A Vision Of Hope for the Future

1. Introduction
From Stardust to Us
As one contemplates our tiny island of Life floating in the unimaginably vast, hostile reaches of space one is
filled with awe. Awe that every atom of our being (except hydrogen) was forged in the nuclear fires of stars,
most when stars exploded as supernovae. Awe that this stardust has evolved through the eons of time into
conscious, sentient beings inhabiting our tiny island of Life. Awe that this consciousness is the Universes
way of knowing itself. Awe that while the Universe as a whole is running down and decaying, our miniscule
island of Life Spaceship Earth is running up, becoming ever more structured, organised and complex.
Awe at the processes called life and photosynthesis that draw on the radiant energy of the Sun and
continuously recreate material order and complexity, over-riding the Universes natural tendency to decay
and rundown.

The Fish of Life

Awe at the metaphor of our tiny island of life swimming like a small fish and making headway against the
inexorable running down of the Universe. Awe that every living thing on this planet is a cousin, however
remote, to every other living thing.
And yet through our economic system, we the conscious, sentient beings that inhabit this planet are
unintentionally destroying the web of life and the biogeochemical cycles that are the very basis of our
existence. It is as if we are mindlessly attacking and destroying the life-support systems of our Spaceship.
Is it our destiny, our fate, that stardust evolves into consciousness, knows itself briefly, and then extinguishes
itself?
This is a vision of hope that it need not be this way. A vision of how the crew on Spaceship Earth can work
together to ensure that our beautiful planet with its intricate mantle of life and the wonder of human
consciousness can continue on its evolutionary journey into the unknown.

Spaceship Earth is Like Apollo 13

Life Support Rapidly Ebbing Away - Apollo 13 had 6 days
Spaceship Earth is in very deep trouble. Few of us realise that humanity is in an emergency situation like
that of the Apollo 13 astronauts whose spaceship suffered an explosion that severely damaged their lifesupport systems as they were hurtling towards the Moon. For the next six days, their survival hung in the
balance as their life-support ebbed away.

Spaceship Earth has 30 70 years

Similarly, the ecological systems and processes that constitute the life-support systems of Spaceship Earth are
in rapid decline as a result of the scale and impact of human economic activity. This reality is widely
documented by respected authorities including the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Resources
Institute in their report People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life. Specific examples of unsustainable
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human impacts include massive soil degradation and loss, declining quantity and quality of drinkable water,
fisheries in decline, ecosystems being destroyed and degraded, the ozone hole, global warming, and so on.
The evidence suggests we have somewhere between 30 and 70 years before the situation becomes untenable
for the continuation of human civilisation as we know it. Although it is largely invisible, we are in the midst
of an extreme emergency. Making the invisible visible is part of the challenge.

The Window of Survival

Apollo 13s Window
Apollo 13 had lost its main engine and could not turn back. In order to survive, the crew had to steer for a
point not far above the Moons surface such that its gravitational attraction would loop them around the
Moon and slingshot them towards a window in space a quarter of a million miles away and just one mile
across. If they hit above the window, they would have bounced off the atmosphere and been lost in space.
If they hit below the window, they would have nose-dived into the atmosphere and vapourised. Against all
the odds, they survived.

Spaceship Earths Window

Similarly, humanitys challenge is to pass through a narrow window of survival defined by ecological
conditions that must be met if Spaceship Earths life-support systems are to continue to function. This is a
huge challenge but like the Apollo 13 astronauts, we can do it.

Going the wrong way - Must Change Course

Currently, our economic system places us on a trajectory that is taking us in almost the opposite direction.
We need to make a very significant course correction if we are to pass through the window. In other words,
our economic systems must urgently, with the stress on urgently, become compatible with the planets
ecological life-support systems if human civilisation is to survive.

Multifaceted Crisis
The ecological crisis is not the only crisis confronting humanity. As we enter the third millennium, the
passengers and crew of Spaceship Earth also find ourselves in the midst of social crisis, economic crisis, and
spiritual crisis.

Social Crisis
At the core of the social crisis is growing inequity, the rapidly growing gap between the rich and the poor. At
one end of the scale, are the poor of the world (in both rich and poor counties) living in abject poverty,
unhealthy, malnourished and starving to death. We are witnessing rapidly growing numbers of refugees as a
consequence of ecological breakdown, war, and poverty.
At the other end of the scale, the wealthiest 20% are mindless consumers in an increasingly stressful and
purposeless rat race that is increasingly devoid of meaning. One in twenty Australians are on prescribed
medication for stress, gambling is endemic and suicide has reached frightening proportions. Family and
community is breaking down into a sea of individuals as Margaret Thatchers words, there is no such thing
as society, only individuals become realised through the neoliberal ideology she championed.
It is these extremes of wealth and poverty that drive ecological breakdown. The rich consume the world to
death while the poor degrade ecosystems in their struggle to survive.
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Economic Crisis
The economic system is clearly unstable, jobs are increasingly insecure, corporations are downsizing while
others collapse. For those with jobs, we need to work longer and harder just to stay where we are. We are
moving into global recession. The financial system is teetering on the brink and could collapse at any time,
throwing humanity into ugly chaos that would make the Great Depression look mild by comparison.

Democratic Crisis
The so-called free trade agenda is about dismantling democracy. It is about facilitating economic
colonisation by global corporations. It establishes enforceable rules to allow private corporate power to override government decisions and the democratic will of the people. Free trade also leads to a progressive
downward spiral in social and environmental standards the so-called race to the bottom. We must never
forget the immortal words of Franklin D. Roosevelt: The liberty of democracy is not safe if the people
tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than that of the state itself. That,
in essence, is fascism.

Spiritual Crisis
In this newly emerged age of rampant competitive individualism we are increasingly isolated, stressed, and
struggling to find meaning as we witness the social fabric unravelling around us. People are becoming
increasingly disillusioned with life as it is today and seek a slower pace, less consumption, more meaning and
a sense of purpose in their lives. And yet we continue to consume our planet to death as we seek to fill the
spiritual void that lies within. But consumption only provides temporary relief and we continue to seek one
consumption fix after another.

The Roots of the Crisis

The ecological, social, economic and spiritual crises are all inter-related and their symptoms merge, one into
another. This is not surprising when we realise that they are all symptoms of the same underlying cause.
Humanity is the victim of a worldview that, while once useful, has now outlived its usefulness and become
the instrument of our destruction. Our economic system and its structures and institutions are expressions of
that worldview and lie at the root of each of these crises, which together constitute the sustainability crisis.
In particular, the financial system and the market lock us into the unsustainable trajectory that is taking us in
almost the opposite direction to where we need to be heading if we are to pass through the ecological window
of survival that is sustainability.
The financial system locks us into exponential material growth that is eventually impossible on a finite
planet. Furthermore, market forces, particularly when given free reign as is the trend of the past 25 years,
powerfully promote both behaviours and outcomes that are ecologically unsustainable, inequitable and
unjust, anti-democratic, anti-social and undermine the common good.
In short, our economic system is ecologically unsustainable, socially unsustainable and economically
unsustainable. Our economic system lies at the root of the sustainability crisis.

Sustainable Development is Our Response to this Crisis

Humanitys response to this multifaceted sustainability crisis is the concept we call sustainable development.
It recognises that human economic activity lies at the root of the environmental and social crises we face. It
recognises that humanity is living beyond the carrying capacity of the planet and that we need to live within
ecological limits. It identifies equity as the key to living within ecological limits while ensuring enough for
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everybody. More specifically, it identifies intergenerational equity and intragenerational equity as the
fundamental requirements for sustainability.

Equity Within and Between Generations

Intergenerational equity is equitable access to the material basis of human existence between the people who
are alive today and all future generations, indefinitely into the future. It is about sharing Natures endowment
amongst all generations forever. The last few generations have plundered this endowment leaving little
legacy for future generations. We are stealing from our children, their children, and all future generations.

Participatory Democracy
Intragenerational equity is equitable access to the ecological and material basis of human existence for all the
people alive today. It is about closing the gap between rich and poor countries and between the rich and poor
within countries. It is about social and political equity, which translate into social justice and participatory
democracy.

