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m_d_hA few weeks ago I was trying to do the math -- what if we (somehow, agreeably) downsized global GDP to fit within an ecologically sustainable footprint, and then divided that sustainable GDP equally among all the humans on the planet. How much stuff would we each be allowed to have?
About $6,600 per year, per person. Before taxes! -- to have any public goods whatsoever, such as schools, roads, transit, fire fighters, police, health insurance, you'd still have to pay taxes out of your $6,600 per year, per person.
For comparison, in the US our GDP is about $65,000 per year, per person. In the US, our average ecological footprint is 10x the ecologically sustainable "shrink & share" amount.
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Yeah, I wrote this stuff before, back in the ol' LJ.
But I'm trying to confirm the way they calculate this ecologically sustainable footprint. For 2019, they calculated that the entire human race consumed 1.7x the sustainable global booty. If I'd had to guess, I would've guessed we're overshooting by way more than that. For example, according to BP's annual report, 84% of our global energy production comes from fossil fuels, only 16% comes from nuclear and renewables. And some would argue that even nuclear isn't sustainable, either because of the long-lasting radioactive wastes it produces, or because we only have about 100 years of proven reserves for nuclear fission power -- nuclear is not "renewable" per se. If you take nuclear off the table, only 12% of our global energy production came from renewables in 2019. That sounds like we're using about 8x the sustainable global booty right now, not 1.7x.
Run that number through the equation ... your personal ecologically sustainable share divides down to $1,400 per year. Before taxes. This would take us down to the living standard of Benin.
That's less than one of my biweekly paychecks. No, that's less than 1% of my annual pay. I'm tearing up 100x my sustainable share.
So ...
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Whether my share is $1,400/year, or $6,600/year, I'm definitely living way way way beyond it. And so are most people in the US, and most people in the EU, and most people in Japan, Australia, etc.
I'm willing to forgive most of you and them, because ... you probably haven't thought through this problem, probably haven't seen the math.
But now I've seen the math. So what am I supposed to do?
I cannot make up for the nearly 53 years during which I've lived beyond our global footprint. But what do I do with the time I have left? I'm not sure yet.
And this is not really a problem of individual consumption. Sure, I could reduce my living standard by 99%, somehow. But that won't stop the rest of you from overshooting our planet's ecological capacity. I would smugly watch the rest of you burn us all.
Yeah, I can stop lighting 100 matches per year on top of this pile of dynamite. But don't I have to figure out how to stop the rest of you from doing the same?
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There's individual responsibility, a rare enough commodity in the US, taking responsibility for how your actions affect yourself. Then there's social responsibility, taking responsibility for how your actions affect others. But keep on climbing the ethical responsibility tree and you eventually reach universal responsibility, taking responsibility for how your actions affect everything else. Taking responsibility for every living thing on the planet.
Right now we're in the midst of accelerating global warming that will continue for 1,000 years. And, humans are now causing the sixth mass extinction. What's my responsibility in the midst of these ecological catastrophes?
As of right now, I'm not even taking individual responsibility. I'm at the bottom of the ethical responsibility tree. I'm not even policing my own behavior sufficiently to stay within my own share of the footprint.
This is weighing on me.
About $6,600 per year, per person. Before taxes! -- to have any public goods whatsoever, such as schools, roads, transit, fire fighters, police, health insurance, you'd still have to pay taxes out of your $6,600 per year, per person.
For comparison, in the US our GDP is about $65,000 per year, per person. In the US, our average ecological footprint is 10x the ecologically sustainable "shrink & share" amount.
-----
Yeah, I wrote this stuff before, back in the ol' LJ.
But I'm trying to confirm the way they calculate this ecologically sustainable footprint. For 2019, they calculated that the entire human race consumed 1.7x the sustainable global booty. If I'd had to guess, I would've guessed we're overshooting by way more than that. For example, according to BP's annual report, 84% of our global energy production comes from fossil fuels, only 16% comes from nuclear and renewables. And some would argue that even nuclear isn't sustainable, either because of the long-lasting radioactive wastes it produces, or because we only have about 100 years of proven reserves for nuclear fission power -- nuclear is not "renewable" per se. If you take nuclear off the table, only 12% of our global energy production came from renewables in 2019. That sounds like we're using about 8x the sustainable global booty right now, not 1.7x.
Run that number through the equation ... your personal ecologically sustainable share divides down to $1,400 per year. Before taxes. This would take us down to the living standard of Benin.
That's less than one of my biweekly paychecks. No, that's less than 1% of my annual pay. I'm tearing up 100x my sustainable share.
So ...
-----
Whether my share is $1,400/year, or $6,600/year, I'm definitely living way way way beyond it. And so are most people in the US, and most people in the EU, and most people in Japan, Australia, etc.
I'm willing to forgive most of you and them, because ... you probably haven't thought through this problem, probably haven't seen the math.
But now I've seen the math. So what am I supposed to do?
I cannot make up for the nearly 53 years during which I've lived beyond our global footprint. But what do I do with the time I have left? I'm not sure yet.
And this is not really a problem of individual consumption. Sure, I could reduce my living standard by 99%, somehow. But that won't stop the rest of you from overshooting our planet's ecological capacity. I would smugly watch the rest of you burn us all.
Yeah, I can stop lighting 100 matches per year on top of this pile of dynamite. But don't I have to figure out how to stop the rest of you from doing the same?
-----
There's individual responsibility, a rare enough commodity in the US, taking responsibility for how your actions affect yourself. Then there's social responsibility, taking responsibility for how your actions affect others. But keep on climbing the ethical responsibility tree and you eventually reach universal responsibility, taking responsibility for how your actions affect everything else. Taking responsibility for every living thing on the planet.
Right now we're in the midst of accelerating global warming that will continue for 1,000 years. And, humans are now causing the sixth mass extinction. What's my responsibility in the midst of these ecological catastrophes?
As of right now, I'm not even taking individual responsibility. I'm at the bottom of the ethical responsibility tree. I'm not even policing my own behavior sufficiently to stay within my own share of the footprint.
This is weighing on me.
