Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity

by Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, Owen Gaffney, Jayati Ghosh, Jorgen Randers, Johan Rockstrom

Overview

The economic operating system keeps crashing. It’s time to upgrade to a new one.

Five decades ago, The Limits to Growth shocked the world by showing that population and industrial growth were pushing humanity towards a cliff. Today the world recognizes that we are now at the cliff edge: Earth has crossed multiple planetary boundaries while widespread inequality is causing deep instabilities in societies. There seems to be no way out.

Earth For All is both an antidote to despair and a road map to a better future. Using powerful state-of-the-art computer modeling to explore policies likely to deliver the most good for the majority of people, a leading group of scientists and economists from around the world present five extraordinary turnarounds to achieve prosperity for all within planetary limits in a single generation. Coverage includes:

• Results of new global modeling that indicates falling well-being and rising social tensions heighten risk of regional societal collapses
• Two alternative scenarios – Too-Little-Too-Late vs The Giant Leap – and what they mean for our collective future
• Five system-shifting steps that can upend poverty and inequality, lift up marginalized people, and transform our food and energy systems by 2050
• A clear pathway to reboot our global economic system so it works for all people and the planet.

Written in an open, accessible, and inspirational style using clear language and high impact visuals, Earth For All is a profound vision for uncertain times and a map to a better future.

This survival guide for humanity is required reading for everyone concerned about living well on a fragile planet.

BOOK AWARDS

• FINALIST | 2022 Foreword INDIES - Ecology&Environment

ACCESSIBLITY NOTES

This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative texts for images, table of contents, landmarks, reading order, page list, Structural Navigation, and semantic structure. Blank pages have been removed from this EPUB.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771423755
Publisher:	New Society Publishers
Publication date:	09/20/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	949,132
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Sandrine Dixson-Declève, is co-president of the Club of Rome, and has over 30 years' experience with European and international policy, business leadership, and strategy, with a particular focus on EU and international climate change, sustainable development, green growth, conventional and sustainable energy solutions, and sustainable finance. Recognized by GreenBiz as one of the 30 most influential women across the globe driving change in the low-carbon economy and promoting green business, she has spent her career bringing together business leaders, policy makers, academia, and NGOs. A member of the Guardian's Sustainable Business Advisory Board, Dixson-Declève is a TED and TEDx speaker and has published numerous articles and book chapters and given presentations on green growth and competitiveness, innovation, energy solutions, climate change, sustainable development, transport, and conventional and alternative fuel quality legislation, as well as on trade and environment. She is the author of Quel Monde Pour Demain?

Owen Gaffney is a writer, editor, and global sustainability analyst at Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He is a science journalist and filmmaker who has spent the last two decades embedded in Earth system research, publishing research relevant to international policy. Gaffney is founder of the Exponential Roadmap Initiative and Gaiaxia, a new multimedia company. He was an associate producer on the recent Netflix documentary Breaking Boundaries and has advised on BBC and Netflix series including EarthShot (2021) and Our Planet. As well as academic publications, he writes and edits articles, features, and speeches, and has produced high-impact productions for TED, World Economic Forum, and WWF.

Jayati Ghosh taught economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and is professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts. In 2021, the United Nations nominated her to the High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs. She has authored and/or edited 19 books and nearly 200 scholarly articles. Ghosh has received several national and international prizes, including the International Labour Organisation's Decent Work Research Prize for 2010. She has advised governments in India and other countries, including as chairperson of the Andhra Pradesh Commission on Farmers' Welfare in 2004 and as a member of the National Knowledge Commission of India (2005-09). Ghosh is the Executive Secretary of International Development Economics Associates. She has consulted for international organizations including ILO, UNDP, UNCTAD, UN-DESA, UNRISD, and UN Women, and is a member of several international commissions. She contributes regularly to many high-profile newspapers, journals, and online blogs.

Jørgen Randers is professor emeritus of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School and was deputy director general of WWF International (World Wildlife Fund) in Switzerland. A prominent leader on the intersections of economy, the environment, and human well-being, he lectures internationally on sustainable development and climate and advises governments, businesses, and NGOs all over the world. In 1972, Randers co-authored the international bestseller The Limits to Growth. He also co-authored the highly successful 30-year update to the book. Jorgen's book 2052, released in 2012, sold more than 100,000 copies across the world in its first year. Randers is a member of the Club of Rome and is the founding chair of the China Association for the Club of Rome.

Johan Rockström is the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, one of the world's leading centres for climate science, and is founder of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He led the international team of scientists that proposed the influential planetary boundaries framework. Rockström is a regular speaker at the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, and the United Nations. He has given four TED talks attracting a total of 5.5 million views. In 2021, Rockström was the subject of a major Netflix documentary, Breaking Boundaries, narrated by David Attenborough.