Rebuilding Community & Serving the Common Good

Perhaps less explicit in the concept of sustainable development is the condition of community although it is
explicit in documents such as the Earth Charter as respect and care for the community of life, both human
and non-human. No person is an island. What we are and what we do, our sense of purpose and meaning are
socially defined by and through our relationships with others. Civilisation itself is a social enterprise.
Rebuilding community, cultivating the nobler side of human nature and remembering that freedom cannot
exist if individual freedoms ride roughshod over the common good these are also requirements for
sustainability.
In summary, the fundamental necessary conditions for sustainability are:
Living within ecological limits;
Equity, within and between generations;
Participatory democracy; and finally,
Rebuilding community and serving the common good.
There is more or less agreement that these are the basic necessary conditions for sustainability.

SD is a Flawed Paradigm We Wont Make It!

Unfortunately, the popular model of sustainable development is not the answer to the sustainability crisis.
While the necessary conditions spelt out in the sustainable development model are valid, the means it
proposes to achieve these conditions are not. The primary means to achieving sustainable development are
economic growth and a reliance on market forces the very forces that are driving unsustainability!
Sustainable development will continue to drive us along an unsustainable path (possibly a fraction more
slowly although this is doubtful) in a world of deregulated markets where there is a rapidly growing demand
for material things. Returning to our spaceship metaphor, sustainable development is little more than a minor
course correction.
Our survival depends on developing a new and very different socio-economic system that is consistent with
the necessary conditions for sustainability, which define the window of survival through which we must pass.
At the very least, the financial system must be modified (fortunately, the necessary changes are not
technically difficult) and market forces need to be constrained and channelled to serve the common good in
much the same way as was done during the Keynesian era.
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Crisis and Opportunity

This all sounds pretty pessimistic, but whether we like it or not, this is the reality we find ourselves in.
However, one need not necessarily be pessimistic, for in crisis lies the seeds of opportunity. The ecological
crisis provides a survival imperative to change direction. Fortunately, the necessary conditions for ecological
survival are also the key to addressing the social, spiritual and economic crises confronting us.
The imperative of ecological survival provides humanity with the opportunity to create a truly civilised and
spiritually fulfilling world that is ecologically sustainable, socially cohesive and just. Before presenting a
vision of how this can be achieved we must first understand the nature of the problem and how we got
ourselves into it.

The Argument in a Nutshell

Each section of the argument provides a further insight to help better understand our world, our plight and
how we can constructively respond to it.

A Flawed Worldview
The root of the problem is a worldview or map of reality that has outlived its usefulness. When Copernicus
shifted the Earth from the centre of the universe to the position of a lowly planet circling the Sun, our
worldview changed radically. This change of perception gave birth to the new idea of Progress and
drastically changed the course of human evolution through the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial
Revolution. While the idea of Progress lifted the people of Europe out of the Dark Ages, it also set us on the
trajectory of exponential growth and global domination by the European worldview. But nothing can grow
forever. Now we need another Copernican change of perception, a new worldview that sees our planet as
Apollo 13 and recognises and responds to the ecological survival imperative. Like all living systems
humanity must stop growing and start maturing as a species. More on Worldviews
Once we realise our worldview is flawed, we need to understand sustainability as this is the new reality we
must conform with. Sustainability is about having a viable material relationship between human and
ecological systems. Life (Natures economy) creates order using solar energy and photosynthesis to
concentrate, structure and organise dispersed matter from the environment into plants, animals, iron ore
bodies, fossil fuel reserves, ecosystems and ultimately, the intricate web of living and non-living ecological
relationships that constitute the biosphere. Life (and geological processes) makes matter useful and human
economic systems survive by consuming useful matter or usefulness. The catch is that usefulness is used
up or degraded by modern economic activity. Sustainability requires humans to consume usefulness no
more quickly than Natures economy produces it.
Until the Copernican revolution, the relationship between the human system and the global ecological system
was viable (although there were localised examples of unviable relationships). Then suddenly the human
systems consumption of usefulness exploded exponentially as industrial production fuelled by vast stores
of fossilised solar energy took off. Consequently, the ecological and material basis of our existence, which
consists of usefulness, is disappearing. Now we have no choice but to create a new kind of economic
system that consumes usefulness no more quickly than Natures economy produces it. More on
Sustainability
Once we understand sustainability, the next thing we need to understand is how we got here - our
evolutionary journey and the evolving relationship between human and ecological systems through time.
This relationship is an economic one it is about how we meet our material needs. We travel the path from
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hunting and gathering to agriculture and on to the industrial age; the great transformation of society into
economy, our economic path to the present and the emergence of the sustainability problem as the global
economy outgrew the supporting ecosystems on which it and we depend. More on Our Evolutionary Journey
Once we understand our evolutionary journey to the present, the next thing we need to understand is our
economic system, and that it is a system of power created by the powerful for the powerful. We need to
understand that the economic theory that legitimises this system of power is an unintentional fraud. That
economists overwhelming desire to give theoretical support to Adam Smiths dream - that the invisible
hand of the market will magically transform individual self interest into the greatest good for the greatest
number - has resulted in a theory being unwittingly stitched together as an act of wish fulfilment to which
most economists are blind.
We need to understand that the financial system is behind the growth explosion and that it locks us into
exponential growth. The absurd mathematical logic of this system is to transform one cent at 6%
compounding interest into a value equivalent to a universe made of pure gold in just 2000 years!
We need to understand that the theory of comparative advantage that underpins so-called free trade isnt
true if money can cross national borders (which it does). We need to understand that free trade agenda is
about dismantling democracy. That it is about facilitating the economic colonisation of countries by global
corporations. That it establishes enforceable rules to allow private corporate power to over-ride government
decisions and the democratic will of the people.
We need to understand that the market is the most efficient means ever devised for transferring the effort and
the money of the many upwards into the hands of the already wealthy and that this is why there is an evergrowing gap between the rich and the poor. This is why we have the obscene reality where the 290 richest
people in the world have more wealth that the poorest half of the worlds population!
We need to understand the market as autopilot steering us in the wrong direction.
We need to understand that free markets powerfully promote both behaviours and outcomes that are
ecologically unsustainable, inequitable and unjust, anti-democratic, anti-social and undermine the common
good. More on Understanding Economy
Once we understand the economic system, the next thing we need to understand is how consent for this
system of power is manufactured in a democracy. Putting it bluntly, propaganda is used as a tool of
disempowerment and to manufacture consent for maintaining the status. In the words of Alex Carey,
propaganda is used to take the risk out of democracy. It is also used to promote excessive levels of
mindless consumption. More on Propaganda
Once we understand the economic system and how it is perpetuated, the next thing we need to understand is
the incompatibility between the economic system and sustainability. As already mentioned, the financial
system locks us into exponential material growth which is a long-run impossibility on a finite planet, and
market forces, particularly when they are given free reign, powerfully promote both behaviours and
outcomes that are ecologically unsustainable, inequitable and unjust, anti-democratic, anti-social and
undermine the common good. The sustainable development paradigm is flawed because it assumes that the
economic system is compatible with sustainability indeed, it relies heavily on market forces and economic
growth and does not question the financial system. More on Sustainability - Economy Incompatibility
Once we understand the incompatibility between the economic system and sustainability and that sustainable
development is not the answer, the next thing to consider is the nature of a sustainable alternative. The
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economic system of a sustainable society will have to consume a trickle of usefulness compared to the
current flood. The only way to do this is to build a new economic infrastructure that is solar powered and
highly durable and will provide a flow of service rather than monetary income into the community.
This infrastructure would be more or less the same in all locations across the planet but adapted to, and
reflecting local culture. Few people will go to work. Rather, people will engage in purposeful activity in
their community. Life will be more social than economic. Life will be comfortable but not ostentatious.
Communities will co-own their local economic infrastructure. Transport will be predominantly public and
will be powered electrically. Economic activity will primarily consist of maintaining the durable
infrastructure, food production and the production of non-durable goods.
A good metaphor to illustrate the durable infrastructure is the light bulb. Thomas Edison's light bulb still
burns in the Smithsonian Institute a century after being made. If his crude bulb can last that long, there is no
reason why we can't make light bulbs that lasts one or two thousand years. Existing fossil fuelled power
stations could be retrofitted to solar thermal where one square kilometre of mirrors concentrate sunlight onto
a boiler and large vacuum flasks store molten salt to generate electricity at night or when it is raining. There
is a 385-megawatt plant in California that demonstrates the viability of this technology. If this infrastructure
is built and co-owned publicly then all can share in its benefits which will be in the form of a direct flow of
service (eg. light) rather than income (to keep buying light bulbs). The only ecological impact will be in the
initial construction of the infrastructure. More on a Sustainable Alternative
Once we understand the nature of a possible sustainable alternative, we need to look at the transitionary path
to take us from where we are to where we need to be. The proposal is for a 25-year period of economic
growth during which we progressively build the durable sustainable infrastructure, rebuild community and
educate society to the coming reality. This will be politically attractive, as it will address current problems of
unemployment and recession.
The first step would be to wind back economic rationalism and implement a more Keynesian economic
environment with increased government intervention in the economy to promote the public good. A staged
transition of the financial system from a fractional reserve to 100% reserve would begin as soon as possible
to stave off financial collapse and to remove the exponential imperative from the financial system.
The first step would also include education and research initiatives to provide the necessary knowledge and
information to underpin the transition.
The next step would be to establish public companies (owned by all) to build and distribute the durable
things of the sustainable economy (light bulbs, solar refrigeration, etc). Mass production that is unnecessary
or has high ecological impact will be progressively phased out. Strong mutually supportive relationships
would be established between rich and poor countries with the rich providing material support and the poor
teaching how to rebuild community and community spirit. More on Transitionary Path
Once we understand the transitionary path, we need to look at how we can make it happen. A necessary precondition for such a transition is a vision of the destination, a viable pathway to get there, discontent with the
status quo and a means to empower the citizenry.
The conditions are now ripe for making all this happen. People have become increasingly disillusioned with
where society is heading. For some, it is simply a sense of disillusion, for others, it is a single issue they are
passionate about. For yet others, there is an explicit recognition that rather than leading us to a brighter future
as the propaganda would have us believe, economic rationalist policies such as deregulation, privatisation,
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trade liberalisation and the erosion of democracy are actually leading us ever deeper into crisis. There is a
huge voice of concern but it is currently fragmented amongst countless groups, communities and issues.
This document provides both a vision of a destination and a pathway to get there. All that remains is to
empower and mobilise the citizenry in an expression of informed democracy. A community not-for-profit
organisation called Quest 2025 has been established as a vehicle to facilitate the education, empowerment
and coordinated mobilisation of concerned citizens and organizations through the Internet, through National
Community Discussion days to be held every two months, and through high profile people championing the
cause. Through this process, on-the-ground community grassroots networks will be created and networked
so that the fragmented voice of concern can be channelled and heard loud and clear.
The fragmented voice can be harnessed by identifying economic rationalism as a common denominator
underpinning almost every issue that is of concern. Few if any issues can be won while we remain in the
economic rationalist context. However, by uniting in our diversity we can wind back economic rationalism
through coordinated, empowered, mass participation in the democratic process, we can make our politicians
serve the common good. If they don't, we will vote for the servant-leaders within our communities who are
not beholden to political parties and will serve the common good.
Having achieved this, and as the mindset of society changes to embrace sustainability as the new guiding
vision, the transitionary path to a sustainable society can be implemented through the democratic process.
More on Making It Happen
We should see this quest as an exciting adventure to create a better world that people across the world can
participate in. It can unite humanity in common cause while maintaining our diversity and it can bring out
the very best in human nature. Through this quest, an empowered citizenry can transform economy back into
society and turn consumers back into citizens, we can reinvigorate democracy, rebuild community, create a
more meaningful, cohesive and equitable society, and heal the planets ecosystems on which our existence
ultimately depends. We have little choice but to work together to salvage our world before it is too late.
More on the Quest Adventure

