INTRODUCING SOLUTIONS Ways forward to true prosperity

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INTRODUCINGSOLUTIONSWays forward to true
prosperity

• Arthur Dahl
• IEF/EBBF Annual Conference
• 20 September 2008
• http//www.bcca.org/ief and http//www.ebbf.org

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There is a conflict between growth and
sustainability.Where are we going?
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Future business climate(we don't like to hear
bad news)The Cooper-Rogoff Debate on US current
account deficit, Davos, January 2006WEF Global
Competitiveness Report 2006-2007

• Larry Summers Global imbalances are one of the
  most important threats to global prosperity
• Richard Cooper US current account deficit (660b
  in 2004) is natural and sustainable because US is
  attractive to investment
• Ken Rogoff US deficit mirrors government
  borrowing beginning of the end. US eating up
  70 of global net savings. US housing slump could
  cause drop in overvalued US of up to 40 and
  loss of its role as global reserve currency,
  precipitating a financial market crisis with
  serious impact on inflexible economies of Europe
  and Japan
• The economy is irrational

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A press view of what is ahead

• On current trends, ...humanity will need twice
  as much energy as it uses today within 35
  years.... Produce too little energy, say the
  economists, and there will be price hikes and a
  financial crash unlike any the world has ever
  known, with possible resource wars, depression
  and famine. Produce the wrong sort of energy, say
  the climate scientists, and we will have more
  droughts, floods, rising seas and worldwide
  economic disaster with runaway global warming.
• John Vidal in The Guardian Weekly, 9-15 February
  2007, Energy supplement, p. 3
• We shall probably do both at the same tine

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Scenariosplausible futures

• Business as usual in a materialistic society
  ignoring the future
• Retreating to a fortress world of old values
• Making a transition to sustainability

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Scenarios from World 3(Meadows et al. (1992)
Beyond the Limits)?

• Business as usual Transition 1995
  Transition 2015

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COLLAPSE OF CIVILIZATION?(image IKONOS
Lang, ESRI 1998)?

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Denial, Depression or Action?Do we have a
choice?

• Can we go and hide on a remote island?

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End of the growth paradigm

• What is more realistic?
• Exponential growth?
• The normal distribution, bell-shaped curve, or S
  curve of rate of change?
• Economic growth has depended on population
  growth, energy growth, resource growth and
  technological innovation
• The first three all end in this century
• All that is left is our brains and heart

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Welcome to the new sustainability paradigm

• balance
• optimal size
• subsidiarity
• efficiency
• de-materialization
• closed systems

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Redefining Prosperity

• Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not
  in the pageantry of wealth and riches. Take heed
  that your words be purged from idle fancies and
  worldly desires and your deeds be cleansed from
  craftiness and suspicion.
• Dissipate not the wealth of your precious lives
  in the pursuit of evil and corrupt affection, nor
  let your endeavours be spent in promoting your
  personal interest. Be generous in your days of
  plenty, and be patient in the hour of loss....
  Guard against idleness and sloth, and cling unto
  that which profiteth mankind, whether young or
  old, whether high or low.
• Bahá'u'lláh

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Combining material and spiritual civilization

• ...although material civilization is one of the
  means for the progress of the world of mankind,
  yet until it becomes combined with Divine
  civilization, the desired result, which is the
  felicity of mankind, will not be attained....
  Material civilization is like the body. No matter
  how infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it
  may be, it is dead.
• ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of
  'Abdu'l-Bahá, 227, pp. 303-304)

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Purpose of the development of society

• That purpose must be sought in spiritual
  dimensions of life and motivation that transcend
  a constantly changing economic landscape and an
  artificially imposed division of human societies
  into "developed" and "developing".
• (Bahá'í International Community, The Prosperity
  of Humankind)?

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The real purpose of development

• the real purpose of development... is laying
  foundations for a new social order that can
  cultivate the limitless potentialities latent in
  human consciousness.
• (Bahá'í International Community, The Prosperity
  of Humankind)?
• not no growth, but a new kind of growth

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Sustainabilityis a dynamic concept

• Not a goal to be reached but a balance to be
  maintained in space and in time
• Involving complex interactions in the whole
  system that maintains life on Earth (the
  environmental component)?
• Including the human system (the social and
  economic components)?
• That must respect planetary limits

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To achieve sustainability, we must...

• redefine our goal and purpose
• understand the evolutionary processes pushing
  globalization, including population growth and
  scientific and technological development
• identify the major driving forces behind
  unsustainable trends
• define and implement the responses necessary to
  put us on sustainable trajectories

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Building a New World Orderthe alternative
scenario

• "All men have been created to carry forward an
  ever-advancing civilization."
• (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of
  Bahá'u'lláh)

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Design Criteria for World Order(based on Shoghi
Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah) 1

• Central principle The unity of the human race
• Form world commonwealth
• Characteristics
• - all nations, races, creeds and classes closely
  and permanently united
• - autonomy of its state members safeguarded
• - personal freedom and initiative of the
  individuals safeguarded

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Design Criteria for World Order 2

• Structure
• World legislature
• - members will be trustees of the whole of
  mankind
• - control the entire resources of all the
  component nations
• - enact such laws as shall be required to
  regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust
  the relationships of all races and peoples
• World executive to safeguard the organic unity of
  the whole commonwealth
• World tribunal to adjudicate all disputes

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Design Criteria for World Order 3

• A mechanism of world intercommunication
• - embracing the whole planet
• - freed from national hindrances and restrictions
• - functioning with marvellous swiftness and
  perfect regularity.

