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Resolutions

To Action
LCWR Global Concerns Committee

Volume 19, Number 1 February 2010

ILLth: Uneconomic Growth


David Kane & Kathy McNeely
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
It is clear that this cannot go on. A linear becomes uneconomic growth. Instead
Experience system focused exclusively on growth of producing wealth, we produce
illth, a term originally coined by John

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cannot continue forever within a finite
any have compared todays Ruskin, a 19th century philosopher, to
planet. Will we continue at the current
economic crisis to the Great mean the opposite of well being.
pace and use up the last of our grand-
Depression. Indeed, with
childrens resources in a final splurge
official unemployment surpassing 10 The pattern of growth in the US and
of consumption? Or will we radically
percent and debts forcing a grow- Europe over the past 40 years could
renew our lives and our economy to
ing number of families to leave their well be called uneconomic growth
live within the boundaries of Earth in
homes, it is easy to see similarities. it creates more illth than goods.
time to leave our progeny some limited
Both financial crises were rooted in a Ecological economist Herman Daly and
resources?
prior period when the financial sector others made a case for this by creating
of our economy became too large the Index of Sustainable Economic Wel-
and influential, putting the rest of the Social Analysis fare (ISEW) which measures 19 items
economy at great risk. including, but not limited to, income

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e need to change our mentality inequality; public spending on health
But there are significant differences and education; costs associated with
from that of a cowboy with an
between our current situation and pollution, commuting, etc.; the deple-
ever extending frontier of re-
the 1930s. At that time, Earths re- tion of natural resources; and the loss
sources to exploit, to that of an astronaut
sources appeared to be endless. Today, on a spaceship with very limited resourc-
however, we find ourselves running es. In 1965, Kenneth Boulding wrote,
up against an increasing number of Resolutions to Action is an occasional publica-
Earth has become a space ship, not only tion of the Global Concerns Committee of the
physical limits to our growth. Look at in our imagination but also in the hard re- Leadership Conference of Women Religious
this chart of the usage of almost any alities of the social, biological, and physi- (LCWR). Members of the committee are:
natural resource during the last few Kathleen Bryant, RSC; Jacquelyn Doepker,
cal system in which man is enmeshed
hundred years and you will see an OSF; Judith Justinger, SSJ; Janet Lehmann,
In a space ship there are no sewers. SC; Miriam Mitchell, SHSp; Kathleen Storms,
exponential growth line that looks like
We need to change the rate we consume SSND; and Marie Lucey, OSF, staff. Please
a hockey stick lying down. Name the
resources to below the rate which Earth address correspondence to:
resource water, oil, forests, carbon
can replenish them and reduce our waste LCWR
emissions, minerals, fisheries and
to levels which Earth can absorb. 8808 Cameron Street
you can see that we are on the verti- Silver Spring, MD 20910
cal side of a line that shoots off into 301-588-4955
When we have surpassed the natural ca- fax: 301-587-4575
infinity, while our planet is very, very www.lcwr.org
pacity for regeneration, economic growth mlucey@lcwr.org
finite.
of farmland and natural habitats. When conditions: that they gather up no more ing to both market and Earth system
they made graphs comparing the US than what they needed; and that they imbalance.
ISEW to US GDP, they found that the distribute it to all in the community.
graphs ran together from 1929 through In places like the US more emphasis Cooperation: If we do not all coop-
the 1960s; but from the mid-1970s, US must be placed on a sufficiency-based erate, we are not going to emerge
ISEW remained stagnant while US GDP economy where all people, regardless of stronger from the current crises.
continued to grow. From the mid-1970s gender, race or other characteristics, eq-
until the financial crisis US GDP has uitably share access to Earths gifts that
grown, while US ISEW, our physical Action
and ecological well being, has declined.

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Economic growth in the US has caused We need to change the rate
tremendous ecological destruction, but othing less than a paradigm shift
it has not brought us happiness. we consume resources is required to move human con-
sciousness and action toward re-
The challenge facing global citizens in
to below the rate sponsible and sustainable use of limited
natural resources beyond exploitation
this financial crisis is not simply how to which Earth can replenish them toward a relationship of respect and
bring back the ever-growing economy,
but to develop a steady state economy and reduce our waste to levels synergy with the natural world. A new
that respects Earths limits and needs coalition has formed called Faith-Econ-
which Earth can absorb. omy-Ecology that has identified four
while distributing the limited resources
equitably so that all are guaranteed key areas to work for change: 1) help
their basic needs: an economy in which create this paradigm shift; 2) reorient
well-being flourishes in communities nourish and sustain them: nutritious the global economy away from growth
of less industrialized nations that have food, clean water, suitable shelter. and toward sustainable human devel-
experienced underdevelopment and opment; 3) create community-centered
de-growth, or downsizing occurs in Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff economies that provide equitable and
communities in industrialized nations underscores four essential ethical sustainable development; and 4) return
that use a disproportionate share of principles that should undergird all our private corporations to their proper
Earths resources. actions:

Respect: Every being has intrinsic We are called to be


Reflection value and can serve the good of
a prophetic people -
humanity if guided not by purely
utilitarian ethics, such as those which prophetic in denouncing

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od created the world and put predominate in the current socioeco-
Adam and Eve in the Garden of nomic system, but rather by a feeling our current broken economic sys-
Eden to work it and take care of of mutual belonging, responsibility
and conservation of existence.
tem and prophetic in announcing
it. (Gen 2:15) But can humans beings
say that we have truly taken care of the new
Earth? Is God pleased with how the Care: A loving, non-aggressive at-
stewards have preserved the amazing titude which repairs past harm, and
gift that is Earth? Or has the sight of avoids future harm must extend into place in society. Consider signing the
massive pollution, extinction of thou- all areas of individual and social hu- FEE coalitions base statement and
sands of species of plants and animals, man activity. participating in their monthly working
and overuse of most of its resources meetings.
brought sadness to Gods heart? Collective responsibility: Our ac-
tions can be beneficial or harmful We are called to be a prophetic people
When God led the Israelites out of for life and for the common good of - prophetic in denouncing our current
Egypt, God established a new economy, the Earth and humanity. The current broken economic system and prophetic
a Sabbath economy through the gift financial and ecological crises are the in announcing the new; showing a fresh
of manna (Exodus 16). God provided result of a lack of responsibility in our way of organizing ourselves in a more
manna to meet peoples needs on two collective projects and practices lead- sustainable and equitable way.

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