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Nature & the Environment17 min read
Earth for All
by Sandrine Dixson-Decleve
A Survival Guide for Humanity
Published: November 6, 2022
4.5 (52 ratings)
Table of Contents
Book Summary
This is a comprehensive summary of “Earth for All” by Sandrine Dixson-Decleve. The book explores a survival guide for humanity.
what’s in it for me? feel empowered to fight for radical change.#
Introduction
sandrine dixon-decleve and others.
earth for all.
a survival guide for humanity.
our planet is on the brink.
ecological collapse and widespread social unrest loom on the horizon.
the pain points are clear.
extreme inequality, reliance on fossil fuels, destructive agricultural technologies, and unsustainable diets.
they've all brought us to this point.
so where do we go from here?
earth for all explains two likely scenarios.
the first is the too little, too late scenario, where we continue on this current path.
industrialization and growth are prioritized over the planet's health, and as a result, inequality grows even more extreme.
global warming far outstrips the 2°c goal set out in the 2015 paris climate agreement.
large communities face mega-droughts, famine, and extreme weather events.
low-income countries are disproportionately affected by these adverse events.
the social tensions arriving from this inequality fuel conflict and mass migration.
the second is the giant leap scenario.
it entails a rapid, large-scale systemic overhaul of the global economy.
a daunting prospect, sure, but it's one that will redress key inequalities and insecurities around poverty, population growth, food, and energy, and just might save the planet in the process.
inequality keeps the planet from prospering.#
inequality keeps the planet from prospering.
in india, a family lose their farm.
recent rice harvests have been ravaged by drought, and the profits from their meager harvests have been eroded by multinational agro-companies undercutting the sale price for their rice crops.
drought-resistant rice seeds are available, but the family simply can't afford to buy them.
meanwhile, in california, a billionaire boards his private jet for a 15-minute flight between two cities.
there's something wrong with this picture.
gross wealth inequality is one of the most pressing problems facing our planet today.
the richest billion people in the world consume 72% of the planet's resources.
the poorest 1.2 billion, most of whom reside in low-income countries, consume 1%.
moreover, high-income countries cause the most carbon emissions.
yet low-income countries shoulder a disproportionate share of the negative effects of these emissions.
outsourcing production to low-income countries has seen wealthy corporations offload polluting manufacturing processes to the developing world.
until low-income countries prosper economically, they will continue to struggle to implement the green technologies necessary to combat climate change, which is, for them, a particularly urgent problem.
low-income countries, and indeed low-income communities within high-income countries, need a pathway out of poverty.
the problem?
they can't simply emulate high-income countries, which only became prosperous through ecologically ruinous industrialization anyway.
instead, the global economic system needs a rethink.
currently, the imf regulates a global debt structure that sees countries borrowing and lending to each other with substantial interest.
many low-income countries are held back by massive debt obligations.
repayments—funds that could otherwise be reinvested into social and ecological initiatives—are estimated to cost some african countries 4% of gdp a year.
this has been exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic, which saw debt in low-income countries soar to $86 billion.
a comprehensive global debt relief package would immediately improve the economies of low-income countries.
debt weakens local currency and negatively impacts liquidity.
lifting debts would strengthen currencies and free up cash to invest in social initiatives and local industry.
a global green new deal—one that legislates against corporations investing in polluting industries in the developing world—would incentivize all economies to switch to green technologies.
a carbon tax levied squarely at carbon producers—crucially, one that distinguishes between the country or corporation responsible for emissions and the country where emissions are recorded—should reduce the global carbon footprint.
if intellectual property laws which protect the patents on new green technologies were relaxed, poor countries would be able to swiftly implement ecological sustainable farming and manufacturing processes.
education and economic opportunity can stop overpopulation.#
education and economic opportunity can stop overpopulation.
population growth has often been seen as a ticking time bomb threatening to destroy the planet.
anxiety about the growing number of people competing for earth's depleting resources is nothing new.
in the past 100 years, the world's population has doubled—twice—and if population growth continues at its current rate, the world population will balloon to 11 billion people—a number that will place the planet under considerable strain.
