A Good Life for All Within our Planet’s Sustainability Limits
By: Tim Jackson
Tags: Climate Action, World, Environment, Sustainability, Psychology

A Good Life for All Within our Planet’s Sustainability Limits

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Overshooting Boundaries

An international group of scientists identified nine planetary boundaries that quantify the sustainable use of natural resources on our planet. These boundaries are defined by critical thresholds that, if persistently transgressed, could lead to catastrophic environmental change (Rockström et al., 2009).

Today, four out of nine boundaries have been surpassed.

Climate change may threaten our existence on earth as it could have irreversible consequences to our climate systems. The loss of biodiversity has reached alarming rates, and unsustainable ways of agriculture have interfered with the phosphorus and nitrogen cycle.

We are literally pushing ourselves beyond the planetary boundaries of life-supporting systems and endangering this beautiful planet on which all of our lives depend.

Meanwhile, millions of people still live in poverty with no access to education, health care, food, or proper housing.

O´Neill, et al. (2018) argue that no country achieves to meet the basic needs of their citizens at a level of resource use that is sustainable. Developing countries stay within the planetary boundaries; however, fail to satisfy the basic needs of the people. On the contrary, a minority of industrialised countries excessively use up all resources while overshooting critical boundaries to maintain high living standards.

“I f everyone on Earth were to lead a good life within our planet’s sustainability limits, the level of resource use to meet basic needs would have to be reduced by a factor of up to six” (O´Neill et al., 2018)

How can we create a world in which we ensure the well-being of people and live well within the environmental limits of our planet?

In further research, Raworth (2012) interconnects the concept of the planetary boundaries with the social challenge to meet the basic needs of people. She envisions a space for sustainable development by combining the 9 planetary boundaries with 11 dimensions of social foundation.

The hole in the middle represents a place where people are not meeting basic needs. The aim is to get people out of the hole into the green doughnut; the “safe and just space for humanity”. But…

…only without overshooting the ecological ceiling by stressing our natural resources.

“We need to learn to thrive in a dynamic balance between the social foundation and the ecological ceiling”(Raworth, 2012)

It’s widely known that no country thrives between the social foundation and the ecological ceiling. Countries either overshoot critical environmental thresholds or cannot provide for the basic needs of their people.

As a German citizen, I am blessed to live in a country that provides social support in terms of free education and health care. A country that provides for the well-being of its people and a country in which everyone can live a prosperous, happy, and satisfied life.

However, the costs are incredibly high— Germany is among the countries that contribute a large share to the global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Ministry for the Environment, the average CO2 emissions per capita are around 10.9 tonnes per year. Shooting over the ecological boundary tenfold!

Think About Others

If we want to change something, we need to think about the people that are still in that hole, people that live below their basic needs — A lot of resources will be required to get people out of the hole, over the social foundation, and into the safe and just space.

Even more resources will be required as the global population is forecasted to grow significantly in the coming decades.

It is evident: Industrialised countries must drastically cut their use of resources. It’s the only way for earth to get back to the edge of critical environmental thresholds but most importantly, to make room for developing countries to create acceptable living conditions for their citizen.

Photo by Ella Ivanescu on Unsplash

Stop Denying Your Responsibility

I believe that the planetary boundary framework does a solid job of revealing important and critical circumstances. However, it fails to achieve two essential things:

It holds no one responsible It does not provide a solution to the problem

Ironically, being more responsible is part of the solution. But many people struggle, including myself.

I would consider myself to be environmentally friendly. I think most people do. But if we really were, the situation would look different.

I do feel guilty. I really struggled to hold myself accountable for my actions and their impact on the environment. I found it tough to feel responsible for something that is not visible nor quantified. What effect could I have for Germany’s overall carbon footprint anyway?

I love travelling to new places, but the trips I did were not responsible. I knew that oversea flights are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), but I still went on several trips to New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Central America.

Looking back, my thinking was irrational.

