Long term macro trends over many key areas of our economy, society and capitalism are not something that most people talk about fairly regularly. It's important, sometimes daunting, and it tells a really important story. It's helpful to use visuals and long term trending information to better understand the trajectories as we create visions for the future: a more equitable, just and sustainable one. We can't address what we can't see and this is a case where ignorance is not bliss. As talk of climate change, inequality and other challenges continue to loom, it can be easy to get caught up in feeling overwhelmed and powerless as one takes it all in. For many, it feels easier to turn a blind eye and decide it's not their problem to solve.
The good news is that the momentum and awareness has shifted palpably over the last 20 years. While the trends still continue, armies of people and some organizations have rallied to work to impact the areas that are most important to them. There is also a growing awareness around following the flow of money and understanding the impact that it has on our systems and structures. Money is energy, and often leads to power and control and understanding how the system works is an important way to impact it. I choose to believe that if we open our eyes, take a little time to learn and focus on what we're most interested in and passionate about, that collectively we really can nudge the trends in a different direction. I know that when I'm at the end of my life, I'll feel much better about looking the next generations in the eyes if I at least try. To that end, following is a crash course of some trends worth paying attention to:
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, "rising inequality is not inevitable. National policies and institutions do matter." The middle class continues to shrink:
Humans and businesses benefit greatly from the Earth's resources. But left unrestrained, it comes at a cost to the environment, human health and animal ecosystems. Our planet, unlike businesses and people, lack a mechanism to advocate for itself and depends on us to be thoughtful and prudent in our leverage of its resources. We've, thus far, not proven our proficiency at this yet
These impacts are not just to the Earth but there are also substantive health impacts as shown in the next infographic:
In addition, the Lancet Commission on Policy and Health published a study in 2017 that reported that "air pollution control pays off at a rate of 30-1. Every dollar invested in air pollution control generates thirty dollars of benefits. Since 1970 the U.S. has invested about $65 billion in air pollution control and received about $1.5 trillion in benefits."
This image from Eos (credit: Friedlingstein et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1783-2019, CC BY) of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from 1850 to present from shows how its exponential growth is growing at rates that can't simply be offset by the ocean and forests. We have a responsibility to ourselves, to the earth and to future generations to take action to prevent this from continuing at these rates.
In 2014 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a collective of the world's 35 wealthiest countries including the United States, found that rising inequality in the United States from 1990 to 2010 knocked about five percentage points off cumulative GDP per capita over that period. Similar effects were seen in other rich countries. The continued growth of systemic racial outcomes shows that this challenge is not getting better over time nor will it go away on its own without addressing the underlying causes
The disparity is centuries in the making caused by policy, accessibility, intergenerational wealth transfer, justice system issues, criminalization of children, challenges around inclusivity, access, health care and profit structures.
And trends in women's workforce labor participation continue to stagnate, particularly in the US as illustrated in the pre-COVID era data in the chart below. According to the S&P Global Report The Key to Unlocking U.S. GDP Growth? Women, According to the report: "If women entered, and stayed, in the workforce at a pace in line with Norway, the U.S. economy would be $1.6 trillion larger than it is today."
It goes on to add that "continued reductions in U.S. workplace gender inequalities would potentially add additional 5%- 10% to U.S. nominal growth in just a few decades, helping to offset the currently expected drag to growth from retiring Baby Boomers." Worldwide the unpaid labor adds up to between 10 and 60% of GDP across various countries per the International Monetary Fund. and 75% of it is done by women and girls according to a report from OxFam It is important to note, that the key to making this a reality are not to put more on the backs of women who already contribute $10.9 T in unpaid labor to the worldwide economy but that our systems and structures need to better support families via policy change. The global economy would grow by $28 trillion if women were fully able to participate in the workforce
Why does this matter? Current trends are, by definition, unsustainable. They cannot go on indefinitely without further depleting, exploiting or completely exhausting resources, whether those are human or natural ones. The bigger questions are "what is the real price of leaving it unchecked?" and "what kind of legacy are we leaving for future generations?" "what are we willing to sacrifice for meaningful change?"
Policies, capitalism and the flow of money are propagating structures and ecosystems that create unsustainable trends with downstream implications and costs that are passed onto society, the environment and future generations. We are at a critical time in history and have an opportunity to leverage the flow of money, policy and action to change the trajectories that we are on.
So where do we go from here? For some, it's too much to think about, and in response, they compartmentalize and put it out of their mind. For others, they try to do too much and burn themselves out. Per a 2020 Yale study, 71% of people say that global warming will harm future generations. In their 2010 study, one of the questions revealed that only 1 in 10 say that they are “very well informed” about climate change, and 75 percent say they would like to know more.
The first step is to increase our knowledge in areas that are of most interest to you including paying attention to sources that work to move things forward as well as those who negate proposed changes. Who are they? What are their values? What might their interest be in maintaining the status quo? Why are they advocating for or against change? The key is to pick your area(s) of interest and take things one step at a time: read an article or a book, take one small step forward. No one person or entity can fix all of the problems, but collective action can have a huge impact.
