22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY DECEMBER 7-13, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Green Team The promise of both economic growth and environmental rescue gives false hope. By Kohei Saito FORUM What kinds of measures are you taking to prevent global warming? Do you carry a thermos so you don’t buy drinks in plastic cups? Did you buy an electric car? These good deeds are meaningless. They can even cause more harm than good. Such actions allow us to escape the pangs of our conscience via consumerism and to look away from the danger around us. The reality that must be faced is that we humans have changed the nature of the Earth in ways that are fundamental and irrevocable. Before the Industrial Revolution, the density of atmospheric carbon dioxide was around 280 parts per million, while by 2016 the level had passed 400 ppm. This was the first time these levels had been reached in 4 million years. And they are being exceeded more every day, even as you read this. Human civilization is facing a threat to its very existence. We must trace the current climate crisis to its root cause: capitalism. Capitalism fuels economic growth through shifting the cost of that development onto the Global South. So long as this externalization of costs runs smoothly, those of us living in the Global North can enjoy a rich lifestyle and avoid suffering the consequences of environmental crises. This is how we’ve been able to avoid thinking seriously about the true cost of our expansive lifestyles for so long. Policy ideas like the Green New Deal promise to decouple economic growth and environmental damage. It seems possible to reach a zero-emissions goal within 100 years. But by then it will be too late. We need to remember the warnings of scientists—that we need to reduce emissions by half by 2030, and to zero by 2050. “Green growth” strategies for combating climate change, which spread the illusory notion that absolute decoupling is easily achievable, are actually dangerous. This is why over 1,100 scientists issued a statement in 2019 stating that the “climate crisis is closely linked to excessive consumption of the wealthy lifestyle.” Of course, the “wealthy lifestyle” of which they speak is that of the rich populations of the Global North. The carbon dioxide emitted by the top 10 percent of the world’s richest people makes up half of worldwide emissions. The least wealthy half of the world’s population are responsible for a mere 10 percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions. Yet they are also the first to suffer from the effects of climate change. If the world’s richest 10 percent were to lower the amount of emissions they produce to that of the average European, overall emissions would decrease by a third. This would create sufficient time for a transition. It might sound counterintuitive, but the goal of any Green New Deal should not be economic growth but rather the slowing down of the economy. Measures to stop climate change cannot double as ways to further economic growth. Kohei Saito is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Tokyo and author of Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto, from which this story is adapted. Translated by Brian Bergstrom. OPINION “Green growth” strategies are actually dangerous. PRESENTED BY
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==