2. Understanding Worldviews Our Tool of Survival

Introduction
The Web of Life consists of millions of species that have coevolved from a common ancestor into a complex
network of interdependent relationships that we know as the planets ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles.
The Web of Life is a single family with each species being a different expression of Lifes creative adaptation
to the challenge of survival. Every living thing carries the spark of life that has been passed down through
the ages in an unbroken chain from our shared original ancestor.
The survival of each species is dependent on its web of relationships with the other species that make up the
ecosystem it lives in. Similarly, the human species is a dependent subsystem of the Web of Life although
western civilisation has lived with the illusion for the past five centuries that humanity is separate from and
above Nature (part of the flawed worldview). It is only in the last few years that we have rediscovered our
total dependence on the Web of Life and that it is our life-support system.
The survival of all species depends on their ability to adapt to a changing environment and changing
relationships with other species in the Web of Life. Those that cant adapt quickly enough eventually
disappear. The key to adaptation and survival is the extremely slow process of Darwinian evolution that
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involves the transmission of successful genetic information and the occasional successful mutation from
one generation to the next.
Through this evolutionary process, the human strand of the Web of Life developed the ability to form and
manipulate concepts, to plan and predict and to communicate ideas through language. These abilities have
made possible a novel and potentially rapid evolutionary means of adaptation and survival the transmission
through language of successful ideas from one generation to the next.
So humans have two modes of adaptation and survival - the very slow Darwinian mode via the transmission
of genes and a potentially rapid Lamarkian mode via the transmission of ideas or memes where great
change is possible within the space of a single generation.
This ability to conceptualise and to transmit learned knowledge from one generation to the next has conferred
an adaptive advantage on humans. Innovations such as fire, clothing and shelter have allowed humans, a
tropical animal, to occupy some of the coldest regions of the planet.
Our principal tool of survival is our worldview, our conceptual map of reality. It is the consistent,
comprehensive and interwoven explanation of everything that each language group has developed over time
and transmitted as a part of culture from one generation to the next. It is the accumulated wisdom, passed
down through the ages, of what works and what doesnt.
A culture's worldview is the basis for its values, beliefs, attitudes, concepts, and behaviours and how it
organises to meet its material needs. It influences how its members interact amongst themselves, with other
cultures and with their environment.
Worldviews are codified as language. Our worldview is the interpretive lens through which we perceive,
understand and experience our world. It is important to realise that we are totally unconscious of our
worldview, that what we perceive is simply an interpretation and that people with different worldviews may
experience the same reality in very different ways.
For example, tree in one language may convey the idea or image of a single tree as in a colour photograph,
as an object or noun. The observer and the observed may be seen as separate. Tree in another language
may convey the idea or image of seed becoming tree, tree becoming forest, as a process or verb. There may
be no sense that observer and observed are separate lung and tree may be seen as inseparable and there may
be no sense of a boundary between oneself and the broader environment.
As our principal tool of survival, worldviews are inherently conservative, preserving the wisdom of the ages.
However, when circumstances change, a worldview may need to change accordingly if it is to continue to
facilitate survival. If it doesnt adapt to the new reality, it may promote behaviours at odds with the new
circumstances and become the tool of that cultures extinction.
When Copernicus shifted the Earth from the centre of the universe to the position of a lowly planet circling
the Sun, our worldview changed radically. This change of perception gave birth to the new idea of Progress
and drastically changed the course of human evolution through the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial
Revolution. While the idea of Progress lifted the people of Europe out of the Dark Ages, it also set us on the
trajectory of exponential growth and global domination by the European worldview. But nothing can grow
forever. Now we need another Copernican change of perception, a new worldview that sees our planet as
Apollo 13 and recognises and responds to the ecological survival imperative.

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3. Understanding Sustainability
Sustainability is concerned with the viability of the material relationship between human systems and the
ecological systems on which humanity is totally dependent. Ultimately, sustainability is about survival.
Life is a spontaneous, self-organising and self-sustaining process that has created the world we know today.
Life creates order using solar energy and the wonder of photosynthesis to concentrate, structure and organise
matter that was dispersed through the environment into useful forms (that we might call usefulness) that
animals and other life forms must consume to stay alive. Animals (including humans) cannot live without a
source of usefulness (plants/animals) to feed off. From a human point of view, Life concentrates and
transforms matter from the environment into countless forms of usefulness beyond food timber, crops,
animals, iron ore bodies, fossil fuel deposits, biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and ultimately, the intricate
web of living and non-living ecological relationships that constitute the biosphere and our life-support
system.
Consider, for example, that as a seed grows into a tree the dispersed minerals, water and gasses drawn from
the environment are concentrated, organised and structured into the form of a tree. These elements are not
useful until life has transformed them into a useful form. Similarly, mineral and fossil fuel deposits are only
useful when they exist as concentrated deposits. Iron is one of the most abundant minerals in the Earths
crust. It is everywhere in dilute form but is only useful and useable in those few places where certain
bacteria concentrated it over billions of years into the iron ore bodies of today.
In other words, Life or what we might call Natures economy produces material things and material and
energy flows that have the quality of usefulness to humans. In addition to Life, some geological processes,
such as glaciation that grinds rock to powder to become soil, also produce usefulness.

