The “Eightfold Way” and the Encouraging Developments
James Gustave Speth in his book titled Red Sky at Morning offers an interesting and detailed explanation about the problems of global environment, the causes of global environmental deterioration, why most attempts at international environmental protection have failed, and what changes should be done to turn the situation at least a little bit around. He talks about eight broad transitions that need to be applied to have a global environmental protection and sustainability. He says that in each of these eight areas “there are encouraging and hopeful developments on which to build” (Speth 152).
The first of these transitions to sustainability that Speth talks about is the need for “a stable or smaller world population” (Speth 152). Different projections show that the number of people for earlier projection was higher than they are now. The reason for this decline might be giving women more social and political power, making family planning programs more available, and providing women with more employment opportunities. The encouraging development of “a stable or smaller world population” is that women in rural villages, that are thought to increase the global population to 0ten billion people, are taking charge and responsibility of their lives. For this assertion Speth gives a fact by saying that in India alone, by 2100 there may be 600 million fewer people than predicted. However, in order to have a population decline, there should be fully funding the United Nations’ Cairo program.
The second transition to a sustainable world should be “free of mass poverty.” About 2.5 billion people living in developing countries don’t have the basic needs for everyday life. They lack sanitation, safe drinking water, adequate housing, and enough food. The encouraging human development is that since 1960 life expectancy has increased from 46 years to 64 in developing countries, the child death rates have fallen, adult literacy rose by 26 percent from 1970 to 2000. In order to have a progression in terms of the means needed to realize the Millennium Development Goal of eliminating world poverty by 2015 Speth suggests 7 points. He says that poor countries as a solution should have economic growth, social safety nets like welfare and unemployment payments, investments in small-scale infrastructure reaching to the poor, investments in basic social services, sustainable livelihoods, regenerated environmental resource base , and social and political empowerment. However, “the proper developmental model” is to have all these elements.
The next transition is about technology. In order to have a reduced pollution and resource consumption while keeping the economic growth constant, we need to have a big transformation in our technologies in the field of manufacturing, energy, transportation, and agriculture. The new technologies should be made with eco-efficiency in mind that use the least natural resources and produce the least residual products. The encouraging development is that from 1990 to 1998 while coal consumption grew not at all, wind energy grew at an annual rate of 22 percent. Wind energy emits less carbon dioxide than coal-fired electricity, it is safer for birds, and it is less noisy (Speth 66). Speth says, “The needed regulatory and economic incentives should include both a shift away from technology-based standards…toward standards that provide incentives for continuous technological improvements as well as a shift to full-cost pricing…” (Speth 160).
Another transition is the transition called “environmentally honest prices”: a transition in the public management of the economy and in the use of market forces. Market forces are needed to make sure that pollution harms are counted in prices. To properly value the environment, we need to reform national income and products account. The development of a comprehensive economic account is a high priority for the nation. The encouraging development in this transition is the Germany’s and other European nations’ adapted tax shift idea. Speth writes, “Germany is shifting the tax burden from something one wants to encourage-work and the wages that result- to something one wants to discourage-energy consumption and the pollution that results”(Speth 163).
The fifth is “a transition in consumption form unsustainable patterns to sustainable ones”(Speth 166). This transition is about spreading consumers and households that are “environmentally smart and socially aware” (Speth 167). We need to consume things that have been made in environmentally friendly way and insist on recycling and reusing the consumer products. On of the hopeful developments in this area is that “product certification, green labeling, and product biographies have made a start” (Speth 167). The other is the new legislation in Europe and Japan requiring that the consumer durables be recycled.
The transition in knowledge and learning is the sixth one. This transition is all about teaching students, ordinary people, and in general everyone to be environmentally literate. The general knowledge of the people is vital to achieving a sustainable world. The hopeful sign is that now there are many universities that offer degrees in environmental management that will train the future generations.
Institutions and governance are the places where the next transition should occur. We should go from Frog (think about economy before environment) to GEOpolity (turn to governments to focus the market on environmental and social ends) and Jazz (people and businesses create a world full of initiatives). In order to make GEOpolity work, there should be a transition in governance to capable, accountable, and democratic governments and there must be new institutions, procedures, and understandings. On the other hand, Jazz requires an information-rich, wired environment, so connectivity should be increased. The hopeful development in this transition is that many businesses and investors are playing Jazz. As Speth mentions, “Environmental groups, consumer groups, and other NGOs, private businesses, state and local governments, foundations, religious organizations, investors, and others are behind a remarkable outpouring of initiatives that are the most hopeful things happening today” (Speth 184).
The last transition must take place in culture and consciousness. People in the twenty-first century must be caring, nurturing, and sustaining. They should be free form their old bad habits of thought like “the enchantment of limitless material expansion” (Speth 192) and think more about the quality of life, strong human ties, and a strong connection to nature. The encouraging development is the drafting of the Earth Charter, which is “an eloquent statement of the ethical principles needed to ‘bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace’”(Speth 193).
In conclusion, I have briefly summarized the eightfold ways that James Speth suggested in his book Red Sky at Morning and in each case I have given the encouraging developments of the transition. The main purpose of these transitions is to further human welfare.
Works Cited
Speth, James Gustave. Red Sky at Morning. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004.
Written for English 104
28 November 2005