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Design Criteria for World Order 4

• The economic resources of the world will be
  organized, its sources of raw materials will be
  tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be
  coordinated and developed, and the distribution
  of its products will be equitably regulated.
• (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh,
  p. 203-204)?

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Design Criteria for World Order 5

• - causes of religious strife permanently removed
• - economic barriers and restrictions completely
  abolished
• - inordinate distinction between classes
  obliterated
• - destitution and gross accumulation of ownership
  will disappear.

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Design Criteria for World Order 6

• The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war,
  whether economic or political, will be
  consecrated to
• - extend the range of human inventions and
  technical development
• - increase the productivity of mankind
• - extend scientific research
• - exterminate disease
• - raise the standard of physical health
• - prolong human life

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Design Criteria for World Order 7

• - sharpen and refine the human brain
• - exploit the unused and unsuspected resources of
  the planet
• - further any other agency that can stimulate the
  intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of
  the entire human race.

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Design Criteria for World Order 8

• A world federal system ruling the whole earth
• - exercising unchallengeable authority over its
  unimaginably vast resources
• - blending and embodying the ideals of both the
  East and the West
• - liberated from the curse of war and its
  miseries
• - bent on the exploitation of all the available
  sources of energy on the surface of the planet

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Design Criteria for World Order 9

• - a system in which Force is made the servant of
  Justice
• - whose life is sustained by its universal
  recognition of one God and by its allegiance to
  one common Revelation
• such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled
  by the unifying forces of life, is moving.
• (based on Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of
  Bahá'u'lláh, p. 203-204)?

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How do we get from here to there?

• Not central planning (the ends justified the
  means, but...)?
• Random evolution? (survival of the strongest
  rather than the fittest)?
• Establishing the right ground rules and letting
  the system evolve in all its diversity

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ENGINEERING PLANFOR ASUSTAINABLEGLOBAL SYSTEM
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Sustainabilitymeans addressing theEthical
Challengeegotism versus altruismme first
versus all together
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Sustainable development is at the interface of
science and ethics

• We need to redefine "development"( growth for
  economists) within a more universal framework
  including society, culture, science and
  spirituality
• What is our purpose as individuals and as a
  society?
• What are some of the ethical principles that
  should guide society towards sustainable
  development?

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What rules/values will enhance integration?

• To evolve more efficient and balanced systems, we
  need to increase integration in diversity at
  multiple levels of organization
• How do we do this?
• The "technological fix" lies in "human
  engineering" education, investment in human
  capital, development of human potential,
  sustainability across generations
• This requires ethics/values in balance with
  science

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The importance of values

• Ethics and values are what determine how humans
  relate to each other
• They are the social equivalent of DNA, encoding
  the information through which society is
  structured
• The most effective way to transform society is to
  change its values
• What values can provide the ground rules for
  sustainability?
• (based on proposals by the Baha'i International
  Community)

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THE ROLE OF SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE

• There are spiritual principles, or what some call
  human values, by which solutions can be found for
  every social problem.... Leaders of governments
  and all in authority would be well served in
  their efforts to solve problems if they would
  first seek to identify the principles involved
  and then be guided by them.
• (Universal House of Justice, The Promise of
  World Peace)?

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HOW DOES NATURE DO IT?Sustainability in
thecoral reef ecosystem

• Efficient solar energy and materials capture by
  generating large surface area
• Efficient energy transfers within system,
  symbioses
• Little waste, effective recycling
• High complexity and integration
• Maximizes total productivity, not just most
  productive

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ENVIRONMENTAL
DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
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Sustainability an ethical concept- We are
trustees or stewards of the planet's resources
and biodiversity. We must- ensure
sustainability and equity of resource use into
distant future- consider the environmental
consequences of development activities- temper
our actions with moderation and humility- value
nature in more than economic terms- understand
the natural world and its role in humanity's
collective development both material and
spiritual(based on Bahá'í International
Community, Valuing Spirituality in Development.
1998)?
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Sustainabilitya fundamental responsibility

• Sustainable environmental management is not a
  discretionary commitment we can weigh against
  other competing interests
• It is a fundamental responsibility that must be
  shouldered, a pre-requisite for spiritual
  development as well as our physical
  survival.(based on Bahá'í International
  Community, Valuing Spirituality in Development. A
  concept paper written for the World Faiths and
  Development Dialogue, Lambeth Palace, London,
  18-19 February 1998)?

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Preserving the Ecological Balance

• For the sustainable economic and social
  development of all countries, agriculture and the
  preservation of the ecological balance of the
  world are fundamental.

