I usually set up a quiver of Google Alerts for projects I am working on, to arm myself with information about where similar conversations are taking place, and what people are saying.
I have been getting alerts for a few months now on the keywords ‘prosperity without growth’, to prepare for a new Earthscan book: Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet by Tim Jackson. (It’s not yet published, but you can place a pre-publication order here to get it hot off the presses at the end of October.)
The debate in Google Land is already raging. ‘Prosperity’ is a highly contested concept, but everyone agrees it is a good thing – by their own definitions of the word. What is debated is how to define it and how to achieve it: if the economic system that makes me ‘prosperous’ relies on degrading the natural resource base and causes unequal development – can that be called ‘prosperity’? Most of the world’s leaders seem to think that the only mechanism we have for achieving prosperity for all is economic growth. This belief in rising incomes – and the ever-increasing consumption it relies on – has achieved the status of common- sense; it is rarely questioned in mainstream economics and politics (with some exceptions, e.g. David Cameron. See the Open Letter to the Queen, below). Despite the mounting evidence that economic growth is causing more problems than it is solving, it is too politically risky to question the shibboleth of growth. Who wants to be the first to point out the elephant in the room?
In this Washington Times article US President Obama is accused of wanting to reduce ‘our’ prosperity, because of this statement he made:
‘We can't drive our SUVs, and eat whatever we want, and keep our homes at 72 degrees all the time, whether we live in the desert or the tundra, and keep consuming 25 percent of the world's resources with just 4 percent of the world's population, and expect the rest of the world to say 'You just go ahead. We'll be fine.' That's not leadership. That's not going to happen.’
It’s 17 years since he said it, but George Bush Snr’s statement at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio that “the American life-style is not up for debate” still shocks me. He may as well have said – whatever the costs might be.
With COP 15 – (United Nations Climate Change Conference Dec 7 – Dec 18th 2009) drawing near, it looks like the lifestyles of the developed world are finally up for debate – not only is Obama making space for this debate, but in the UK, this utterly amazing Open Letter to the Queen popped up in last Friday’s ‘prosperity without growth’ Google Alert. Its aim is to start a debate about economic growth at the highest levels. Just look at the signatories (below)!
With so much hanging on COP2009, we need to be sure we will be asking the right questions there. If our macro- economic system is a root cause of our environmental and economic crises (as our author Tim Jackson, argues) then it has to feature on the COP 2009 agenda.
Stay tuned to the Earthscan blog for some preview extracts from Tim Jackson’s Prosperity Without Growth, and updates on media coverage and events around the book and the economic growth debate.
List of people who signed the Open Letter to the Queen:
Phillip Blond, CEO, ResPublica
Alain de Botton, Philosopher
Tom Burke CBE, co-founder E3G
Professor Herman Daly, Maryland University
Geraint Talfan Davies, Chairman, Institute of Welsh Affairs
Professor Lord Anthony Giddens
Stephen Hale, CEO Green Alliance
Andy Hobsbawm, Chair Agency.com, Founder dothegreenthing.com
Rob Hopkins, Founder of Transition Towns
Prof Tim Jackson, Economics Commissioner, Sustainable Development Commission (SDC)
Tony Juniper, Author and ex Executive Director, Friends of the Earth
Professor Melissa Lane, Princeton University
Neal Lawson, Chair, Compass
Jeremy Leggett, Chair, Solar Century
Peter Lipman, Chair, Transition Network
Jules Peck, Partner, Abundancy Partners
Robert Phillips, Co-author, Citizen Renaissance
Sir Jonathon Porritt OBE, ex Chair, SDC
Mike Robinson, CEO, Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Chair, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
John Sauven, Executive Director, Greenpeace
Anthony Seldon, Master, Wellington College
Matthew Taylor, CEO, the RSA
Professor Peter Victor; York University, Canada
