Transcript Slide 1

GETTING MORE OF WHAT
MATTERS, AND NOT
MERELY MORE
Or…
What’s the Economy for, Anyway?
John de Graaf, EPA presentation,
August 2, 2011
Historical precedents
Lyndon Johnson warned of a future where “old values
and new visions are buried under unbridled growth.
--Great Society speech, May, 1964
Richard Nixon questioned whether increases in
consumption would really make us better off.
--State of the Union Address, 1970
Full-Cost Pricing
Richard Nixon advocated that “the price
of goods should be made to include the
costs of producing and disposing them
without damage to the environment.”
--State of the Union Address, 1970
Our consumption growth is simply
unsustainable
If everyone on Earth
were to consume at the level of Americans,
we would need FIVE planets.
We can’t grow on like this.
Is technology the savior?
Technological developments and “green”
alternatives are necessary but not
sufficient to deal with the impacts of
over-consumption.
We must find a way to live better
with less impact on the earth.
Yet, calls for sacrifice don’t work
Jimmy Carter argued that, ‘There is simply
no way to avoid sacrifice.
--Carter speech, July 15, 1979
Carter was badly defeated in his re-election
campaign.
30 years later, calls for “economic
growth” are triumphant
“In the near term, every policy must be
viewed through a single prism: Does it
help the economy grow?”
--Indiana Senator Evan Bayh,
2010 election post-mortem in
The New York Times
The problem with GDP growth
Gross Domestic Product is a
poor guide to well-being
It counts (as positive): Oil spills, cancer, divorce…etc.
It does not count: volunteering, taking care of friends and
family, unpaid work, exercise…etc.
We need new indicators of progress
to supplement the
GDP
Sustainable consumption
is not a sacrifice
The sacrifice is now.
According to the Gallup-Healthways
World Poll, the United States Ranks:
(1 is best; 150 is worst)
69th in SADNESS
75th in ANGER
89th in ANXIETY
145th in STRESS
We are sacrificing our health
The United States spends nearly twice
as much as other rich countries for
health care, yet we rank:
–50th in the world in life expectancy
–45th in the world in infant mortality
–2nd in the world in obesity
Source—CIA World Factbook
Lonely
According to a 2010 TIME/AARP study, the
percentage of Americans over 45 who
are chronically lonely rose from 20% to
35% during the past ten years.
But what has this got to do
with the environment?
Lonely people consume more
Advertisers sell products on appeals to
non-material needs, particularly for
social connection.
“This product will make you popular and
loved…” etc.
The view from Europe
Italian economist Stefano Bartolini argues that
rapid American economic growth is a symptom of
decay, not dynamism.
• It is caused by weakening social connection
and environmental deterioration.
• Americans are asked to substitute products for
the loss of connection and the environmental commons.
• Spending increases but quality of life decreases
• The cycle continues and worsens
Asking the right question
What’s the Economy for, Anyway?
More stuff ?
Or…
A healthy,
happy, fair and
sustainable society?
We have an unemployment crisis
How should we solve it?
Can we create more jobs without creating more
health problems and time poverty?
Can we create more jobs without increasing
unsustainable consumption?
Can we create more jobs while improving social
connection?
Learning from other countries
Germany—the Kurzarbeit solution—
creating jobs by sharing work
The Netherlands—The Hours Adjustment
Act—creating jobs by allowing for
voluntary reductions in hours
U.S. Ambassador to Germany
a big fan of Kurzarbeit
Ambassador Philip Murphy says shorter working
hours help reduce unemployment:
“I am a big fan of “Kurzarbeit” [a scheme
where a worker’s total number of hours each
week are reduced to avoid layoffs, with the
government covering part of salaries]. I think
it's a great model.”
Dutch policy focused on sustainable
consumption
• People can choose to work and consume less.
• “Consumendrin”—consuming less—is a
Dutch goal
• Creates an enormous advance in practical
freedom for most people.
• Germany and Belgium have now adopted
same law.
How are working hours connected
to the environment?
According to the Center for Economic and Policy
Research, reducing American work hours to
European levels would reduce our energy use
and carbon footprint by 20-30 percent.
Swedish scientist Jorgen Larsson found that a 1
percent decrease in working hours means a
.89 percent drop in energy use and carbon
outputs.
Longer working hours and
more time stress mean…
• More need for convenience and throw-away
products
• More reliance on fast food
• Less time to re-use and recycle
• Less time for slower, less energy-intensive
transportation such as cycling or walking.
Where is well-being the highest?
According to Gallup-Healthways poll, 2010:
1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. The Netherlands
…
11. United States
How do we get there?
We need opportunities to trade productivity increases
for time instead of stuff—choice of shorter work
hours, longer vacations, etc.
We need new measurements of economic success.
We need to comprehensively measure well-being.
Many countries are now looking at this.
Bhutan’s domains of well-being
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Material well-being (consumption)
Physical health
Mental health
Social connection/community vitality
Arts, culture and recreation
Access to Education
Democratic governance
Time Balance
The Environment
UN calls for new
measures of progress
On July 19th, the UN General Assembly
called on member nations to focus on
measuring well-being or happiness
instead of GDP. The search for
alternatives to GDP is now part of
mainstream thinking worldwide.
Bhutan makes decisions based on
their impacts on all well-being
domains
Environmental domain:
• 60 percent of lands must remain forested
• Goal is no net CO2 increases
• Economic development must not damage the
environment
Our campaign to increase well-being
Sustainable Seattle has established The
Happiness Initiative to more adequately
measure well-being and engage citizens in
actions to improve well-being and ecological
sustainablity.
Eldan Goldenberg will tell you what our surveys
have found.
www.sustainableseattle.org