Charles Eisenstein: Why Rio +20 Failed
http://charleseisenstein.net/why-rio-20-failed/
Why Rio +20 Failed
Advocates of “sustainable growth” hope to expand the realm of goods and services — that is, increase consumption — without doing all of these things. In other words, they hope we can consume more and less at the same time. That is impossible, when growth means more purchasing power, more production, more automobiles, bigger houses, more electronics, more roads, more air travel… all of these contribute to economic growth as we define it today.
In aspiring toward sustainable growth, then, the Rio participants carried an irreconcilable contradiction with them into the conference. Its failure was assured — not because of the commonly cited reason that it is impossible to gather 50,000 bureaucrats for a week and get anything done. Well, OK, because of that, yes, but the contradictions run deeper. Given the way that growth is defined in our current system, sustainable growth is impossible.
If so, then it is time for economic growth as we have known it to end. The differences at Rio were irreconcilable, because in the current system, generally speaking, policies that foster economic growth harm the environment, and policies that heal the environment hurt economic growth. There are exceptions to this rule, but the essential contradiction is unavoidable. To address it, change on a very deep level is needed, change to the very nature of the economy, money, and capitalism. It is not to end capitalism, but to change the nature of capital.
Humanity is coming of age, and the old growth paradigm is becoming obsolete. Any attempts to maintain it past its time will fail as dismally as Rio failed. If anything good came out of the summit, it was in the smaller-scale side agreements involving individual nations and corporations that in various ways embody a post-growth sensibility. The time has come to interrogate our basic notions of growth, development, and economy. Like it or not, our relationship to Earth is changing. Indeed, our consciousness has changed already — probably no one at the Summit advocates the continued wanton despoliation of the planet. We all want ecological healing. We all want to enter into a new relationship to Earth. Our consciousness has shifted from the early-20th century ideal of conquering nature. However, our institutions, whether money or politics, are not yet in accordance with our changed consciousness. They trap us into behavior that no one really chooses and render us helpless to avert our collision course with catastrophe. That is why it is so important to question the blind ideological assumptions — particularly that of sustainable growth — that underlie those institutions.
Charles, thank you once again for speaking truth, even if the powerful never hear it.