A catch
However, there is a catch and this is the key to understanding sustainability. When we use useful matter, we
use up its quality of usefulness and return it to the environment in a less useful form. Consider our iron ore
example: Economic activity mines the ore, produces iron and steel products that after a short life (50 years at
most) dissipate back into the environment as rust. It is impractical to get down on hands and knees with a
pair of tweezers and try to recover the rust. Similarly, when we use petrol, we cannot burn the exhaust again.
Its usefulness has been exhausted.
Unsustainability is the situation where the human economy consumes usefulness more quickly than
Natures economy can produce it. If we consume usefulness more quickly than Nature produces it, then it
will run out and we cant live without it. The sustainable economy requires us to consume usefulness no
more quickly than Natures economy produces it.
Human economic systems, by which I mean the systems we establish to meet our material needs, are
essentially systems designed to harvest or extract usefulness or wealth from Natures economy or the
environment as we call it. Hunter-gathering generally has a minimal impact with the level of consumption
of usefulness being significantly less than Natures production. Agriculture, which involves modifying
ecosystem processes to enhance their productivity, has a greater potential to be unsustainable as the collapse
of the Mesopotamian and Mayan civilisations and the granary of Rome are testament to. However, if
designed to emulate ecological principles, it can be sustainable as forty centuries of continuous agricultural
production in parts of China prove. In both hunter-gathering and pre-industrial agriculture where the
ecological impact is limited by the availability of muscle power, ecological collapses have been localised to a
few areas of very high population density.
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The invention of the industrial economic system overcame the limitation of muscle power by drawing on vast
quantities of fossilised energy (coal and oil) and sucking ever-increasing quantities of usefulness (both
living and non-living) from the environment, processing it, using it for a while and then returning it to the
environment as waste. So much energy has become available that the impacts are now global in scale and
threaten global ecological collapse as far as the viability of human civilisation as we know it is concerned.
We are running out of usefulness.

Wealth
It is this usefulness produced by Natures economy that is true wealth. It is extremely important to
understand that economic systems do not produce wealth. They actually consume wealth! What the modern
economy produces is money and money is not wealth, it is simply an entitlement to consume wealth. Since
under the current financial system the quantity of money grows exponentially, the demand for usefulness is
also growing exponentially and exceeds Natures capacity to supply. The current financial system is the root
cause of ecological collapse.

Solar and terrestrial

There is one last matter we need to consider. It is a law of Nature that the total usefulness of any system
runs down over time. Although Life is using solar energy to slowly produce a trickle of usefulness on the
Earth, this is at the expense of the Sun running down (burning out) and so the Earth-Sun system as a whole is
running down. However, if terrestrial energy is used to create usefulness for human purposes, then the total
stock of usefulness on Earth will run down as the benefits are outweighed by the greenhouse effect,
pollution, and so on. It is for this reason that a sustainable society must be primarily solar powered.
The only way that a decent quality of life can be achieved for the 6 billion (and potentially 9 billion)
passengers on Spaceship Earth is to produce extremely durable things that can last for hundreds and even
thousands of years and for the economy to be solar powered.

4. Understanding Our Evolutionary Journey

Once we understand sustainability, the next thing we need to understand is how we got here - our
evolutionary journey and the evolving relationship between human and ecological systems through time.
This relationship is an economic one it is about how we meet our material needs. We travel the path from
hunting and gathering to agriculture and on to the industrial age; the great transformation of society into
economy, our economic path to the present and the emergence of the sustainability problem as the global
economy outgrew the supporting ecosystems on which it and we depend.

5. Understanding the Economy

Once we understand our evolutionary journey to the present, the next thing we need to understand is our
economic system.

Financial System
We need to understand that the financial system is behind the economic growth explosion and that it locks us
into exponential growth. The reason is that under a fractional reserve financial system, all money comes into
existence as interest bearing debt. Because of this, the money supply grows exponentially at the interest rate.
When the money supply for most countries is plotted on a graph, the curve is one of about 6% compounding.
The absurd mathematical logic of this system is to transform one cent into a value equivalent to a universe
made of pure gold in just 2000 years!
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Value of gold = $328 per oz x 16oz per lb x 2240 lb per ton x 2.19 x 1027 tons (mass of sun) x 109 suns per
galaxy x 105 galaxies = $2.5 x 1048

Free Trade
We need to understand that the theory of comparative advantage that underpins so-called free trade isnt
true if money can cross national borders (which it does). We need to understand that free trade agenda is
about dismantling democracy. That it is about facilitating the economic colonisation of countries by global
corporations. That it establishes enforceable rules to allow private corporate power to over-ride government
decisions and the democratic will of the people.

The Market
We need to understand that the market is the most efficient means ever devised for transferring the effort and
the money of the many upwards into the hands of the already wealthy and that this is why there is an evergrowing gap between the rich and the poor. This is why we have the obscene reality where the 290 richest
people in the world have more wealth that the poorest half of the worlds population!

Shortcomings of the Market

Economic theory is based on a number of assumptions. One is the assumption limitless material progress.
Sustainability is an issue because this is not true. Even if it were true, the market still has some well
recognised shortcomings. Will look at these first before moving onto the contradictions of the market in the
real world of absolute limits.

Inequity
The nature of the market is to channel the wealth and the effort of the many into the hands of the few. This is
why we see growing inequity, a growing gap between the rich and the poor, both within and between
countries. The market is not a democratic institution because the rich have more dollar votes than the poor.
This means that the poor are either excluded or marginalised from deciding what happens and what is
produced. This can lead to scarce resources being allocated to the production of luxury goods and services
while the basic needs of the poor go unmet. Is it efficient for 80% of the worlds resources to support 20% of
the worlds population while 80% of the population struggles to survive on the remaining 20%? The market
only responds to the signals of those with money because money is the only signal that is recognised.
Economists claim that the market is value free, that it takes the existing distribution of money as a given and
efficiently allocates resources according to that distribution. What they ignore is the tendency of the market
to skew the existing distribution in favour of the wealthy over time.

Tendency away from Pure Competition

Perfect competition is a fundamental condition for economic efficiency. It is also the controlling mechanism
of capitalism. The basic condition for efficiency is a very large number of buyers and sellers. Because of the
markets inherent tendency to channel wealth to the already wealthy and to monopoly control, there is a
tendency towards fewer sellers and away from perfect competition. There is also a tendency for producers to
collude on prices, again undermining perfect competition.

Market Failure: Externalities and Public Goods

Externalities and public goods are two forms of market failure acknowledged by economists. Externalities
exist when the market fails to price all the costs and/or benefits associated with a good or service. Typically,
this occurs for things that are not privately owned for common property. Most environmental problems
are assumed to be due to externalities
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Markets are institutions that can respond only to individual wants and needs. They cannot respond to social
or collective needs because societies do not send out price signals as individuals do. The market cannot
provide for public goods such as defence, lighthouses and many aspects of sustainability because most
individuals will not voluntarily pay for things where everybody benefits because they know most people will
not pay their share if they dont have to the free rider problem. Consequently, taxes have to be collected
from everyone in society to pay for the provision of public goods.

Values
All values are reduced to one value, the monetary value determined by the market.

6. Understanding the Economy as a System of Power Manufacturing Consent

Once we understand our economic system, the next thing we need to understand is that the economic system
is a system of power created by the powerful for the powerful. We need to understand that the economic
theory that legitimises this system of power is an unintentional fraud. That economists overwhelming desire
to give theoretical support to Adam Smiths dream - that the invisible hand of the market will magically
transform individual self interest into the greatest good for the greatest number - has resulted in a theory
being unwittingly stitched together as an act of wish fulfilment to which most economists are blind.
Once we understand the economic system, the next thing we need to understand is how consent for this
system of power is manufactured in a democracy. Putting it bluntly, propaganda is used as a tool of
disempowerment and to manufacture consent for maintaining the status. In the words of Alex Carey, it is
used to take the risk out of democracy. It is also used to promote excessive levels of mindless
consumption.

7. Understanding the Incompatibility between the

Economic System and Sustainability
Once we understand the economic system and how it is perpetuated, the next thing we need to understand is
the incompatibility between the economic system and sustainability. As already mentioned, the financial
system locks us into exponential material growth which is a long-run impossibility on a finite planet, and
market forces, particularly when they are given free reign, powerfully promote both behaviours and
outcomes that are ecologically unsustainable, that are inequitable and unjust, that are anti-democratic, that are
anti-social and undermine the common good. The sustainable development paradigm is flawed because it
assumes that the economic system is compatible with sustainability indeed, it relies heavily on market
forces and economic growth and does not question the financial system.
The popular model of sustainable development is not the answer to the sustainability crisis. While the
necessary conditions spelt out in the sustainable development model are valid, the means it proposes to
achieve these conditions are not. Sustainable development is a flawed paradigm. Its fundamental flaw is the
assumption that sustainability can be achieved within the current socio-economic system.

