Every College student knows that they're saddled with the ecological debt of past generations. With global warming, the ice sheet
blanketing Greenland and the polar caps would melt and submerge the vast majority of the inhabitants along our nation's coast. What's equally as unimaginable is that America is going down a path of irreversible destruction of its delicate ecosystem. Ecosystem extinction is not a new concept. Ecosystems are collapsing all around the world. Some involve a species like the Humpback Whale and some engulf an entire country like Somalia. There's simply not enough air, water and biomass on this planet to go around. The earth's population is still growing too quickly. If everyone in the world lived like Americans, it would take several planets to sustain us. The world's ecological footprint is growing so fast that at some point this century its people could do irrevocable damage to its ecosystem.
How do the citizens of our country flatten the trajectory of destruction? How do they reduce their collective ecological footprint while prospering? The answer goes beyond solar panels, electric cars and home conservation. There must evolve innovative technology and a new way of thinking about wealth that results in a comprehensive systemic solution by 2050.
Only about 20 percent of the population takes full advantage of the Internet. Software developers are applying their brainpower day and night to making the Internet an amazing platform for virtually all aspects of life. The delivery based model of Amazon, eBay, and Netflix is the wave of the future and will spread to every product and service saving loads of time and energy. Almost everything that can be done in the real world can be experienced in virtual space. That's why every child, especially those poverty stricken, should have a networked computer device.
Americans as a whole are too material intensive. It's not that we're greedy or gluttonous… it's that we are confused. The culture equates "stuff" with happiness. A new holistic definition of happiness needs to include the "utility" derived from health, leisure and companionship as well as good and services. Sharing creates a lot of absolute prosperity for everyone. For example, sharing the beach, mountains and forested areas; sharing Colleges, art centers and hospitals; sharing trains, buses, cars and bikes.
Governments around the world are embracing integrated compact communities. All levels of economic class, services and shopping, greenbelts and bike trails come together in one place.
These communities can be designed to have a very small ecological footprint. Think about homes so efficient they are net producers of power. Walking, biking and mass transit so convenient there are few cars. Indigenous landscaping so robust it's maintained with collected rain and run-off.
Products and brands need to be rethought. Corporate brands that once meant powerful and sexy can be re-branded to mean arrogant and bloated, just look at the Hummer. Consumers have a lot of power to vote with their dollars for green products and services. Mindless consumption of throw-away items like appliances and electronics ignore what happens when they're trashed and shipped to China… simply is moving the problem. A better way is to design products with a life cycle that considers the death and rebirth of the product.
From the frugality sweeping the country during the recession could emerge a new greener prosperity where earth is respected and fully valued. The idea is to redefine prosperity to mean the overall experience we derive from society rather than the stuff we accumulate. And design society as an ecological system in and of itself.
About the Author:
Lawrence K. Burke is a Principal of The Makena Group sustainability consultants http://www.makenagroup.com and publisher of the Green Maui Guide http://www.greenmauiguide.com.