RESOURCES to educate yourself and/or take action. The most meaningful actions involve widespread, sweeping government, policy, and corporate reform, which is not tackled in depth today, however to do nothing as individuals won't make anything better. This is far from a comprehensive list, but hopefully spurs some initial thinking and ideas to get you going on your own personal journey on creating change:
Watch/Read/Listen/Learn:
The Story of Stuff Project. They have a lot of great videos. Check out their original video from 2007 (21:17) too
Movie: David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
Movie and other video content: Chasing Coral
Movie: Mission Blue, Sylvia Earle Alliance
Treehugger.com - "advice, clarity and inspiration for both the eco-savvy and green living novice"
Climate Change Book List from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/climate-change-books.html
Jane Goodall's book A Reason For Hope
Research claims of ethical and environmentally friendly practices (see NYT: How to Tell if A Company's Claim of Ethical Practices is True)
The description on the Eos website says it best. It "is a source for news and perspectives about Earth and space science, including coverage of new research, analyses of science policy, and scientist-authored descriptions of their ongoing research and commentary on issues affecting the science community. This is a great article that breaks down the evolution of the science in a digestable way: The Future of the Carbon Cycle in a Changing Climate
Personal action: While some of the most impactful actions involve governments, corporations and industry coming together to really swing the pendulum. I'm not tackling that in depth here today (stay tuned for more there in future essays). However, in the spirit that money and actions create energy and that impacting that energy does eventually add up and eventually make a difference, below are some small actions that I've been focusing on. I'm sharing them in hopes that it sparks some ideas around what you're willing to try. I only list here what I have personally done, but there are clearly many other paths to take as well. Feel free to share back what is most important for you.
Research claims of ethical, equitable and environmentally friendly practices (see NYT: How to Tell if A Company's Claim of Ethical Practices is True)
If you own stocks, learn about Shareholder Voting and your ability to have a voice. This report from CERES can help you learn more
Write letters to companies you work for and/or own shares of. In a Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Spring of 2021 a shareholder asked why Mr. Buffett had recommended a “no” vote to two proxy initiatives on climate change, he said it would be “asinine, frankly,” to do otherwise. He said that Berkshire had more than a million shareholders, and only three of them had bothered to write to him about their environmental concerns.
Shop greener options: Consider Grove Collaborative for basic household goods and appreciate the transparency around their sustainability efforts and targets. Support companies committed to improving their practices like Patagonia, (check out their sustainability practices), Woolovers (sustainability pledge here), Prana (here's their sustainability policy) or Pact (take advantage of their clothing donation program too). This is also a good list to start from: https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/fair-trade-clothing
Buy or sell used goods (Poshmark, eBay or ThreadUp for clothing, Facebook Marketplace, Consignment stores), sell or give away items (BuyNothing Groups, Goodwill, put out in front of your house with a "free" sign, check out local non profits) that still have useful life in them.
Opt out of catalogs that you don't want: https://www.catalogchoice.org/ has a mission to stop junk mail for good and submits requests to companies on your behalf when you fill out their online form. Free to use (though they do accept donations if you're so inclined). It can take up to 6 weeks for the requests to be honored, but their database is pretty comprehensive. While there is an up front commitment to enter your information, it really takes less than a minute to unsubscribe each catalog, which is not a big commitment for a big impact collectively over time.
Change your internet browser and/or search bar to Ecosia. How does it work? https://info.ecosia.org/what Does it really make a difference? This episode of How To Save A Planet answers that question.
Recycle: participate in municipal programs, local running stores may take sneaker donations, Soles4Souls takes a wide variety of shoes, donate unusable clothing for recycling (H&M takes clothing for recycling too and compost where possible
Reuse: Grovia has wet bags (they last for years for wet swimsuits, sweaty gym clothes & dirty laundry when traveling), cloth diapers, reusable wipes (which we have been using for years for cleaning sticky kid fingers and faces), reusable swim diapers and cloth pull up style for potty training. If cloth diapering is too big of a leap to consider, keep in mind that things like liners and hybrid cloth/disposable options make it easier. If up front cost is a challenge, keep in mind that there are many online groups where you can buy and/or sell used. We sold and donated the diapers when we were done with them and it was far more cost effective than disposables would have been for two kids.
Reuse: Consider reusable cloths for cleaning off counters, dusting and mopping. I've been using the same set of cloths for close to 2 decades and they're still going strong. Use wool dryer balls instead of disposable dryer sheets to cut down on waste, chemicals and drying time.
Repair: Put a new zipper on coats that still have life left in it so that you or others can get more wear from it. Re-sole shoes that are in good condition (i.e. leather boots) when the soles start to show wear. Know that tailors can easily sew a patch on the inside of worn beloved jeans for $15-$25 which is very cost effective to get a few more years out of them.
Reduce consumption: only 9% of recyclables actually get recycled, so the best step is to reduce your reliance on plastic water bottles, transitional clothing (the average piece of clothing gets worn only 5x before it ends up in a landfill! Also check out this article in Newsweek on fast fashion), consider driving your car longer to keep it out of the junkyard and hit "pause" before you buy the latest plastic goods that your kids will only play with for a few days, weeks or months.
Consider eco-friendly low VoC paints: https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/eco-friendly-paints-for-your-home Why does this matter? https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/construction/materials/how-dangerous-are-vocs-in-paint.htm
Watch out for Greenwashing. Here are some examples and here.
Eat less meat and buy local produce where possible.
Avoid key chemicals. Examples: NYT: The 3 Scariest Chemicals in your home and in beauty products (Follain screens their beauty products for example)
If you own your home, rethink your lawn, prioritize native plants and flowers, get rid of or reduce use of your gas powered maintenance tools and use organic fertilizers. Consider cleaner energy options for your electricity, insulate your home and watch your energy, heating and cooling use.
Vote: factor climate policy into your voting choices and call your local officials and/or congress person. Resources here: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet/o2hr94m/is-bidens-jobs-plan-a-skinny-green-new
Check out the work of the Jane Goodall Institute. I follow and donate to their work consistently and am a particular fan of their Roots and Shoots groups, focused on youth initiatives.
I'll tackle sustainability topics, policy and many other bigger, broader issues in other posts, but wanted to get the discussion started and spur some thinking on the topic. For those looking to take bigger, broader view, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are really insightful and organizations like CERES have fantastic insights as well.
Most importantly: don't let perfection be the enemy of progress. Start where you are and it's OK to start small. Little things add up over a lifetime.
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