Sustainable Development (Brundtlands Compromise)

Economic growth is seen as the key to development
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The thrust of my argument is that humanity is the victim of a flawed worldview and a flawed economic
theory that reflects this worldview. Furthermore, this economic theory has been taken to fundamentalist
extremes through the free market neoliberal ideology that has been imposed through a massive propaganda
effort. The concept of sustainable development is similarly flawed, since it had to be made consistent with
the flawed worldview and the neoliberal view of reality in order to be politically acceptable to those in
power.
The model of sustainable development was largely the product of the United Nations World Commission on
Environment and Development and was popularised in their 1987 report, Our Common Future, better known
as the Brundtland Report. Prior to Brundtland, sustainability was understood to be in conflict with economic
growth, largely as a result of the 1972 publication, The Limits to Growth. This made sustainability a political
impossibility in a world wedded to economic growth. However, Limits lost credibility due to the failure of its
predictions that oil and some natural resources would run out or that their prices would become very high.
The perceived failure of Limits opened the way for the new concept of sustainable development.
Brundtlands success in popularising the concept of sustainable development was achieved by transforming
the politically impossible concept of sustainability into that of sustainable development, a concept that
appeared to reconcile the contradiction between growth and limits and conformed to the prevailing economic
worldview. For Brundtland, the key to sustainable development was a new kind of economic growth and a
market-based approach to solving the sustainability problem. While this modified concept satisfied those in
power, its prescriptions of economic growth and a reliance on market forces provide false hope in steering us
towards sustainability.
Brundtlands model is valid in its acceptance of the fundamental necessary conditions for sustainability:

Living within ecological limits;

Equity, within and between generations;
Participatory democracy; and finally,
Rebuilding community and serving the common good.

Unfortunately, the Brundtland model uses flawed logic to arrive at its conclusion that these conditions can be
achieved through economic growth and market forces. Also, it takes no account of the fundamental
contradiction between the financial system and sustainability. This not to suggest that the Brundtland model
was intentionally deceptive. It is more likely that it is the product of ignorance. The starting point in this
flaw of logic is the way in which the relationship between economy, society and ecology is conceptualised.

Flawed Economy Society Ecology Relationship

The ultimate human objective is the welfare of society. To ensure this in todays world where we are
exceeding the ecological carrying capacity of the planet, ecological sustainability must be the over-riding
organising principle shaping society and economy.
A key principle of sustainable development is that social, economic and ecological considerations are
competing considerations of equal importance and that decisions should be based on striking a balance
between these competing considerations (a compromise between economic growth and sustainability). The
market is a tool that facilitates such trade-offs in a way that is seen to be efficient. This adds weight to the
idea that the market is a good tool for achieving sustainable outcomes.

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There are a number of problems with seeing the social, the economic and the ecological as being of equal
importance although it is an improvement on the current wisdom that sees the economy as everything,
society as secondary and ecology (the environment) as an afterthought.
The key problem is that neither view reflects the current reality humanity finds itself in. Society is a totally
dependent sub-system of the planets ecosystems and the human economy is one of the many sub-systems of
society. Therefore, we need to adopt a systems view and see economy nested within society and society
nested within ecology the exact opposite of the traditional wisdom.
The following logic supports this approach. The over-riding concern of sustainability is the longterm
welfare of society. A necessary precondition for this to occur is to ensure that the ecological and material
basis of society is sustained in perpetuity. Otherwise, the material basis of economic activity dwindles and
society eventually disappears, as was the case with Easter Island. So maintaining ecological integrity is the
highest priority to ensure the longterm welfare of society. The next priority is to maximise the welfare of
society within what may be thought of as an ecological budget constraint. This requires an economy that
meets human material needs while maintaining ecological integrity and the stock of natural capital. The
sustainability challenge is to design such an economy.
The problem with seeking to strike a balance between social, economic and ecological considerations is that
there is no more room left to move, to trade of, on the ecological front. We have almost certainly exceeded
ecological limits and sustainability will require us to claw our way back through ecological rehabilitation.
Ecologically, we need to draw a line in the sand now, and go no further. Otherwise, we will go the way of the
Easter Islanders.
Furthermore, it is irrational to see social and economic considerations as being in competition if economic
activity is a means to achieving social ends. The reality is that economic activity serves the interests of the
powerful and that this is in conflict with the interests of society at large. The equity principle of
sustainability requires that economic activity serve the interests of all people in society and in such a context
economic considerations cannot be in competition with social considerations.

The Reconciling Growth with Limits Flaw

Brundtlands model proposes a new kind of economic growth - growth that is less material and energy
intensive in its impact as the way of getting around the problem of living within ecological and material
limits. The argument is that if we can decrease the energy and material content of each unit of growth at the
same rate as the economy grows, then the total material and energy content of the economy will remain
constant.
The key flaw with this argument is that economic growth, being a percentage per annum, is exponential,
which means it doubles every so many years. Whether the doubling period 15 years or 70 years, the
economy will grow in the following pattern: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc. To be sustainable, the material and
1
1
1
energy content of each unit of growth must decrease in the following way: 1, 12 , 14 , 18 , 16
, 32
, 64
, etc.
The logic of this is to move towards a spiritual economy in which each unit of economic activity will have no
material or energy content!

Growth and the Financial System

The (exponential) economic growth being referred to is actually growth in the amount of money or
purchasing power. This exponentially growing pool of purchasing power is the root of the sustainability
problem. A market based economy without external constraints ensures that the material and energy
demands of humanity (those with purchasing power) are met although the level of demand is unsustainable.
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Ironically, the current state of inequity reduces the global level of demand on the planet because the majority
signal little if any demand. If all the worlds wealth were redistributed equally amongst all humanity, the
demand would consume the ecological and material basis of our existence in a few short years. Alternatively,
we would currently need four or so planets to allow humanity to live a western standard of living and at a 3%
growth rate, this number of planets would have to double every 24 years.
Clearly, neither economic growth nor wealth redistribution is an answer.

Misplaced Faith in the Market

Sustainabilty is an economic problem in that it is about how people meet their material needs including those
needs provided by ecological systems. But the sustainability problem is much broader than that addressed by
the market. The market is limited to dealing with one aspect of the economic problem, the efficient
allocation of resources. The market cannot deal with the sustainability conditions of living within ecological
limits and equity, within and between generations.
Reliance on the market is the major flaw with the Brundtland model of sustainability. This flaw derives from
the environmental economic school of thought that sees environmental problems, including unsustainability
generally, as cases of market failure. Because air and water and other environmental factors are unpriced or
underpriced, they get over-used resulting in environmental problems. The way to fix the market failure is to
get the prices right on those things that are unpriced or underpriced and then the market will solve the
problem. Under ideal conditions, the market gives rise to something called economic efficiency. When you
fix a market failure in this way, the outcome is economic efficiency, not sustainability.
A slightly different argument leading to the same conclusion begins with the valid observation that
sustainability requires the dematerialisation of the economy. This can be achieved if we can use matter and
energy more efficiently. This idea is called eco-efficiency. It is then assumed (incorrectly) that ecoefficiency is the same as economic efficiency and can be achieved through the market, again, by getting the
prices right.
The key flaw in these arguments is to equate sustainability with economic efficiency when they are, in fact,
very different things. The objective of sustainability is to constrain economic activity within the planets
carrying capacity. It is about living within limits living within a material/ecological budget constraint. The
objective of economic efficiency is to maximise the dollar value of economic output from a given dollar
value of inputs. Economic efficiency knows no limits. As the supply of dollars grows exponentially, so the
dollar value of economic output can grow accordingly.