Per Espen Stoknes directs the Center for Sustainability and Energy at the BI Norwegian Business School. A leading economist, he also works closely with business leaders throughout Scandinavia, the European Union, the Americas, and Asia. Stoknes has represented the Green Party in the Norwegian parliament (2017-2018), co-founded clean-energy companies, and worked both as a clinical and organizational psychologist. He is the author of several books including the recently released Tomorrow's Economy. His 2015 book, What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming became the focus of a TED talk that has more than 3.2 million views and prompted public debate about the way we communicate about climate. The book received the American Library Association's Outstanding Academic Title award.

Sandrine Dixson-Declève is co-president of the Club of Rome and has over 30 years of leadership in climate change, sustainability, innovation and energy. GreenBiz named her one of the 30 most influential women driving change in the low-carbon economy. She is a policy advisor, facilitator, TED speaker, teacher, and author of Quel Monde Pour Demain?

Owen Gaffney is a strategist, writer, science journalist, and filmmaker and global sustainability analyst at Stockholm Resilience Centre and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He has written, produced, and advised on documentaries for organizations as diverse as the BBC, Netflix, TED, the World Economic Forum, and WWF.

Jayati Ghosh is an internationally recognized development economist and professor at the University of Massachusetts. She has authored and/or edited 19 books and nearly 200 scholarly articles, received several national and international prizes, and is member of an array of international commissions. She writes regularly for a variety of media.

Jørgen Randers is professor emeritus of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School. A global leader on the intersections of economy, the environment, and human well-being, he coauthored The Limits to Growth in 1972 and the 30-year update. He is the author of 2052 and coauthor of Reinventing Prosperity and Transformation Is Feasible!

Johan Rockström is director of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He led the team of scientists that proposed the influential planetary boundaries framework. A regular speaker, Rockström has over 5 million views of his TED talks. He is the subject of the Netflix documentary, Breaking Boundaries, narrated by David Attenborough.

Per Espen Stoknes directs the Center for Sustainability and Energy at the BI Norwegian Business School. He was a Green in the Norwegian parliament (2017-2018), has co-founded clean-energy companies, and is the author of several books, including Tomorrow's Economy and What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming.

Table of Contents

Contributors
Foreword by Christiana Figueres
Foreword by Elizabeth Wathuti

1. Earth for All: Five Extraordinary Turnarounds for Global Equity on a Healthy Planet
Breakdown or Breakthrough?
A Brief History of Future Scenarios
From The Limits to Growth to Planetary Boundaries
The Earth for All Initiative
People Support Economic Systems Change

2. Exploring Two Scenarios: Too Little Too Late or Giant Leap?
A Brief Review of 1980 to 2020
Scenario 1: Too Little Too Late
Scenario 2: The Giant Leap
Which Scenario Do We Co-create?

3. Saying Goodbye to Poverty
What Is Our Current Problem?
Turning Poverty Around
Solution 1: Expand Policy Space and Deal with Debt
Solution 2: Transform the Financial Architecture
Solution 3: Transform Global Trade
Solution 4: Improve Access to Technology and Leapfrogging
Barriers to the Solutions
Conclusions

4. The Inequality Turnaround: "Sharing the Dividends"
The Problems with Economic Inequality
A Giant Leap Toward Greater Equality
Overcoming Barriers to the Equality Levers
Conclusions

5. The Empowerment Turnaround: "Achieving Gender Equity"
Population
Turning It All Around
Transforming Education
Financial Independence and Leadership
A Secure Pension and Dignified Aging
Conclusions

6. The Food Turnaround: Making the Food System Healthy for People and Planet
Consuming Earth's Biosphere
Solution 1: Revolutionize the Way We Farm
Solution 2: Change Our Diets
Solution 3: Eliminate Food Loss and Waste
Barriers
Conclusions

7. The Energy Turnaround: "Electrifying Everything"
Challenges
Don't Look Up
Solution 1: Introduce Systemic Efficiency
Solution 2: Electrify (almost) Everything
Solution 3: Exponential Growth in New Renewables
The Energy Turnaround in the Earth4All Analysis
Barriers
Conclusions

8. From "Winner Take All" Capitalism to Earth4All Economies
A New Economic Operating System
The Rise of Rentier Capitalism
Rethinking the Commons in the Anthropocene
The Conventional Economic Gameboard
Redrawing the Gameboard
Short-termism: The Road to a Parasitic Financial System
Putting the Systems Change into Effect
How to Resolve the Systems Failure
Conclusions

9. A Call to Action
Is Earth for All Closer Than We Think?
A Chorus of Voices

Appendix: The Earth4All Model
Model Purpose
Model History
The Main Sectors in the Model
Model Causal Loop Diagram
Model Novelty
The Earth for All Game

Notes
Index
About the Authors
About the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

It's time to shift from the age of endless growth to an age of thriving in balance. This thought-provoking analysis proposes five critical turn-arounds for getting us there— each of them raising urgent issues for public discussion and action. Read on to explore possible futures for humanity and join the most vital debate of our times.
—Kate Raworth, author, Doughnut Economics

