an existential risk.
Continued exponential economic growth from the global north is unsustainable and will not allow us to resolve our current ecological crisis. The math simply does not work when we consider the exponential growth curve against a finite resource base.
This requires redefining what it means to” live well” in the developed world (i.e., moving beyond a pure GDP based evaluation to include more qualitative measures). This is why using Denmark as the global benchmark for the income equity analysis (in the reference article), leads to an exaggerated growth requirement.
And I wonder what the chart for the highlighted European countries which shows the reduction in emissions, and growth in income, would look like if we did not adjust for trade and also included total biodiversity impact?
I fully agree with you Ted! and we definitely need to redefine what growth means, looking at circular economy models (like the doughnut) and also truly start living with a way of managing our global natural resources equally. This, in my mind will be the determining factor of quality of life in the coming decades, as our population will keep on increasing and natural resources are not developing as fast (I include our own resilience in this).
Is there anyone working on global natural resources management?
I think it is important to make a distinction when it comes to economic growth; in this article the author states, “To achieve a more equal world without poverty the world needs very large economic growth.” In the reference material the blog referenced states, “if we want global poverty to decline substantially then the economies that are home to the poorest billions of people need to grow.” The latter statement seems indisputable, whereas the former results in an existential risk.
Continued exponential economic growth from the global north is unsustainable and will not allow us to resolve our current ecological crisis. The math simply does not work when we consider the exponential growth curve against a finite resource base.
This requires redefining what it means to” live well” in the developed world (i.e., moving beyond a pure GDP based evaluation to include more qualitative measures). This is why using Denmark as the global benchmark for the income equity analysis (in the reference article), leads to an exaggerated growth requirement.
And I wonder what the chart for the highlighted European countries which shows the reduction in emissions, and growth in income, would look like if we did not adjust for trade and also included total biodiversity impact?
Could you please share the article link you referenced (about Denmark) in your comment? Thanks :)
I absolutely agree with what you’ve said. I had the same doubts.
I fully agree with you Ted! and we definitely need to redefine what growth means, looking at circular economy models (like the doughnut) and also truly start living with a way of managing our global natural resources equally. This, in my mind will be the determining factor of quality of life in the coming decades, as our population will keep on increasing and natural resources are not developing as fast (I include our own resilience in this).
Is there anyone working on global natural resources management?
Well said. I had precisely the same misgivings.