“If it’s only a few other people taking this plane and me, it cannot have too much of an impact, right?”

I have realised that people think in similar patterns. If everyone thinks about it as I did, we end up where we are right now — In a world driven by growth and consumption, overshooting critical environmental thresholds while many countries struggle to meet the basic needs of its people.

Your Brain Is Messing With You

I find it everything but easy to be more responsible for my carbon footprint in today’s world. We are constantly bombarded with calls to consumption and social media platforms promote to live up to what others do and own. It has become the new normal. And then there is our mind. It likes to fool us to think that more of this or more of that will improve our happiness and finally satisfy us. It is so wrong.

Why would you think that people continue to consume, buy the latest phones, and own several cars. It is certainly not because these things provide surplus value to them and their happiness. If you think that’s true, your mind is probably messing with you.

In my humble opinion, everyone should intend to question one’s own thinking patterns and beliefs. Understanding behaviour psychology is useful for so many things. It can help you to brake bad habits and to understand your own thinking and actions.

With all that in mind, I asked myself — How can I do better and be more responsible to minimise my carbon footprint so that everyone on this planet can lead a good life within our environmental limits?

Photo by Mike Erskine on Unsplash

Beyond Planetary Boundaries

I needed new incentives since I was failing to hold myself accountable. Funny enough, you can mess with your brain the way your brain messes with you.

I started to envision how Raworth’s Doughnut would look like on a personal level. Now, imagine the doughnut to be a representation for each individual, the social foundation would represent your well-being and the ecological ceiling your personal consumption and use of resources.

It is your own doughnut that represents your actions and decisions. You are responsible for the resources you use and for the carbon you emit into the atmosphere.

It helped me to change my perspective — Suddenly my resource use is quantified and matters.

If we learn to think about our own personal ecological ceiling in our day-to-day life, three things will happen.

1. You will become climate conscious

Firstly, you will become more conscious about the decisions and actions you take every day. It becomes a habit to think about how they would impact your personal ecological footprint.

Buying new clothes, the latest phone, the next flight — It becomes apparent that consuming these things would soon overshoot your personal ecological ceiling. Are they essential after all?

You will start to think about consumption differently. You will realise that you don’t really need new clothes or this cool new thing one of your friends bought the other day.

2. You will improve your happiness

Secondly, you will notice that more consumption is not improving your happiness. It’s quite the opposite — you will feel better about yourself.

Every time you leave your car at home and take the bike or public transport instead, you free up resources. Every time you renounce a purchase, be it clothes, or a new phone, you free up resources — Positive side effect: It bumps up your happiness.

There has been a ton of research about what actually improves the happiness of people. In her famous Coursera course, “The Science of Well-Being”, Laurie Santos provides excellent examples and evidence for what actually makes people happy (I highly recommend this free course).

More stuff — not on the list. Even though buying a new car might pump up your happiness in the short-term. It will soon become routine, and you will want the next cool thing. You remain unsatisfied, which reduces your happiness.

Experiences actually have a benefit and make us happier than materialist purchases. You can always come back to these experiences through memories. However, research suggests that the location and the amount spent on these experiences is not considerably improving happiness.

And I can confirm! You probably too. I used to go camping with friends over the summer, and it’s been the best time of our lives. A trip to Paris was fun as well, but I wouldn’t consider it be a better experience. And, I probably used up more resources than in the 8 years of going camping over the summer.

We need to learn to consume sustainably and in ways that actually improve our well-being to free up resources.

3. You will inspire others

Thirdly, people around you will notice.

Even though it can be challenging at first — You sacrifice while others keep consuming. Try to focus on yourself and inspire others.

Soon, friends and family will recognise that you are happy with what you have got. You don’t need to buy the latest things, you take your bike and public transport, and you go on a camping trip on your next holiday.

Your habits impact people around you in so many ways. Not everyone will follow your example, but some people will. Your actions matter!