Conversation Earth

The best scientific estimates tell us human civilization is in overshoot. Were you aware of this? Do you know what overshoot is? Earth Overshoot Day in 2020 is August 22.

Computer modeling by a team of MIT scientists in 1972 estimated the scale of human activity on the planet would cause systems to fail within a hundred years. Such failure is expected when humanity’s footprint on the planet consistently exceeds its carrying capacity. Since 1972, study after study, and report after report, has warned we are in overshoot – the sum total of human activity is too much for the Earth’s ecosystems to bear.

Since 2003, scientists at Global Footprint Network have been analyzing UN data and satellite imagery to estimate the planet’s capacity to meet our needs (biocapacity), and humankind’s footprint - or demand (ecological footprint) - on that capacity. Their analysis suggests we have been in overshoot since about 1970. Welcome to Overshoot explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem.

Reported by: Dave Gardner

Interviews:

William Catton, author of Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change

Brian Czech, author of Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution, and executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Herman Daly, author of Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development

Paul Ehrlich, Stanford Biologist, author of The Population Bomb

Kerryn Higgs, author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet

Ian Johnson, former World Bank vice president, former secretary general of Club of Rome

Bill McKibben, environmental journalist, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, co-founder of 350.org.

Dennis Meadows, lead scientist, The Limits to Growth

Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist

William Rees, co-originator of ecological footprint analysis

Bill Ryerson, President of Population Media Center and Chair of Population Institute

Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston University and author of Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth

John Seager, CEO of Population Connection

Gus Speth, former chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Mathis Wackernagel, founder of Global Footprint Network and co-author of Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget

Rex Weyler, environmental journalist

Links:

Earth Overshoot Day

https://www.overshootday.org/

The Limits to Growth

http://donellameadows.org/the-limits-to-growth-now-available-to-read-online/

Conversation Earth

http://www.conversationearth.org/episode-list

GrowthBusters Podcast about sustainable living

http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast

Since 1972, study after study, and report after report, has warned we are in overshoot – the sum total of human activity is too much for the Earth’s ecosystems to bear. Welcome to Overshoot explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem. Featuring comments from William Catton (author of Overshoot), William Rees (co-originator of ecological footprint analysis), Kate Raworth (author of Doughnut Economics), Herman Daly, Paul Ehrlich and many more luminaries. (New episode 7/25/19)

Was globalization a temporary state that has run its course? That’s the case made by Jerry Mander, who believes there is plenty of evidence that the promises of capitalism, consumerism, individual wealth and never-ending growth are coming up empty. He’s founder of the International Forum on Globalization and author of The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward the Local. He also wrote The Capitalism Papers: Fatal Flaws of an Obsolete System in 2012.

Jerry Mander is in a unique position to understand the power of advertising to move us to act against our best interests. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, he ended up in the advertising business, eventually as a partner at a San Francisco ad agency. He managed several early ad campaigns for the Sierra Club, working with famed environmentalist David Brower. In 1971 he founded the first non-profit advertising agency in the United States, Public Interest Communications.

Mander grew to realize the power of advertising was being used to preserve an unsustainable system that requires ever-increasing amounts of consumption. In response, he authored Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television in 1978. He founded the International Forum on Globalization in 1994 and continues to serve as a Distinguished Fellow.

This conversation was recorded in Jerry Mander’s office in 2011.

Hollywood director Tom Shadyac traded a mansion and private jets for a mobile home and a bicycle. He had found the traditional trappings of success were not the key to happiness. After a successful Hollywood comedy career and a near-death bicycle accident, Tom eagerly shares his discoveries about life and happiness.

In part two of a two-episode conversation, Shadyac discusses technology, morality, competition, success and politics.

His documentary, I Am, explored what’s wrong with the world and what we can do about it. His book, Life’s Operating Manual, shares his observations about the true meaning of life.

Learn more at http://www.conversationearth.org

Tom Shadyac is a successful Hollywood comedy director who found the traditional trappings of success were not the key to happiness. He traded a mansion and private jets for a mobile home and a bicycle. After a bicycle accident nearly killed him, he decided it was time to tell a different kind of story.

His documentary, I Am, featured interviews with Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, David Suzuki, and others about what’s wrong with the world and what we can do about it. He also wrote the book, Life’s Operating Manual, which is a lot like it sounds.

In part one of this two-episode conversation, Shadyac discusses human nature, the definition of success, and our cultural story, with a few references to Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump along the way.

