Abstract
Although concern for sustainability at a planetary level has become a general concern and subject for discussion, there is still little evidence that action is being taken or even that the causes and required actions are even understood. Thus, the World Overshoot Day occurred on 2 August 2017, six days earlier than in 2016 and 11 days earlier than in 2015. By the time of the conference, it will have occurred in 2018 also and be even earlier. It is clear therefore that the actions of humankind are not sustainable and need to be modified. One factor which needs to be addressed is that of the usage of raw materials, which are needed to produce our requirements and are integral to consumption. This paper shows that such resources are becoming depleted and in increasingly short supply while demand continues to rise as nations develop and seek to emulate the lifestyle of those in affluent Western nations. The paper continues to argue that a radical rethink of our economic system is needed to ensure future sustainability at a global level and proposes a way to achieve this.
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Notes
- 1.
Consider, for example, Easter Island. Once the trees had been fully used, then no resource was available as a substitute (Pakandam 2009), and such activities as sailing had to be terminated alongside the termination of the construction of the famous statues.
- 2.
Plus all the other papers in the special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production which they edited on the topic of Growth, Recession or Degrowth for Sustainability and Equity.
- 3.
Ampang is the name of an area in Kuala Lumpur, but it was the major centre for tin extraction. This is the area where KLCC and the twin towers are situated and still is the heart of this city. By tin becoming depleted, oil and gas have played the role of main elements to fuel the expansion of Kuala Lumpur. However, these elements are also getting completely extracted, and therefore, they are also finishing.
- 4.
And perhaps in other areas, relating the existence of oil to crisis would be interesting.
- 5.
M King Hubert was a specialist in geology who worked for Shell company. In 1956, he proposed a theory about scarcity of resources such as fossil fuels. This theory is generally famous as Hubert’s peak and declares that gas and oil production will raise to a peak amount but quickly afterwards reduces by shortening of resources. This theory was to justify the future decrease in oil production in America, and it is commonly considered as true for that case.
- 6.
Renewables 2011: Global Status Report”. p. 15.
http://www.ren21.net/Portals/97/documents/GSR/GSR2011_Master18.pdf
- 7.
It is mainly gas and oil either taken from the wells or by fracking which is recently undertaken for instance in Canada. As such resources get shorter in supply, the impact of gas and oil extraction on environment will be even deeper. Extracting oil from the shales which is the most modern technology is supposed to have adverse impacts on climate.
- 8.
Renewables 2011: Global Status Report”. p. 17, 1; http://www.ren21.net/Portals/97/documents/GSR/GSR2011_Master18.pdf.
- 9.
“Renewables 2011: Global Status Report”. p. 14. http://www.ren21.net/Portals/97/documents/GSR/GSR2011_Master18.pdf.
- 10.
“U.N. Secretary-General: Renewables Can End Energy Poverty”. Renewable Energy World. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/08/u-n-secretary-general-renewables-can-end-energy-poverty?cmpid=WNL-Friday-August26-2011.
- 11.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KuKQPH4yOGQJ:www.scribd.com/doc/52469321/Energy-and-Resources+Energy+use+in+the+residential+sector,+which+accounted+for+about+14+percent&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=my&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com.my, Energy and Resources—Uganda Energy Production and Consumption Uganda Sub Saharan Africa World.
- 12.
As an instance, Al Gore, famous and devoted campaigner environmentalist who also won a Nobel Prize for doing such campaigns, has been vastly under criticism as the energy consumption of his mansion in Texas is twenty times more than the average American house and 400 times more than an average African one.
- 13.
US Department of Energy, US Energy Information Administration, state energy information, detailed and overviews, http://www.eia.doe.gov/state.
- 14.
It is according to the data issued by the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), International Energy Agency (IEA) and the European Environment Agency. The data that these organisations issue in this regards are similar.
- 15.
Brazil, Russia, India, China.
- 16.
This assumption is actually made explicit by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics. It has also been made explicit by the US government during the era of G. W. Bush although this has become noticeably more silent during the era of Obama as president. We await what will happen during the Trump era of “putting America first”.
- 17.
Lloyd used the example of unregulated grazing on common land in his example.
- 18.
Article 17 states that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property” and regulation would have this effect.
- 19.
- 20.
The system is based upon the concept of perfect competition which is taught in introductory economics (e.g. Lipsey and Chrystal 2015) but rejected thereafter. It is based upon the assumptions that there are sufficient buyers and sellers so that none of them is large enough to influence the market. In reality, the number of sellers is small and continues to become smaller through mergers and acquisitions until a very few sellers have a great power imbalance in their favour when compared to the individuals who are buyers.
- 21.
General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs.
- 22.
- 23.
The European Union was a prime example of this in 2006 with inevitable closer union seeming likely. Subsequent events have placed doubt upon this closer union, and there is even a strong degree of questioning of the continuing role of the EU.
- 24.
- 25.
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Seifi, S. (2019). Is Planet B Necessary? Arguments Concerning Depleted Resources and Consequences for Sustainability. In: Crowther, D., Seifi, S. (eds) The Components of Sustainable Development. Approaches to Global Sustainability, Markets, and Governance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9209-2_10
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