The Growth, Development and Sustainability Paradox

This series of blogs were originally written in 2010. I have extracted the salient points made then in blue and provided updated commentary, detailing things as I see them today.

“A value system that makes endless growth the primary source of our social stability and spiritual well-being will destroy us."

Thomas Homer-Dixon

Money can attribute value, but it is not a value in and of itself, yet it can and should be used to do valuable things. The problem is not money but the economic system it enables. Beneath the economics lies the radical issue; that of human greed and the desire for power and prestige. Whether this is a natural phenomenon or simply learnt behaviour is becoming irrelevant since our survival instinct trumps status every time.

Money is essential to any transformation process we undertake to move to more egalitarian and sustainable living. Money is a useful tool for ascribing value. Currently money facilitates consumption but there is no reason why it could not be used to reward constructive non-consumptive action. IGAIA intends to both model and facilitate this. Over the coming few years, IGAIA will launch products and services which demonstrate how business can both earn money and contribute to social and environmental improvement. IGAIA has specified a Global Social Change Platform which when realised will release, a minimum of 80% of its profits to support the start-up of environmentally and socially beneficial ‘for 'profit’ businesses, by others, across the globe.

In addition to economic growth, other types of growth are cause for concern. Growth seems to be the watchword of our global community, when we speak of development it is invariably linked with growth, it's about becoming bigger, more influential, having more, all quantitative rather than qualitative terms. We seem to relate our very identities to how much we have compared to others, this leads to a deep splitting between individuals, communities, nations and most importantly from the rest of the ecosystem and biosphere. We seem to see ourselves as set apart, as the consumer of all things, here to have our needs met at the expenses of everything and everyone else.

This still holds true and is no more prevalent than in the clothing industry. In the west, people no longer mend damaged or worn clothing because there are retail outlets which sell such low-priced clothes, made in developing countries, that people now throw huge amounts of hardly or never worn clothes away. In developing countries there has been a huge growth in the manufacture of fake designer goods such that these are now becoming disposable items. The inconvenient truth however is that all these garments cost the earth as much in raw materials and toxic waste, if not more, than the genuine article.

The choice of the word deluded, is this too strong? The majority seem so self-centred and irresponsible since they continue to damage the planet that gives us life, knowingly. It must therefore be either denial or delusion. In the past 10 years there has been an increasing amount of irrefutable evidence to prove than humankind’s activities are contributing to climate change and the reduction of the earth’s productive capacity. Development of a different kind will be crucial to our future, we must use our innate ability as a problem-solving animal to develop solutions to the problems we have created. These problems must include the point issues of dealing with today’s burning platforms such as climate change, environmental degradation and the population explosion but it has to be recognised that, these are symptomatic of a much greater malaise which is rooted in our social and political structures, simply put we care about the wrong things and unless this changes we will continue to self-destruct as any reformed addict will attest to.

The ICare Enough Social Change Platform has been designed to support people to take positive action and to become more closely aligned and contributory towards those things they care about. IGAIA recognises the transformation of people’s attitudes and beliefs required to address the issues ahead will take time and seeks to contribute to this by providing a set of services which will promote positive change and personal reward.

To achieve true sustainability humankind must once again become a complimentary participant in the web of life and value the good of the whole above simply its own. If we were to achieve this, we might begin to develop as a species rather than developing ‘stuff’ at the expenses of all around us. Sustainability is not simply about finding carbon neutral ways of continuing to do what we do, it is about becoming something that is not only sustained by but is sustaining of, the larger field of which we are a part.

This may seem by some as inflammatory and nonconstructive. IGAIA accepts that people are well intentioned and that this was not something we did knowingly. We must concern ourselves with the problematic consequences of our industrial age but strangely, be excited by the possibilities which might arise if we can find a way to work together to address them.