The balance of earth’s systems which sustain life – oceans, temperatures, soil, forests, winds and air – is disrupted and we teeter on the brink of irreversible disaster. Malthus and his predictions of catastrophic depopulation through disease, conflict and hunger caused by human overreach were assumed to have been overcome by technology and human ingenuity.
That he lives and thrives has been spelt out by voices difficult to deny that the path we are on is not sustainable. As we head into COP 30 the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grows rather than diminishes, and guarantees temperatures well in excess of the 1.5 degrees deemed safe. Our resource consumption equates to a planet 1.6 times our size.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, says “As to what the future has in store there is little hope. Lying in wait is nothing less than catastrophe for life as we know it”. President Xi of the People’s Republic of China says “It is vital to launch a green revolution and move faster to create a green way of development and life”. 5 times faster is the order of magnitude. Greta Thunberg asks ‘how dare you talk about money and fairy tales of external economic growth when we face mass extinction”.
Sustainability is not just a rich world problem. New Delhi, Tashkent and Lahore experience acrid, life threatening pollution. In fact, the developing countries will bear the initial brunt of the collapse, first physical, then economic, then political and chaos. The reality is there are no hiding places. Mitigation is a delaying tactic at best and a fool’s paradise which dangerously diverts attention from the root causes.
We have an economic system which depends on financial markets to allocate social resources to profit seeking in the short-term. We have a political system which is interest-based in the West and ideology-based in the East. Both pursue material strength from growth of things, and military strength from weapons of destruction. Ostensibly they compete but actually conspire to destroy the environment and the values which sustain community, respect, gratitude and co-operation.
Ashok challenges that world and suggests an alternative where the highest wisdom is kindness and the highest purpose is to plant the seeds of a nobler, sustainable and happier world for those who come after.
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