THE UTOPIAN DREAM
In early part of the 90's a $200 million dollar experiment occurred in the dessert of Arizona. Scientists and architects built a glass and steel structure and proudly named it Bio-sphere Two. Little was said about some obvious and fundamental flaws in the basic design and construction of this not quite whole system. But for all that hard work and good intentions it was unable to maintain life supporting oxygen levels for eight people living inside for even one day. Yet, Bio-Sphere One, a.k.a. Planet Earth, performs this at no charge , for 6 billion people, 360 days a years.
At the beginning of the industrial revolution, roughly 150 years ago, civilized society inherited approximately 3.8 billion years store of natural capital . At present rates of use and degradation, there will be very little left the by the end of the next century. This is not only a matter of aesthetics and morality, it is of the utmost practical concern to society and all people. Despite reams of press about the State of the environment and rafts of laws attempting to prevent further loss, the stock of natural capital is being used up fast. This Capital is what we need and use to live on this miracle we call Earth.
By giving real value to our Natural Capital we begin to recognize the sacred marriage between the production and use of human made capital and maintenance and supply of natural capital. The traditional definition of capital is accumulate wealth in the form of investments, factories, and equipment. Actually, an economy needs four types of capital to function properly. 1) Human capital, in the form of labor and intelligence, culture, an organization. 2) Financial capital, consisting of cash, investments, and monetary instruments. 3) Manufacture capital, including infrastructure, machines, tools, and factories. 4) Natural capital, made up of resources, living systems, and ecosystem services.
A profit driven paradigm, eliminate the Concept of waste.
Now imagine for a moment imagine a world where cities have become peaceful and serene because cars and buses no longer make sound, vehicles exhaust only water vapor using Hydrogen fuel cells, and parks and green ways have replaced once needed urban freeways. OPEC has ceased to function because the price of oil has fallen well below $5, but there are few buyers left because of cheaper ways have been developed to produce the same products we used oil for but, for far less. Living standards for all people have dramatically improved, particularly for the poor and those in developing countries. Involuntary unemployment no longer exists, and income taxes have largely been eliminated. Houses, even low-income housing units, can pay part of their mortgage costs by energy they produced; there are few if any active landfills; World wide forest cover is increasing; dams are being dismantled; atmospheric CO2 levels are decreasing for the first time in 200 years; and effluent water leaving factories is cleaner than the water coming into them. Industrialized countries have reduced the need to use natural resources by 80 percent while improving the quality of life. Among these technological changes, there are important social changes too. The frayed social fabric of western countries have been repaired. With the explosion of family wage jobs, welfare demand has fallen. A progressive and active union movement has taken the lead to work with businesses, environmentalists, and government to create just transitions and for workers as society faces up coal, nuclear energy, and oil. In committees and towns, churches corporations, and labor groups promote a new leeway each social contract as the least expensive way to assure the growth and preservation of a vital social capital. Is this the vision of utopia? In fact, the changes described here could come about in the decades to come as a result of the economic and technological trends already in place.
I hope this leaves you feeling as good as I did when I first read it. I hope that you can all see how this idea could benefit all people and living things.
For more details read "Natural Capitalism" By Paul Hawkin, Amory & Hunter Lovins, (www.natcap.org)
Written by: Lance Charles, Whole Earth Systems