but the workable, compassionate solution to this situation isn't quite as simple as slowing population growth.
instead, it lies in empowering some of the world's most vulnerable demographics—women and the elderly.
population growth isn't spread consistently across the globe.
in some high-income parts of the world, the birth rate is less than two children per woman.
women in low-income countries are likely to have more children.
in west africa, for example, the birth rate is six or seven children per woman.
and why is this?
higher-income women are more likely to be educated, have careers, and be informed about family planning options.
these are all factors that lead to both a lower birth rate and a higher income per person.
if women in low-income countries can access quality education, they'll see increased social mobility and economic opportunity.
these changes will, in turn, impact their family planning.
but low-income countries burdened with debt have little revenue to inject into education.
overhauling debt structures would enable low-income countries to improve the quality and accessibility of their educational offerings.
while education improves economic opportunity, an even more immediate intervention to lift vulnerable demographics out of poverty is the introduction of a universal basic income.
a pilot program providing ubi to indian women with no stipulations about how it should be spent showed improved nutritional and educational outcomes for their families and increased economic growth overall.
it's high time that initiatives like universal basic income were framed as investments rather than expenditures.
the finding that ubi can actually drive economic growth is widespread, and it presents an innovative solution to another demographic issue.
as we approach 2050, our population will grow increasingly elderly.
as more and more of earth's inhabitants age out of work and move into the health problems posed by old age, how do we support them all?
through a substantial ubi.
in fact, the authors propose an enhanced version of a universal basic income – a universal basic dividend.
the private sector pays fees for extracting and consuming earth's resources into a fund.
dividends from this fund are distributed equally among all the planet's citizens.
there is a better way to feed the planet.
there’s a better way to feed the planet.#
let's compare and contrast a young woman from a low-income country and a young man from a high-income one.
the young woman from a low-income country has no access to varied, nutritious food, even though the region where she lives is largely agricultural.
the food grown there is exported to other countries.
she lives with chronic undernutrition, meaning stunted growth, wasted muscles, and a weakened immune system.
she is one of the 9% of people worldwide who live with extreme food insecurity.
the young man from a high-income country has access to plenty of food.
much of it is flown in from low-income countries, but the most affordable options are highly processed with added fats and sugars.
he lives with obesity.
he's at increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.
he may be one of the 8% of people worldwide whose deaths will be linked to obesity each year.
despite the dramatic difference in their diets and circumstances, both of these people are victims of the inequitable and unsustainable ways in which we farm and distribute food.
in its current state, agriculture is destroying the planet.
when it comes to carbon emissions, this industry is one of the biggest culprits.
it's the world's largest driver for loss of biodiversity, deforestation, pollution, and overfishing.
by 2050, in order to meet the population's demand, the planet will need to produce 50% more food all while battling the increasingly frequent extreme weather events that will reduce the amount of arable land.
the current model sees monocultural crop production concentrated in a few regions and then exported globally.
grain, for example, is grown primarily in russia, ukraine, argentina, and australia.
russia's invasion of ukraine destabilized two major grain producers, sent grain prices soaring, and highlighted the precarity of the current system.
so, what's to be done?
after all, there is no escaping the fact that we still need to eat.
the focus needs to shift to sustainable intensification, in other words, do more with less.
how?
land expansion needs to stop, farms need to curb carbon, and food needs to be produced efficiently.
the key to pulling it all off might be right under our noses, or more accurately, under our feet.
soil is a natural carbon storer, but as that carbon is exposed to the air, it becomes carbon dioxide and enters the atmosphere.
conventional agricultural practices have seen soil lose between 50 and 70% of its carbon stock.
rotating crops, meaning using the same land to grow different crops rather than monocropping, improves soil sustainability and capacity to store carbon.
growing diverse crops also helps prevent pests and diseases that attack one kind of crop from becoming endemic.
this enables farmers to use less polluting pesticides, too.
cover crops, planted to cover the soil rather than for harvest, can also maintain the structure and integrity of the soil.