Efficiency
Some ecological economists argue that the answer is to set ecological/material constraints and then allow the
market to achieve economic efficiency within those constraints. But is economic efficiency a meaningful
goal to pursue?
As we saw earlier, economic efficiency has two dimensions efficient production and efficient allocation.
Efficient production means maximising the dollar value of economic output from a given dollar value of
inputs. There are a number of problems with this. It means the cheapest, not the most sustainable. At a
deeper level, the problem here is that there is no way to get the abstract one-dimensional world of dollars to
correspond to the multi-dimensional complexity of the material world. The values placed on things in the
material world are not determined by the intrinsic values of those things but by the interactions of supply and
demand. In other words, those values are not objective and based on a deep understanding of the thing in
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question; they are subjective and based on fashion and whim. Furthermore, the pursuit of economic
efficiency require us to reduce all values to a single value, that of the dollar. Values are transformed into
price. This removes the subtlety of making human judgements, of selecting from the range of values that are
in all things and replacing human judgement with a simplistic economic calculus. It also means that what
happens is determined by what makes the most dollars.
The other dimension of economic efficiency is allocative efficiency. This means that resources are
channelled into producing what is demanded in proportion to the price signals in the market. This means that
the wants of the more wealthy in society (and in the world as global markets are freed) tend to be met while
the basic needs of the poor can go unmet because they cant compete against the wealthy in the market. If a
sustainability constraint were put in place limiting production to sustainable levels, prices would rise
substantially, further excluding the poor. If, wealth were redistributed (highly improbable), there would be
very high prices and intense competition for resources and a possible breakdown of social order.
A suitable metaphor for our plight is that of passengers on a lifeboat (Apollo 13) with limited supplies. Do
we allocate provisions through a competitive market or do we establish a regime of rationing? If we wish to
maximise the welfare of all those on board, it would surely be the latter.

Aggregation Problem
Putting efficient production and allocation together, what the market does is ensure that what people want is
produced at the cheapest price. In other words, its ethos is one of people getting whatever they want (so long
as they have the money) at the cheapest possible price. However, while it may be rational for individuals to
want a particular thing, the impact of millions of people wanting that thing may be socially and /or
ecologically irrational. For example, the private car is an individually rational form of transport while public
transport is socially rational; and visiting a wilderness is meaningless if thousands are doing it together.
Markets often create socially irrational outcomes and they detract from socially responsible behaviour in that
each individual feels the right to consume whatever they like and for those who may feel a pang of social
conscience can quickly dismiss this with the idea my not buying (or buying) one will make no difference.
It is the unsustainable level of aggregate demand for unsustainable things that has created the Apollo-like
ecological emergency we find ourselves in. An unconstrained market facilitates demand being met and as
global income rises, already unsustainable levels of demand will continue to rise. As we have seen, even a
constrained market is not the answer.

Relative vs. Absolute

Markets only work in the world of relative scarcity. Relative scarcity simply means one thing is more scarce
relative to another thing. Price is simply the measure of the scarcity of one thing relative to the scarcity of
another. In the economists world of relative scarcity, there may be some specific things that do run out, but
overall nothing runs out because, as a thing gets close to running out, market forces will force its price to rise
and this incentive plus human ingenuity will lead to more being found or a substitute being found. This is
fine for things for which there are substitutes but for things without substitutes, things that are absolutely
scarce such as ecological systems and the life-support functions they perform, this is a serious problem. This
problem is compounded by the reality that markets have no way of dealing with absolute scarcity as prices,
by definition, cannot reflect absolute scarcity.

Time Bias to the Present

Markets devalue or discount future values. Markets are inherently biased to maximising present day values
due to the phenomenon of discounting. Discounting exists because we have interest rates and essentially, the
discount rate equals the interest rate. If the interest rate is 10% then $100 invested today is worth $110 in one
years time. Conversely, $110 worth of value in one years time is considered to be worth only $100 in
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present value terms. The present value of $110 worth of value in 5 and 10 years time is worth only $x and
$y when discounted at 10%. Even at low discount rates, values 30 years into the future have almost no value
in present day terms.
In other words, markets place no value in the values of the next generation, let alone, the values of future
generations. This is the opposite of sustainability, which is primarily about the values of future generations.
How markets deal with the issue of time is to define an optimal depletion path for all resources. This path
is such that present values are maximised. According to this approach, as a particular resource gets scarcer
its price will rise until an economic substitute is found. This perverse logic is such that it is economically
rational to harvest whales as fast as possible (as opposed to a sustainable rate) until it becomes uneconomic
and then invest the proceeds in harvesting something else (say forests), and so on. Eventually, there is
nothing left to harvest and future generations are deprived of these things. The philosophical position of
conventional economists is the assumption that the future will take care of itself - that rising prices, resource
substitution, technological progress and human ingenuity will solve the problems of future generations.

Commodification
The neoliberal agenda of market rule is seeing the increasing commodification of people, the environment
and the commons as those in power seek to take control of as much of the world as possible in order to
make money. As the market embraces more things, they are moved beyond democratic control.

Exclusion of Poor and Future Generations

Only those with money can signal their needs and wants in the marketplace. This excludes the majority of
the worlds population from making all but the feeblest signals in the marketplace for the barest of
necessities. The sustainability condition of equity requires that all peoples needs be met.
As the neoliberal agenda transfers more and more decision making from the democratic arena into the
marketplace, the poor (and even middle income earners) are increasingly excluded from influencing or
participating in decisions affecting their future.
Future generations are also excluded from signalling their needs in the marketplace, simply because they do
not exist.

8. Envisioning the Sustainable Alternative

Once we understand the incompatibility between the economic system and sustainability and that sustainable
development is not the answer, the next thing to consider is the nature of a sustainable alternative. The
economic system of a sustainable society will have to consume a trickle of usefulness compared to the
current flood if its availability is not to run down. The most feasible way to do this is to build a new solar
powered economic infrastructure that is highly durable and will provide a flow of service rather than
monetary income into the community that owns it.
The new economic system should be solar powered because it mimics Natures economy and is the cleanest
source of energy with the least ecological impacts. We need or want physical things such as cars, light bulbs
and power stations not for themselves but for the services of transport, light and energy they provide. Mass
production and ownership of short-lived physical things is a very inefficient way of delivering the services
we need. This is why physical things in the new economic system need to be highly durable. The physical
infrastructure (the physical things) needs to be publicly produced and owned to meet the fundamental
sustainability condition of equity. That ensures everyone is an equal stakeholder in the infrastructure and has
equal access to its benefits and costs. Otherwise it will be owned by the wealthy and most benefits will flow
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to them leading to the kind of growing inequity we are witnessing today. Finally, it is important to receive
the benefits of the infrastructure directly in the form of service rather than indirectly as a monetary income to
purchase that service because money is a form of power that can be accumulated and allow some to get more
benefits at the expense of others, and more importantly, give some people power over others. Since the
infrastructure and the service it provides is co-owned, there is no need to buy the service and since
sustainability limits the total availability of service its distribution will need be rationed. That doesnt mean
that there is no money or that we dont have personal things, its just that we share the basic essential services
of life.
A good way to picture the durable infrastructure is to think of the light bulb. Thomas Edison's light bulb still
burns in the Smithsonian Institute a century after being made. If his crude bulb can last that long, there is no
reason why we can't make light bulbs that lasts one or two thousand years. Existing fossil fuelled power
stations could be retrofitted to solar thermal where one square kilometre of mirrors concentrate sunlight onto
a boiler and large vacuum flasks store molten salt to generate electricity at night or when it is raining. There
is a 385-megawatt plant in California that demonstrates the viability of this technology. If this infrastructure
is built and owned publicly then all can share in its benefits which will be in the form of a direct flow of
service (eg. light) rather than income (to keep buying light bulbs). The only ecological impact will be in the
initial construction of the infrastructure.
This infrastructure would be more or less the same in all locations across the planet but adapted to, and
reflecting local culture. In such a society, economic production will be a relative trickle. Economic activity
will primarily consist of maintaining the community owned durable infrastructure, food production and the
production of non-durable goods from renewable materials. This will probably take up one or two days a
week. Few people will go to work. Rather, people will engage in purposeful activity in their community.
Life will be more social than economic. Life will be comfortable but not ostentatious. The rest of the time
will be devoted to bettering our societies, education, art, leisure and social pursuits - a society where our
human potential can grow and civilisation flourish. This is not a primitive society but a sophisticated one, it
is not communism but humans working cooperatively in order that civilisation may simply survive.

