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FERNTV: Can you explain briefly some of the major differences between this year's publication of State of the World 2010 and last years?
Erik: Every year, State of the World helps to draw attention to cutting edge sustainability issues. In years past, this has included redefining understandings of security, our rapidly urbanizing world, and this year the necessity of shifting cultures away from consumerism and centering them instead on sustainability. If we keep trying to solve environmental problems separately, like climate change, overpopulation, deforestation, toxification of soil, air and water, we will fail—as these are all simply side-effects of a cultural system that is out of touch with Earth’s natural boundaries. Instead, we need to proactively and intentionally redirect cultures toward a new paradigm—namely sustainability. Unlike past reports that have devoted a lot of space to the problems, most of this report focuses on strategies that are already being used to harness leading institutions to shift cultural patterns. These institutions—business, the media, governments, education, social movements, and traditions—need to be harnessed to drive a new cultural “normal.” We need to make it as natural for people to find meaning in how much they’re doing to help heal the Earth and improve society as it is today to find meaning in how much stuff they own. Consumerism is simply not compatible with life on a finite planet with a population of 6.8 billion.
FERNTV: Would making a cultural shift to sustainability be attained through a top-down or bottom-up approach?
Erik: Of course both. But most important is to tap the entrepreneurial spirit in all people, so that they focus their energy on shifting institutions over which they have influence. So a teacher shouldn’t just green her personal consumption patterns, and vote, but can play a leading role in transforming the curriculum and the practices in her classroom, her school, school district, and even the broader educational sector, if she commits her energy to this.
FERNTV: Does this book prove that "We are what we eat." and that being of course that we overconsume?
Erik: There is no doubt, even before this book was written, that we are consuming beyond Earth’s ability to sustain the human species. And by we I mean those in the affluent one-third of humanity. The ecological footprint, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and materials analyses all demonstrate that the way we live today is completely unsustainable. What’s scary for some is how little we can consume before we hit unsustainable levels. Once people earn over a certain amount, their discretionary incomes start going toward less sustainable goods: televisions (which encourage consumption very effectively), computers, air conditioners, larger homes than we need, and air travel, to name some. Take air travel as an example. Ultimately, we’ll need to live in a world where flying is a rare (meaning once-a-lifestage) indulgence, not a perceived entitlement. How do we make this shift? Nothing short of a cultural transformation will do it. We’ll need to start engineering a shift in cultural norms so that regular flying becomes a taboo, and the social pressure against it will lead to its decline. (Of course, we’ll also need to use government to tax air travel more heavily, and business entrepreneurs to create alternatives, and effective use of all above-mentioned institutions.) And if this sounds a bit manipulative, keep in mind that the automobile industry, the airline industry, and many other industries, all spent decades and billions of dollars to engineer this initial shift so that cars, planes, and other luxuries would become perceived as necessities in the first place.
FERNTV: If we do not make this cultural paradigm shift, will we definitely prove Thomas Malthus and his theories on population right?
Erik: It is not simply population that will determine our decline, but how that population consumes. If all lived as Americans, Earth could only sustain 1.4 billion people. And even if we lived as middle-income residents (about $5,000 per person), Earth could sustain just 6.2 billion people, fewer than are living today. Yet another 2.3 billion are on their way by 2050. Clearly, if we don’t make a shift, something is going to give, and sadly that’s going to mean people’s well-being. Earth has gone through hot periods in the past, and has done just fine, but the many species on which our survival depends will disappear and that’ll mean a significant decline in humanity’s ability to thrive.
FERNTV: How does a media outlet like FERNTV make an impact towards making this cultural change to sustainability?
Erik: The media has played a central role in helping orienting cultures on consumerism. It can also play a leading role in redirecting cultures toward sustainability. While media influence is concentrated in the hands of a small group of multinational corporations, the Internet has enabled entrepreneurs like you to create media outlets and shape readers/viewers reality with very little financial resources. The more outlets—like FERNTV—that commit to spreading ecological wisdom and a vision of a culture of sustainability, the faster this cultural shift will occur!
Erik Assadourian is project director of State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability
You can read more about the report, and the Transforming Cultures blog at www.transformingcultures.org
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The Worldwatch Institute publishes a book every year to discuss the State of the World. This year this organization stresses the idea of a cultural shift that must take place towards sustainability in their publication State of the World 2010. FERNTV caught up with project director Erik Assadourian to get some quality air time and to discuss this much needed shift...
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