Tom Shadyac Films:

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

The Nutty Professor

Liar, Liar

Patch Adams

Bruce Almighty

Evan Almighty

I Am

NOTE: We’re bringing you encore episodes from the 2nd season of Conversation Earth while we make plans for the future. Please support the continuation of Conversation Earth with a tax-deductible donation at http://www.tinyurl.com/ceseason3 Learn more and subscribe to our weekly updates at http://www.conversationearth.org

Host Dave Gardner explains why we'll be sharing encores from the 2nd season of Conversation Earth in the coming weeks, and why there are likely to be no more new episodes. The link mentioned in this brief message from Dave is http://www.tinyurl.com/CEseason3

While world leaders wring their hands over forecasts of timid GDP growth, a growing list of visionaries around the world are collaborating to redefine economic objectives in a more meaningful and sustainable way. Former White House advisor Gus Speth has been at the forefront of new economic thought for decades. His prescription for change is not a bunch of economic mumbo-jumbo for boards and bankers. His ideas reach deep into the way we conduct our personal lives.

 

“We need to get beyond this consumerism, to get beyond our hyperventilating lifestyles...and start focusing on the things that really matter to us, to our future, to our children.”

In this 2010 interview, Gus Speth shares new thinking about the purpose of an economy, how climate change was discussed in the Jimmy Carter White House, the successes of environmentalism, and where and how the environmental movement has failed us.

NOTE: We are between Season 2 and Season 3. We’re bringing you encore episodes from the first season of Conversation Earth during this break. Visit http://www.tinyurl.com/ceseason3 to make sure Season 3 happens. Thank you!

How we inhabit our homes, our lives, and the planet.

Architect Sarah Susanka observed that houses in the U.S. were getting larger – but some rooms were seldom occupied, and often not even furnished. She found clients frequently did not get the immense satisfaction they expected from living in their “dream house.” How this relates to the way we inhabit our lives, and even the planet, is the subject of this conversation.

Sarah Susanka’s observations of Americans’ dissatisfaction with their “starter castles” sparked her to write Not so Big House, about how making a house bigger doesn’t necessarily make it better. The book was a major success, leading to appearances on major network morning shows and Oprah. More observation and reflection led Sarah to pen, several years later, The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters. It was a landmark book, important for its perspective on quality vs. quantity, and its encouragement to reflect on what we want “more” of.

We’re sharing the best episodes from Season One while we take a break between seasons 2 and 3. This 2008 interview is interwoven with a lively presentation Sarah made at the University of Denver.

“Our computer-generated scenarios all showed this growth stopping in the early decades of the 21st century, and, I must say, looking back now, it seems that we're right on schedule.”

Dennis Meadows led the team at MIT whose computer simulations led to the publication of the top-selling environmental book of all time – The Limits to Growth. Scientists built on Jay Forester’s pioneering system dynamics work to chart future trends of five variables, analyzing how they would influence one another. The five variables were world population, industrialization, pollution, food production and resource depletion.

 

Their World3 computer model’s business-as-usual scenario did not paint a rosy picture, and many economists and industrialists criticized the study harshly.

 

“Our work challenged the foundations of modern economic theory.  It made life for politicians very uncomfortable, and threatened corporations who were looking to increase their markets.  So, all of them, especially the economists, really lit out after our work, and criticized it roundly….”

 

In recent years, several studies have confirmed that the “standard-run” scenario turned out to be remarkably accurate. This may offer an explanation of the growing list of environmental crises and the inability of the global economy to maintain the robust growth rates experienced earlier.

Learn more at http://www.conversationearth.org

Relocalization may be the most important strategy for minimizing climate change. According to Bill McKibben, “working as communities is the most important thing that we can be doing right now.” In this wide-ranging conversation about the sustainability of our civilization, McKibben shares his thinking about much more than climate change, including the fact that having “more” is not necessarily the key to our happiness.

Bill McKibben has played a major role in public awareness and discussion about climate change. His 1989 book, The End of Nature, was likely the first book for a general audience about climate change. He’s one of the founders of the planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, 350.org, he spearheaded resistance to the Keystone Pipeline, and launched the fossil fuel divestment movement.

Local food, small farms, suburban isolation, more leisure and less stuff, community connections, and greater satisfaction all come up for discussion. Dave Gardner sat down with McKibben in 2007, shortly after publication of his book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, the year before he co-founded 350.org, for this macro-level look at climate change, human behavior and happiness, and public policy.

We're sharing encore episodes from Season One while we take a break between seasons two and three. Make sure there IS a season three by pitching in at http://www.tinyurl.com/ceseason3

Learn more about Bill McKibben, subscribe to get a weekly email notification and learn more at http://www.conversationearth.org