Has Today's Ecological Footprint Outgrown Earth?

Has Today's Ecological Footprint Outgrown Earth?



Aug. 2007  - There is one complex term to 
describe our future: limited biocapacity. The Earth's limited biocapacity 
is the greatest challenge we face. We are 
already facing it, but the severity of its effects depends on where you 
live and how much money you have. 
The planet provides some amazing ecosystem services for our economy. It 
recycles our polluted air and dirty water; it provides timber, cropland, 
and many other raw materials and support services. In just 1960, the 
ecological footprint of the world economy consumed about half of 
the earth's resource capacity. In other words, our 1960 world economy 
consumed less than what the earth was able to renew, recycle, or produce 
as ecosystem services.

Twenty five years later the ecological footprint of the world economy 
doubled. In 1985, we hit the threshold of using everything the planet 
could renew, recycle, or produce each year. 

If the ecological footprint of 
our world economy had stayed at this level, society's demand on nature 
would be in balance with nature's capacity to meet that demand-assuming we 
had transitioned from oil to renewable energy. But that's not what 
happened. 

Fast forward to 2007 - we have super sized everything and we keep on 
multiplying and consuming like never before. We now use the planet's 
resources faster than they can regenerate. We are able to keep growing and 
consuming because we are liquidating ecological capital rather than living 
off annual yields.
 
Today our ecological footprint is over 20 percent larger than the planet 
can regenerate. 

From a money management perspective, what if year after year your expenses 
were more than your income and you had to dip into savings to make ends 
meet? It is simply not sustainable or possible. Investors will need to 
readjust their return expectations because the Earth does not have the 
biocapacity to sustain this growth. It is not physically possible. Past 
performance is no guarantee and is actually a false indicator of future 
return.
 
During the last 47 years, the world's population has doubled to 
six billion people and is expected to reach nine billion in roughly 
another 45 years. 

The majority of our new global citizens are born into 
poverty. As demand for precious resources such as oil and water increases, 
so does the disparity between rich and poor. Increasingly, it is only the 
rich who can afford what were once readily available natural resources - 
including clean air and drinking water.
 
We have learned that when the global community fails to meet the very 
basic needs of all people, there is conflict, terrorism, and war.

 Although it is sometimes easier to live in the denial 
 and relative luxury of our 
comfortable homes, this is the world in which we live. 
The chance of turning this crisis around is small but possible. Because it 
is such a challenge, we must minimize the denial and start helping with 
the solution to increase our probability. At times we all feel like 
throwing up our hands in despair and deciding there is nothing we can 
personally do, but this reaction is not part of the solution. 

Education and communication about the ecological crisis are essential. 
Increasingly, with the help of the internet and other independent media 
channels, the voice of public opinion is now beginning to shift the global 
community. The bandwidth of this voice is competing with corporate-owned 
media as we approach a tipping point. From the supermarket to the stock 
market and on to the voting booth, global public opinion is the next 
superpower positioning to change the direction of corporations and 
governments. Our voices can only be heard, and our votes can only be 
counted, when we speak out.
 
Many would say we have some serious environmental and investment 
challenges ahead. Some would say we are facing an ecological, and 
potentially financial, crisis. Regardless of your opinion of the severity 
of the situation, simply stated, our waste and pollution cannot 
systematically increase and our natural resources cannot systematically 
decrease.

Today, half of the 100 largest economies in the world are not countries. 
They are corporations with a mandate to maximize wealth for shareholders, 
at the expense of the environment, employees, and the community. Investors 
are a critical catalyst for transitioning the investment process to 
support investments that build - rather than erode - the natural, social 
and economic capital in communities worldwide. 

---