Donella Meadows "Down to Earth" speech- 1993 Sustainability Conference in Costa Rica.
Bad leaders (with really bad ideas) never listened to Donella Meadows. Is it too late to be ‘Down To Earth’ ?
Donella Meadows and her computer modelling predicted (somewhat accurately) that the current form of industrial civilization would not be sustainable in the long term and chances are that it would collapse sometime in the future… That ‘sometime’ is here 😱 yet?
Donella Meadows is best known for the groundbreaking 1972 study The Limits to Growth. She along with Denis Meadows, Jorgen Randers and William Behrens explained that the “underlying dynamics” of the modern industrial world are unsustainable. On a timescale of a couple of human lifetimes, this type of civilization would eventually collapse or at best be reduced to 100th of it’s current size (and power). The book did not make for a bestseller right away, however over the next five decades, it eventually exfoliated it’s prognosis in many interesting ways. ‘Limits To Growth’ today is an ‘essential text’ to understand why and how our models of growth, prosperity and eternal civilization were wrong. The book’s deterrents (based on hard science) were ignored (worse never read) by generations of bad leaders (with bad ideas) belonging to every race. However that combined ‘human folly’ is fast catching up on us as species.
2023 is the 50th anniversary of ‘The Limits Of Growth’. It’s very rare that a book truly changes the way we view (understand) the world. In the 19th century Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ being one example. Of the same league, in the 20th century was ‘The Limits to Growth’. Initially the book helped spur an environmental movement in America. However it’s true impact in a global sense, began to unfold as the “underlying dynamics of the modern industrial” drove us rapidly towards overshoot (the great accelerator), a vastly depleted planet and a high possibility of collapse. A great follow up to the above book is William Catton’s ‘Overshoot - Basis for evolutionary change’ (1982). American writer, environmentalist Richard Heinberg (post-carbon-dot-org) aptly places the value of these two books today “…containing profoundly important information. …were delivered credibly and clearly, so that every policy maker across sectors could understand it, utilize it. The books are inspiring us towards systems change. Sadly, the books were rejected by powerful people, corporations and experts with vested interests in the Western growth-based economic model… today we are starting to see the results of that rejection.”
During her keynote lecture titled ‘Down to Earth’ (Costa Rica Sustainability Summit 1993) Donella Meadows articulates that “…there is a strong tendency when dealing with a major crisis, that we rush to implement policies and rules without looking and understanding beyond the sphere of the problem… if our information is clear? do we have accurate models? can common people utilize them?… raising money to combat a crisis does not ensure our ability to succeed, because that is again based on our economic models, which also predicate our mental models…”. 30 years later, our “mental model” is still unable to rewire itself at a global level. Especially when we see how the biggest environmental institutions (IPCC, Greenpeace, C40 Cities, Euro CF, Sunrise Movement, 350.org etc) think and operate. Still driven by capital, all hierarchical, mostly predicating new forms of energy, new technologies, however backed by faulty and overzealous models (Net Zero, Carbon Tax, Smart Cities, Just Economy etc etc) plus a load of greenwash mantras 🤑 ⚡️🤠. By construct, these institutions and many more like them, are inconsequential to our incoming futures. Worse, they may be leading us on towards a future long cancelled!
Let’s take the time to know what it means to be ‘Down To Earth’. And perhaps even learn how to place ourselves within “limits”.
This is a great summary, Audio, and a very insightful linked video that resonates today. Thank you!