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Moderation in Material Civilization

• The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned
  exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed
  to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great
  evil upon men.... The day is approaching when its
  flame will devour the cities...
• Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892)

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Living within environmental limitsis possible

• To maintain the planet's ecological balance, we
  must
• - reduce human impacts to a level appropriate to
  the vulnerability and resilience of the systems
• - restore damaged systems to the level necessary
  to maintain natural and human ecosystem services
• - allow population growth and development only to
  the extent that system improvements extend the
  carrying capacity of the planetary system

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The Promise of Renewable Resources

• To be sustainable long into the future, the
  economy must be based on renewable resources
  (agriculture, forests, fisheries,
  bio-industries), closed materials cycles and
  integrated product lifecycles

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SOCIAL

• DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

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For social sustainability

• In increasingly diverse communities, how do we go
  from prejudice and withdrawal to open integration
  and unity?

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Community

• How do we create unity in diversity?
• What is the best size for a community?
• What does the information revolution mean for
  community life and organization?

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JUSTICE AND EQUITY

• - It is unjust to sacrifice the well-being of
  most people -- and even of the planet itself --
  to the advantages which technological
  breakthroughs can make available to privileged
  minorities
• - Only development programmes that are perceived
  by the masses of humanity as meeting their needs
  and as being just and equitable in objective can
  hope to engage their commitment, upon which
  implementation depends
• (based on Baha'i International Community,
  Prosperity of Humankind)

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Solidarity and Altruism

• We should consider every human being as a trust
  of the whole.
• The goal of wealth creation should be to make
  everyone wealthy.
• Voluntary giving is more meaningful and effective
  than forced redistribution.

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Cooperation and Reciprocity

• Cooperation and reciprocity are essential
  properties of all natural and human systems,
  increasing in more highly evolved and complex
  systems

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Trustworthiness

• Trust is the basis for all economic and social
  interaction
• Public opinion surveys show little trust in
  politicians and business
• Would you sign an agreement with someone you did
  not trust?

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Spiritual traditions have always
taughtContentment moderate lifestyles

• ...be content with little, and be freed from all
  inordinate desire.
• (Bahá'u'lláh)
• What does this imply for the consumer society?

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ECONOMIC

• DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

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Sustainability requires rethinking economics

• - The present economic system is unsustainable
  and not meeting human needs
• - 50 years of economic development, despite some
  progress, has failed to meet is objectives
• - The global economic system lacks global
  governance
• - It is not the mechanisms of economics that are
  at fault, but its values

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Questions

• Is eating your only purpose in life?
• Should profit be the only purpose of business?
• Should you try to keep growing forever?
• Should growth be the main goal of businesses and
  economies?

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The true purpose of economics

• Economics has ignored humanity's broader social
  and spiritual needs, resulting in
• - Corrosive materialism among the wealthy
• - Persistent poverty for masses of the world's
  peoples
• Economic systems should give the peoples and
  institutions of the world the means to achieve
  the real purpose of development the cultivation
  of the limitless potentialities in human
  consciousness.
• (adapted from Bahá'í International Community,
  Valuing Spirituality in Development, 1998)?

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The present economic system cannot deal with
sustainability

• - Economic thinking is challenged by the
  environmental crisis to change?
• - Insisting that there is no limit to nature's
  capacity to fulfil any demand made on it
• - Attaching absolute value to growth, to
  acquisition, and to the satisfaction of people's
  wants
• - Making economic decisions at the national level
  when most of the major challenges are global

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We need new economic models that

• - further a dynamic, just and thriving social
  order
• - are strongly altruistic and cooperative in
  nature
• - provide meaningful employment
• - help to eradicate poverty in the world
• They should give the right signals for challenges
  like climate change, sustainability and the
  development of human potential (not just GDP)?

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Wealth creation

• Wealth is praiseworthy in the highest degree, if
  it is acquired by an individual's own efforts...
  in commerce, agriculture, art and industry, and
  if it be expended for philanthropic purposes.
  Above all, if a judicious and resourceful
  individual should initiate measures which would
  universally enrich the masses of the people,
  there could be no undertaking greater than
  this,... for such a benefactor would supply the
  needs and insure the comfort and well-being of a
  great multitude. Wealth is most commendable,
  provided the entire population is wealthy.
• ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization)?

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Sustainability requires a new entrepreneurship

• We are in the middle of a major transformation in
  society
• The past is not a good predictor of the future
• Change is inevitable, and the rate of change is
  accelerating, requiring adaptive management
• Globalization cannot be stopped, but it can be
  transformed
• Institution building for international governance
  will continue
• We can consciously work for change, or wait for
  catastrophe to force us to change
• There will be new forms of wealth creation and
  business
• Creativity, innovation and adaptive management
  will be increasingly necessary for success
• Values and ethics will be fundamental to social
  and economic transformation

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The goalan organicallyunited world

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The years ahead will be difficult, but there is
reason for hope

• The multiple challenges of sustainability are
  pushing nations to work together in their
  collective interest

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Thank you

• The planet will thank you too