When I worked with sustainability in Madison, Wisconsin, I remember providing an abundance of locally produced organic food to the chef at a local college so he could create a full organic meal for an event. I contacted him several times in the lead-up to the event and noticed he seemed to have a dismissive attitude. At the event, it turned out that he had only used the organic produce for a tiny soup and not for the main dish. When I asked him about it, he said: “You can’t make a whole meal with organic food”.
It has stayed with me because it seems to reflect a modern mindset that sees anything organic or sustainable or natural as a kind of fringe hippie thing and not something that’s workable or realistic.
It’s a mindset I have trouble understanding, although I understand that many have been misled by the systematic “better living through chemicals” marketing. In this case, the local organic food was of far higher quality than the chemically-produced food from the supermarket that had traveled thousands of miles that he chose to use for the main dishes. Also, we have eaten organic food for the vast majority of human existence, it’s only in the last few decades it has changed. The best chefs around the world have used locally produced organic food.
Our civilization operates on systems that assume that nature is infinite. It assumes that nature has infinite resources for us to use and that it has infinite capacity to absorb our waste. That’s obviously far from reality.
We live as part of a finite planet with a finite capacity to replace the natural resources we use and a limited capacity to deal with the waste we produce.
Our systems need to reflect that reality, or it will lead to a collapse of our ecosystems and, along with it, the collapse of our civilization.
We are in a global ecological overshoot. Our civilization is using far more natural resources than our planet can replace. We would need two or more planets to support our current way of life. It’s similar to spending more money from our bank account than what is replenished through interests, and there are no other sources of income. It looks fine for a while until we reach the bottom of the account, our lifestyle cannot be supported anymore, and it all comes crashing down.
It’s a simple calculation that even a child can understand, and often do. It’s more often the adults who deceive themselves and pretend it’s not so serious, or a hippie thing, or for someone else to deal with.
Fortunately, we have the solutions. We know the systemic changes necessary, and we know many of the more specific solutions as well. Unfortunately, making the change requires a collective will and we seem to be far from having found that yet.
When people who study global ecological overshoot talk about the collapse of ecosystems and our civilization, it’s not hyperbole. It’s an inevitable outcome if we continue as we do. That’s why sustainability and culture change is necessary and inevitable if we want to survive.