Humans have been mining resources for thousands of years, but the scale of today’s mining is enormous and often unsustainable.
The Club of Rome’s new report, Earth For All, tackles two of the greatest challenges facing humanity. It is a massive and rapid ecological triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and resource depletion. And a social crisis due to massive inequality.
Importantly, it links the two crises to a common cause: growth-obsessed neoliberal extractionist economies. As a result, much of the report’s focus is on the need for unprecedented economic change “within a generation, actually a decade.”
The term “extractionism” is used more frequently in critically analyzing the failures of our economic system, but it is perhaps not a widely understood concept.
Simply put, we have economic systems that extract both renewable and non-renewable natural resources – often local and even regional or global ecosystems. produce damage to – and process, distribute and use them – again, often producing more ecological harm – and ultimately destroy them, causing more harm.
But extractionism also has social and human costs. Large multinationals operate in low-income countries or disadvantaged communities where worker, community and environmental protections are inadequate, poorly implemented or undermined by corruption. There are too many resources to extract.
As a result, although ostensibly aimed at local development, this process can perpetuate poverty and poor living conditions and harm the local environment.
Humans have been extracting resources for thousands of years, but the scale of extraction today is enormous and often unsustainable. This is best represented by the Ecological Footprint, which measures the use of resources and the production of pollution (specifically carbon dioxide) in terms of the amount of bioproductive land required to support that activity.
This includes not only the amount of land required to absorb carbon dioxide emissions, but also the use of crops and rangelands, forestlands, fisheries and urban areas. It is rather an underestimate as it does not measure other forms of pollution and does not reflect biodiversity loss.
The latest report from the Global Footprint Network and the University of York includes data through 2018.
Globally, we have used at least 1.8 times the amount of available bioproductive land. This is usually expressed as 1.8 Earths. Clearly, it is unsustainable.
However, demand on planets varies, with 1.1 billion people in 48 high-income countries using an average of 3.8 planets, compared to 0.7 in 950 million people in 36 low-income countries. of Earth only.
Canada has the largest footprint of 5.1 Earths. In other words, we are using her 5.1 times more of the Earth’s biocapacity and our fair share of resources.
Meanwhile, nearly one billion people in low-income countries lack the economic and social development necessary to meet basic human needs for all. Clearly, the authors of Earth For All say, “low-income countries need to grow their economies,” adding that this can be done in an ecologically sustainable way.
At the same time, it goes without saying that high-income countries, and for that matter the 47 middle- and high-income countries with an average footprint of 2.2 planets (Algeria, Belize, Fiji, Malaysia, etc.) must: Reduce footprint. 80% for Canada.
This may seem daunting, but it’s worth remembering that 65% of Canada’s footprint comes from carbon emissions. This is another reason why a rapid transition to a low-carbon, net-zero energy system is so important.
Transitioning to a low-meat diet will significantly reduce your footprint while improving your health.
The “five big tipping points” proposed in Earth For All aim to “reduce our unfair and unnecessary material footprint”, but at the same time reduce It aims to protect 3.8 billion people. — Have a fair share of the earth’s resources and be able to meet human and social development needs.
Next week, we’ll discuss three ‘great tipping points’ for poverty, inequality and gender equality.
But our role in rural areas must be to reduce our ecological footprint, especially our carbon and food footprints, while supporting federal policies that support equitable and clean development in low-income countries. must be
thancock@uvic.ca
Dr. Trevor Hancock is a former professor and senior fellow in the Department of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria.