9. Feasible Transitionary Path

To be edited
The transitionary path to sustainability needs to be planned. We need to decide roughly where we need to be
in 25, 50 and 100 years. If we have no idea of the destination, well never get there. This Vision provides a
crude compass to point us in the right direction. Free market worshippers believe that the market (Adam
Smiths invisible hand) is like an automatic pilot that inevitably steers us along the path of progress and
continual betterment, maximising the welfare of society as we go. This was to some extent true in the earlier
days of the modern economic system (in those countries that were the leading edge of development) when
meeting basic needs and aspirations drove technological progress. However, it was always exploitative and
inequitable with a minority benefiting at the expense of the majority both within countries (rich vs. poor) and
between countries (colonisers vs. colonised). As the economic system has evolved, it has become less true.
Now the economic system largely ignores the needs of the poor (eg medicines for malaria and HIV in Africa
and food for the starving and malnourished) and technological progress facilitates making money out of those
who are already wealthy. Today the market is blind and takes us only where profit leads, serving the wealthy
at the expense of everything else. As we have seen, it promotes economic, social and ecological outcomes
that are the opposite to those of sustainability and human dignity.
This is why we need to work out a viable path into the future and consciously steer society in the right
direction if Spaceship Earth is to remain a viable home. The following transitionary path sketches out such a
path, a path that is based on meeting the necessary conditions of sustainability and creating a decent and
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rewarding life for all the people of the planet, no matter which part of it they may live on. Whatever plan we
come up with, it will almost certainly be along the general lines described. The range of viable options
defined by these conditions is fairly narrow. Fortunately, the future that is portrayed is highly attractive,
much more desirable than the stressful rat race we currently find ourselves caught up in.
This vision sees the transitionary path as one of intense social and economic activity for the next 25 years or
so as we build the physical and social infrastructure of the sustainable society. It will be a period of full
employment and will bring us out of the current global recession until we have made the transition and these
considerations will no longer be important once the mass production economy is superseded by the
sustainable society.
The transition will necessarily have many facets or dimensions. From a spiritual/social/psychological
perspective, it will be about cultivating and encouraging the better qualities of human nature. It will be about
people all over the world working together for the common good, about helping and lifting up the less
fortunate rather than exploiting and pushing others down. It will be about cultivating the emerging new
worldview that more accurately reflects our understanding of the world and human nature. From a
material/ecological/economic dimension, it will be about building a new physical infrastructure that is highly
durable and meets our material needs with minimal ecological impact and repairing the ecological damage of
the past 200 years as best we can.

Some Transitionary Details

In simple terms, the transition is a response to an emergency situation on Spaceship Earth and involves a
period of roughly 25 years of directed incremental global change, driven by the democratic process, to
transform our societies into sustainable ones.

Reclaiming Government
The first step involves the citizenry reclaiming government from political parties and the powerful vested
interests they serve. It is about reclaiming democracy, because the necessary changes cannot occur without
democratic oversight and public control. The necessary changes will only be possible to put into effect in the
short timeframe available through our governments. Reclaiming government would mean government is
us, not them. Government would evolve towards less bureaucracy and more community participation,
involvement and local control. Government would play a much more facilitatory role, enabling communities
to evolve in a sustainable direction.
It is about a participatory process of planning our way forward. The necessary biophysical constraints need
to be understood, discussed and agreed upon. We need to decide what material flows and processes are
essential and viable and those that are not on the basis of biophysical sustainability. It will be important to
create a basis of social support as some economic activities are curtailed. Increasing public ownership will
provide a basis for social support

Undoing Economic Rationalism

The first economic step in the transition is to undo economic rationalism (neo-liberalism) as a matter of
urgency and move towards a more Keynesian economic environment with increased government intervention
and the re-establishment of publicly owned enterprises in key areas such as infrastructure construction,
energy generation and banking.
The new economic paradigm of ecological economics (not environmental economics!) will need to be
fostered and serve as the basis for designing and creating the sustainable society. It should be noted that this
vision is inspired and shaped by the insights afforded by the ecological economic paradigm based on the
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foundational work of Kenneth Boulding, Nicholas Georgescu-Rogen and Herman Daly. An early initiative
will be ecological tax reform to create a set of incentives/disincentives that promote sustainability.

Financial Reform
Addressing financial reform is of the highest priority, first because the financial system is the fundamental
driver of unsustainability, and second, because the financial system is highly unstable and collapse is a very
real possibility. The chaos, anarchy, martial law and profound human suffering that would follow such a
collapse must be avoided at all costs. Consequently, it is vital to put in place an emergency plan to deal with
financial system collapse, hopefully to pre-empt such a collapse.
It is also important to begin measures to put the financial system onto a sounder footing such as the reintroduction of Statutory Reserve Deposits and preparing for a 10-year transition to 100% reserve. This is
necessary to remove the exponential growth imperative and will also make public funds available for the
necessary education and research to underpin the transition as well as the funds necessary for the
construction of the sustainable infrastructure.

Research
Significant funding needs to be spent on mapping all resource flows, particularly their rates and ecological
impacts as the initial phase of planning our way into the future. The reason is that we need to understand the
economy as a system of material flows and transformations because these are what are currently
unsustainable. We cant understand this problem from the abstract perspective of economics because it only
deals with monetary flows. Additionally, things that are possible in the abstract world of economics are
impossible in the real world. Or more accurately, they may be possible in the short run, but become
completely untenable in the long run, ultimately destroying the ecological and material basis of our existence.
There is an urgent need to start identifying, researching and measuring these resource flows on a prioritised
basis, addressing the most pressing sustainability constraints first. Establish sustainability clearinghouse to
pool all available research and information on sustainability. Fund the establishment of think tanks where
paradigm shifted researchers and thinkers can work together on addressing sustainability issues and in
mapping the way forward. This must be open to all comers with something to offer. Design eco-efficient
systems and processes because we know that markets have no incentive to do this.
Initiate the necessary research to fill the key gaps in understanding sustainability and the limitations of the
market. Research and initiate the necessary paradigm shift in all levels of education and through the media
so that the necessary path into the future becomes obvious common sense to society at large. Initiate
research into defining and designing the durable physical infrastructure of the sustainable society and
prioritise the retro-fitting of a coal-fired power station to solar thermal based on the Mojave Desert station as
a practical example of a first step in the transition.

Education
Begin a public education campaign on sustainability and what it really means, and more importantly, the
necessity and benefits of changing course and steering for a sustainability goal. Educate about the next 25
years of directed and planned economic growth and the leisure society at the end of it when we will have
greatly reduced the volume of production and consumption. Begin an advertising campaign to cultivate and
encourage values consistent with our better nature and with sustainability. In particular, it is important to
transcend making money as our purpose in life and to realise the higher quality of life we can achieve
through adopting this approach. It is important to cultivate a sense that all purposeful activity is of equal
worth, that we all have something of value to contribute.
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Educate to dispel the virtual reality created by spin doctors and advertising.

Informed Consumption
Encourage discerning consumption and greatly increase the information (labelling) associated with goods
and services so that the impacts of consumption choices on sustainability, equity and democracy are
transparent when buying decisions are made.

Corporate Reform
Begin a process of corporate reform where all corporate entities have to re-apply for a charter. This needs to
be on the original basis of serving the public good. Encourage shareholders to transfer their shares
progressively into public ownership. This may not be so difficult when people realize we are all in this
together, that Spaceship Earth will be a lifeboat for a while and that lifeboat ethics will have to prevail.

Collective Decision Making

There is a need to make a transition from individual decision-making to collective decision-making. To some
extent we see this in the different ways we vote politically and when we vote with our wallet when making a
purchase. We tend to take the greater social good into consideration when voting but usually consider only
our own interests when purchasing. However, if we have been made aware of the social or environmental
impact of a purchase (see consumption reduction) we are more likely to make a more socially oriented
choice. Through the various transitions of the Great Transformation, we have been cultivated to think
increasingly individually and less socially.
We must limit our personal freedoms where they impinge negatively on the welfare of others. Even the most
strident libertarians are starting to realise that ultimately, their welfare depends on the welfare of those around
them.

Rebuilding Community
Initiate a funded national Rebuilding Community program to begin healing and rebuilding our sense of
community and in particular, to help the less fortunate in meeting their basic needs and cultivating in them a
sense of worth, dignity and purpose. Encourage changes of lifestyle including healthy eating, exercise and
spirituality and in particular, imbue these activities with a sense of fun and conviviality.
Rebuilding community is both a social and a political process. Institutionalising a National Discussion Day
is an initial step in rebuilding community. It is important to empower a more participatory polity and to
create a sense of community spirit through community discourse and the realisation that concerns are widely
shared.
Create community halls, workshops and spaces in all communities. Encourage people to donate their tools,
lawnmowers, etc into community resource libraries so these resources may be shared and surpluses can be
sent to other areas or countries in need. Encourage community involvement in local sustainability initiatives.
This may include the transforming of suburbia into edible landscapes. Reduce the working week to four days
and declare Monday as community day thus giving people more time to devote to their community. This is
to be seen as a day of purposeful activity, of celebration, goodwill and conviviality - a day on which we can
reach out and assist those more needy than ourselves (and not particularly in the material sense). It can also
be a day when we reach out in friendship to those in our community that are different to us, whether in socioeconomic background, culture or ethnicity and realise our shared humanity. It may also be desirable to have
themes for some or all of the community days to build greater cohesiveness and sense of purpose across the
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country. For example, converting backyards to permaculture over time to a general plan with TV programs
showing us how to do it and the variety of ways in which we can do it may be a theme in spring
In this context of greater community, it will be much easier to car pool and do other things collectively so
that ecological impacts are reduced.