new technologies allow seeds to be drilled into soil, which limits the exposure of stored carbon to oxygen.
this regenerative farming technique will also allow for more food to be produced for local consumption in greater quantities using less land.
all this won't come cheap.
it will be expensive.
at the risk of sounding like a broken record, an overhaul of the political system that drives global economic practice must happen for the planet to make this necessary shift to regenerative agriculture.
changing the agricultural process won't be enough alone.
those of us in high-income countries need to radically rethink our diets.
crucially, we must transition to a planetary health diet, one that's not strictly vegan or vegetarian, but drastically reduces the consumption of unsustainable animal and dairy products.
innovations in plant-based and lab-grown animal products mean we don't have to say goodbye to cheeseburgers completely.
fossil fuels are a thing of the past – but we haven’t gotten the memo.#
fossil fuels are a thing of the past, but we haven't gotten the memo.
the 2015 paris agreement set out a blueprint for how the world could face climate change together.
one of the most important takeaways?
the need to mitigate the effects of climate change by keeping warming levels under 2 degrees celsius.
this means essentially halving carbon emissions every decade from 2020 onward.
and yet most signatories to the agreement still haven't significantly reduced their fossil fuel dependency.
why?
well, changing our relationship with fossil fuels will mean restructuring the global economy.
fossil fuels are entrenched in the industrial capitalist system.
the fossil fuel lobby is powerful and influential.
but we can live without fossil fuels.
do you need coal or oil?
or their byproducts like concrete, steel, and petrol?
of course you don't.
you might, on the other hand, need some of the functions that they facilitate in your life.
they house you, keep you warm, enable you to travel from place to place, help you do your job, and connect you with friends and family.
electricity and renewable energy can keep us warm, mobile, and connected just as well as fossil fuels can.
and here's how we can make the transition.
we need to become efficient.
not just with what energy sources we use, but fundamentally how we use them.
it's a more efficient use of energy if fewer cars are able to transport more people.
so we need to introduce greater systemic efficiencies around transportation, and not just having more electric cars on the road, but innovating rideshare options that work, improving existing public transport, and redesigning networks to allow for greater pedestrian and cyclist mobility.
and that's just transport.
there are more efficiencies to be identified and implemented across the board.
we need to go electric.
energy derived from electrons, as opposed to carbon molecules, won't warm the planet.
american environmentalist bill mckibben puts it very simply, don't build anything new that connects to a flame.
of course, shifting from existing fossil fuel-powered infrastructure will prove more challenging.
but cleaner, greener fuels like green hydrogen and ammonia can help ease that transition.
finally, we need to accept the inevitable.
green power is already here.
increasingly, renewable energy is a more cost-effective source of new power than fossil fuels.
soon, renewables will be outperforming fossil fuels on cost at every level of the market.
many parts of the world could meet their total electricity needs through solar and wind power.
it's just the infrastructure, like adequate solar paneling, is lacking.
these new technologies have the potential not just to replace the current fossil fuel-powered system, but far improve it.
we're talking about an abundant supply of power, so plentiful that it would be able to power complex carbon capture systems, and with enough excess to purify and upcycle its own waste products.
in terms of energy, humankind is living in the past.
with a shift to electricity, the future could look far brighter.
final summary#
Conclusion
you've just listened to our chapter to earth for all.
here's the key takeaway.
earth is at a crisis point, but a crisis that isn't inevitable.
a radical restructuring of the global economy, trade system, and resource industry will ensure a prosperous future for humankind and secure improved environmental outcomes for the planet we live on.
sure, the planet's prognosis may seem bleak, but radical change is possible.
social movements like greta thunberg's fridays for future are sweeping the globe.
the green power sector is poised to disrupt fossil fuel reliance.
and select countries from finland to china are restructuring their economies to address inequality.
we will need an extraordinary turnaround to secure our future.
but we've already made that start.
thanks so much for listening.
and if you can, please leave us a rating.
we always appreciate a little feedback.
and we'll see you in the next chapter.
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