We have but two choices:
to be sustainable or not.
Currently, we're choosing "not."
By definition, that does not
bode well for humanity.
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) has a wealth of resources
including scientific research papers and other information on the impacts of economic growth to the environment and the sustainable solution: a steady state economy. You can also join individuals and organizations from around the world, and sign the CASSE position statement on economic growth as a first step in moving towards a sustainable society. The Qualicum Institute endorsed the CASSE position in 2006.
There is a lot of information within these pages concerning sustainability issues. Here, we have sought out the best science available, and you will find references throughout that you can check for yourself. So don't take our word for it; the future belongs in your hands. Spend some time thinking about our tenets. Have a look at our sustainability definition then check out our mission. Start with the questions in the column to the right and see how the answers fit with your worldview. And if you think you've found a mistake we've made, please let us know.
As a society, we have not been living in a sustainable manner. Here we intend to show that 1 - we are totally dependent on ecosystems and their biodiversity for our social well-being and for any healthy economy we may be fortunate enough to achieve, 2 - that there is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and biodiversity conservation (which affects 1, above), and 3 - that there is a solution to our endless-growth economy in the form of what ecological economists call the steady state economy, a sustainable economy that functions within the physical and ecological limits of the biosphere.
Economic growth, the root cause of our unsustainable ways, is creating a serious conflict with the ecosystems of the Earth. Because of this fundamental conflict, biodiversity loss is likely to become a problem of far greater importance, even than that of climate change, unless we stop our perennial drive for more and more growth and move to a sustainable economy.
What can we do as individuals?
Interviewer: These are enormous problems. What can I as an individual do about them?
Noam Chomsky: There’s a lot we can do. We’re not going to be thrown into prison and face torture. We’re not going to be assassinated. We have enormous privilege and tremendous freedom. That means endless opportunities. After every talk I give in the United States, people come up and say, “I want to change things. What can I do?” I never hear these questions from peasants in southern Colombia, Kurds in southeastern Turkey under miserable repression, or anybody who is suffering. They don’t ask what they can do; they tell you what they’re doing. Somehow the fact of enormous privilege and freedom carries with it a sense of impotence, which is a strange but striking phenomenon. The fact is, we can do just about anything.1
One more thing. This web site is powered by 100% Green Energy. Our
web host purchases "green energy tags," from a certified green energy supplier who pumps 100% equivalent energy back into the power grid based on the web host's total energy consumption from traditional sources. This, in effect, eliminates the CO2 emissions from the power that they would have purchased from a non-green energy source.
1 Chomsky, N. 2005. Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World. Interviews with David Barsamian, Page 90. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York
Read our weekly columns on sustainability issues, "This view from Oceanside," which appears Mondays in the Oceanside Star. Column archives can be found here.
Where are we in terms of being a sustainable culture? Here is our situation in a nutshell; this is what we have to understand.
What is the root cause of our problems with the environment? The symptoms, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, peak oil, and a host of other problems must be addressed, it's true. But if we only address the symptoms and not the root cause, our efforts will undoubtedly fail.
Is the Qualicum Institute optimistic or pessimistic about our future?