Building Global Community

Hold out the hand of friendship to our brothers and sisters in less developed countries and assist them where
they choose, to leapfrog into the building of their own highly durable sustainability infrastructures.

Re-Civilising: Cultivating our Humanity

The current socio-economic system tends to cultivate the less desirable side of human nature. It is really
important to allow the innate goodness in humanity to flourish through the cultivation of an ethos of helping
others in the spirit of cooperation and social harmony, to lift up rather than push down, to value the diversity
we have to offer and to value it equally because it is the offering of another human being rather than valuing
it for its use value.

10. Making it Happen

Now we will look at how we can make the necessary transition happen. The real obstacle to making the
transition is political. The socio-economic system is a system of power and those with the power have an
interest in maintaining the status quo or power will move elsewhere. Propaganda is used both as a tool of
disempowerment and to manufacture consent to maintain the status quo by removing the threat that
democracy poses to this system of power. It is also used to promote the excessive levels of mindless
consumption on which this system of power is based.
The only power that is powerful enough to overcome this situation and steer our society in a sustainable
direction is people power and that needs to be informed or enlightened people power. This can be realised
through a peoples movement to educate, empower and mobilise the public to reclaim control over their
destinies, to reclaim democracy, and ultimately, to build a sustainable society in the quest for human survival.
The conditions for change are ripe. The population is increasingly disillusioned with the way things are and
where society is heading. The propaganda that underpins and perpetuates the current system is weak and
vulnerable because it is based on assertion and collapses in the face of facts and evidence. The other
necessary conditions for change are a vision of a better world and how to achieve it. This vision does this.
It, together with the survival imperative, can inspire and motivate people across the planet to work
cooperatively to ensure that our beautiful planet with its intricate mantle of life and the wonder of human
consciousness can continue on its evolutionary journey into the unknown.

Stage 1
This vision sees what needs to be done as a two-stage process. The first stage involves harnessing people
power and creating a movement for positive social change. It is about empowering and coordinating large
numbers of people to demand positive social change via the democratic process. It is about democratising
society through participation.
The ideal unifying theme for coordinated action is the rejection of the economic rationalist assault on
democracy, on the social fabric, on the planets life-support systems, and indeed, on all the social gains that
people have struggled for over the past century. This is a desirable objective in itself. As we have also seen,
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it is also the first necessary step on the path to a sustainable society. More importantly, it creates an
organised and empowered citizenry who can insist that governments act for the public good. This vision sees
this movement starting in Australia and then spreading to eventually become global.

Stage 2
The first stage establishes sound foundations for the longer term, second stage of the strategy - the
transformation of our society into a sustainable one over a generation as suggested. This can be implemented
through the democratic process via government as the people reject the destructive economic rationalist
vision of the major political parties and vote for independents committed to the new vision demanded by the
public.
So how do we harness people power and channel it creatively and positively?

Quest 2025- A Facilitatory Vehicle

Quest 2025 has been established as a facilitatory vehicle to help make all this happen. Its key role is to
educate, empower and mobilise the citizenry. Most importantly, it will provide a single avenue through
which the fragmented voice of concern can be heard loud and clear. It is my view that this disparate voice
can be harnessed by identifying economic rationalism as a common denominator at the root of almost every
issue that is of concern. Every issue needs to be understood as a facet of the economic rationalist assault on
everything we value. Before people can win on their single issue they need to win on economic rationalism.
Few if any issues can be won while we remain in the economic rationalist context. However, by uniting in
our diversity to wind back economic rationalism through coordinated, empowered, mass participation in the
democratic process, we can make our politicians serve the common good. If they don't, we will vote for
leaders in our communities who are not beholden to political parties who will serve the common good.
Quest 2025 will provide the initial vision and leadership and will facilitate the education, empowerment and
coordinated mobilisation of concerned citizens and organizations both through the Internet and on-theground grassroots networks so that the fragmented voice of concern can be channelled and focused.

Education (Unspinning the Spin)

The educative role includes spelling out the vision, and more importantly, the evidence to back the substance
of the vision. It will educate people to the facts and help them see through the propaganda that helps to keep
us on the unsustainable path that suits the short-term interests of the powerful.

Empowerment
The empowerment role will include breaking the spell of disempowerment showing there are alternatives
and making it very clear that economic rationalism and globalisation are not inevitable. Additionally, many
people undertaking small actions in a coordinated way can be a very powerful force and each success will
further empower people to the possibilities of positive social change.

Mobilisation in Common Cause

Economic rationalism has relied on the tactic of divide and conquer and fragmented society into a sea of
individuals so intent on their individuality that they have lost their sense of social responsibility and
cohesion. Coming together in common cause will be the key to sustainability and survival. The first step
will be to come together and reclaim democracy so the damage of economic rationalism can be undone.
Then, united in diversity, people can come together to rebuild community and embark on a 20 year project to
build a sustainable infrastructure across the world.
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Web site
The hub of Quest 2025 is an electronic infrastructure consisting of a comprehensive web site at
www.Quest2025.net and an associated number of email lists. The website will contribute to the functions of
education, empowerment and mobilisation. There will be educative material relating to all aspects of the
quest for a sustainable society; there will be numerous tools of empowerment; and mobilisation will be
planned, organised and coordinated via email and the website.
There will be a significant number of pages on the website, each catering to a single issue. Associated with
each of these issue pages will be a number of email lists, each with a specific function. Through this
infrastructure, people and organisations of common interest or concern can link up and network, plan
campaigns, coordinate their actions and so on. The relationship of each issue with economic rationalism will
be clearly spelt out. This provides the common ground on which the diversity of interests and issues can
unite in common cause. When there is a big issue, all the people involved in all the issues can be mobilised
in a coordinated way.
If people have an issue and it is consistent with Quest 2025 objectives, they will be able to get their issue
included on the website. In other words, it will be a comprehensive resource to underpin and facilitate all
aspects of positive social change.
While the Internet plays a vital role, people also need to meet face-to-face in their communities. The on-theground grassroots membership will be built up in a number of ways including the institutionalisation of a
National Discussion day, networking existing networks and through the recruitment of high profile
champions who can promote the quest, give it credibility and attract media attention or at worst, make it hard
for the media to ignore the quest.

National Community Discussion Day

Quest 2025 aims to institutionalise an Australia-wide community discussion to be held on a given day every
two months. Anybody wanting to organise a meeting in their community (whether its around the kitchen
table or in the city hall) will be able to download a script to guide the meeting from the website. In that way,
meetings held in the same way with the same focus can be held across the country. Generally, they will be
about the future of our society. As a society, we need to ask: Where are we heading? Do we want to go
there? Are we heading in a viable direction? What are the viable options? Where do we want to go? As a
society we need to decide where we want to go and then plan how to get there.

Elect Servant-Leaders, Not Politicians

Each meeting will also include an empowerment exercise and as results are achieved, and the idea of the
quest takes hold, the number of meetings and the people attending them will grow. Once we have a
movement, these meetings can also be the basis for choosing people from within the community who we
trust to represent our interests in the political sphere. In choosing these people, we must be aware not to
choose people who seek power. Rather, we must choose those who are reluctant but are willing to make the
sacrifice to serve their community.
This process will move us eventually towards a position where the community is envisioning a sustainable
society, the course we need to steer towards this goal and the generally agreed step by step process of
transforming our society from where it is now into a sustainable society. Once we have mobilised a
significant level of people power, the citizenry will require their representatives to implement the commonly
agreed vision.
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11. Conclusion - The Adventure

See the Quest as Adventure
Transform Economy to Society
Transform Consumer to Citizen
Rebuild Democracy & Community
Heal Self, Society & Planet
We have no Choice!!
This draft is evolving. Comments or feedback to Richard Sanders at Quest2025@dodo.com.au
Website: http://members.dodo.net.au/rlsanders/

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