This tremendous collaboration, documented in this breathtaking book, provides yet more evidence that so much good can come out of pooling our minds and skills, to build a world that works for all. Why not opt for one-planet prosperity, if the alternative is one-planet misery?
—Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., founder, Global Footprint Network, co-author, Ecological Footprint

If we'd paid attention to The Limits to Growth in 1972, we wouldn't be in the fix we're in today; as the modeling in this book makes clear, what's left of this decade may be our last best hope to get it at least partly right.
—Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature

This latest, most urgent, and most carefully researched version of system science's scenarios for our human future is essential reading for collapse preventers everywhere. Whether its recommendations are taken up by policy makers everywhere— and whether we humans are therefore able to avert worldwide ecological, economic, and social breakdown sometime during the remainder of the 21st century— is up to all of us.
—Richard Heinberg, senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute, author, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival

An extraordinary book at an extraordinary time. For today and tomorrow's leaders, Earth for All is a must-read. This book offers a concrete, breakthrough vision on how to ensure well-being for all— in any country— on our finite planet. Together, we can build a world that is genuinely equitable by following the 5 Turnarounds— a roadmap to accelerate the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals in the next decade. I hope it will inspire a new movement of minds and souls that are willing to save our precious humanity.
—Ban Ki-moon, 8th Secretary General of the United Nations, and Deputy Chair of The Elders

Earth For All conclusively shows that humanity's future on a livable planet depends on drastically reducing socio-economic inequality and a more equitable distribution of wealth and power. Essential reading on our long journey toward an "Earth for All" society.
—Thomas Piketty, author, Capital in the Twenty-First Century and A Brief History of Equality

This book arrives at a moment in time when humanity is facing its most consequential decade in human history. What we do now will determine whether we have a future to protect. In order to ensure our survival, we must understand the interconnected nature of the current convergence of crises we are dealing with. Earth for All illustrates this understanding and uses it to show us a path forward that will put the wellbeing of people and our planet first, instead of profit and growth.
—Kumi Naidoo, global ambassador, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace, and Dignity

Too many cooks, they say, but in this case we are talking chefs. Indeed, the multiple authorship of Earth For All ensures both hugely satisfying food for thought and high-energy fuel for action. The two scenarios, "Too Little, Too Late" and "The Giant Leap," will help readers to confront the existential realities now facing us, while the proposed recipes for change will help guide the those of us who value the future and are ready to roll up our sleeves in pursuit of better futures for all.
—John Elkington, founder and chief pollinator, Volans, and author, Green Swans: The Coming Boom In Regenerative Capitalism

Timely, brilliant book. Earth For All describes a concrete roadmap to transform our economies and defeat poverty whilst protecting planet Earth. An inspirational read for both grassroots groups and national leaders. Will we hear? Will we make this change happen?
—Sheela Patel, founder and director, Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), Mumbai

Earth for All is an extraordinary, potentially historic, breakthrough guide to a viable and fulfilling future for all on a finite living Earth. My highest recommendation. Read it. Share it. Discuss it.
—David Korten, author, When Corporations Rule the World, The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism, and Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth

Earth For All sharply addresses the biggest challenge of our time: how to defeat inequality and poverty, whilst saving our planet from climate change and environmental destruction. Its urgent call to transform our economies is my call to our leaders. A must-read for all of us.
—Naoko Ishii, Professor and Executive Vice President at the University of Tokyo. Former CEO of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF)

Stubborn optimism versus immobilizing pessimism. Long-term vision versus short-term reaction. Collective intelligence versus individualism. Human well-being vs compulsive consumption. Valuing our future versus discounting it. A livable planet versus an unstable planet. The choices we must make for a prosperous common future are crystal clear. So is the urgency to act and to redress the imbalances of a broken socio-economic model. What is less clear is how to articulate the system change we need, how to manage the complexities that come with it, how to constructively engage all the relevant stakeholders, how to sequence the moves from the different players, how to prioritize strategic transformations, how to measure impacts, how to anticipate and to mitigate risks... And here is where Earth for All comes to the rescue: an honest contribution for positive change from some of the most renowned thinkers, scientists and economists of our time. A recalibrated set of lenses to explore the challenges of our generation: global equity and a healthy planet. A map to explore, dive deep and inspire. A must- read for any policymaker who values our future, as well as for corporate leaders, responsible investors and the general public worldwide. Earth for All is a call for action and a movement to infuse social and political change for the common good. Earth for All is inspired by the legacy of The Limits to Growth, but it goes well-beyond that. It provides a guide to leapfrog into the future most of us long for. This is the tale of our time. A story not to be missed.
—Teresa Ribera, Deputy Prime Minister for the Ecological Transition, Government of Spain

Timely and important. A major contribution to a better shared future for humanity.
—Jinfeng Zhou, Secretary General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation

Earth for All is a vision for a possible future based on global and local action. We hope it will spark honest, bold conversations, and help people around the world make decisions to redesign their societies.
—Chandran Nair, author, Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World

From the Publisher