This spring the UK government's independent advisory body- the Sustainable Development Commission, published a report entitled "Prosperity without Growth?: the transition to a sustainable economy." The result of two years' of research, the report reviews the relationship between economic growth, the environment and 'social recession.'
Written by Professor Tim Jackson, the economics commissioner of the Sustainable Development Commission, it is well worth a read. It contains some hard-hitting facts and conclusions, yet gives a balanced view, for example, outlining how a crisis such as the recession can provide a opportunity for taking a rethink and be an impetus for change.
Some of the harder-hitting facts within the report include:
- For the last five decades the pursuit of growth has been the single most important policy goal across the world, now the global economy is almost five times the size it was half a century ago.
- If the global economy continues to grow at the same rate the economy will be 80 times that size by the year 2100
- An estimated 60% of the world’s ecosystems has been degraded
- two billion humans live on less than $2 a day
Even as I read those four facts it made me realize how our drive for 'progress' seems to be at any cost. Professor Jackson helps us to think about how we measure prosperity: and really prosperity is about how we live as humans on Earth.
He states:
"At the end of the day, prosperity goes beyond material pleasures. It transcends material concerns.... Prosperity consists in our ability to flourish as human beings – within the ecological limits of a finite planet. The challenge for our society is to create the conditions under which this is possible. It is the most urgent task of our times."
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