Don't Get Mad, Get GLAD: One Planet Living

This is part 4 of my research on global food movements, entitled
GLOBALIZATION: It's what's for dinner.

Global food movements making a difference: ONE PLANET LIVING

With growth rates unprecedented before the 20th century, the world's population is estimated to be about 6.7 billion today, and with population projections, is expected to reach nearly 9 billion by the year 2042. [13] As the population mushrooms and the lifestyle choices of global people shift towards more Western and American ways, researchers predict that we are headed for an inevitable future.

Erik Assadourian, Project Director of Vital Signs 2007-2008 writes, "It is increasingly clear that if we follow our current path much longer it will likely take Earth millennia to recover from the devastation we have caused. One entity among the thousands of threatened species and ecosystems may not make it through this global change: human civilization." [14] The United Nations Environment Program echoes this in its 2007 report, which asserts that, "The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage to the point of no return." [15]

Climate change, the rate of extinction of species and the challenge of feeding a growing earth population are factors that are putting the planet at risk. Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Program, said, "The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns." The most recent measurement shows that humans currently use the resources of 1.25 Earths and are thus depleting the ecological capital on which future populations will depend. [16]

As growth accelerates in both the first and the two-thirds world, so does the depletion of ecological capital and environmental resources.

This reality is the philosophical foundation of One Planet Living, a global initiative based on 10 principles of sustainability developed by BioRegional, a British-based NGO, and WWF, the largest multinational conservation organization in the world. [17] The starting point of One Planet Living is based on the scientific principle of eco-footprinting.

Eduardo Gonçalves, Coordinator of One Planet Living in Portugal, describes it this way.

Put crudely, the world has approximately 12 billion hectares of bioproductive land: this is the area of land (and sea) that can usefully provide us with food, fuel, fibres etc as well as forest cover to absorb our CO2 emissions. On the other end of the scale is the world’s population of approximately 6 billion. Divide the first by the second and that leaves us with a per capita global quota of 2 hectares. However, if we actually measure the rate of resource consumption and waste reduction in the developed world, we see that we are consuming an unfair share of the planet’s resources. The land and sea needed to satisfy the demands of the average EU citizen is nearer to the equivalent of 6 hectares. . . . Clearly, this is not sustainable. We need to find ways to live within the world’s natural limits. [18]

Based on these calculations, the rallying cry of One Planet Living is: "If everyone in the world lived like an average European, we'd need 3 planets to live on. If we all lived like an average North American, we'd need 5 planets."

The aim is to translate these principles into reality in a series of model or ‘flagship’ communities, one on each continent of the globe. One Planet Living Pioneer Communities are being developed in Australia, China, South Africa, North America and the EU, with the first underway in Portugal.

Yet, it is not just about the founding sustainable communities. Through the internet, individuals also are being challenged to make changes in their lifestyle, diet, and consumption patterns. Local authorities in Canada and Britain are looking to implement One Planet Living as municipal policy. According to Gonçalves, the London Olympic body has decided to make the 2012 Games a One Planet Living event "complete with an urban regeneration and nature restoration strategy designed to leave a lasting legacy for people and planet."

One Planet Living is catching on globally though in the US there is currently little if any awareness.

Next week:
Global food movements making a difference: ORGANIC FARMING

[13] "Current World Population," Worldometers, http://www.worldometers.info/population/
[14] Erik Assadourian, "Acknowledgements," in Vital Signs 2007-2008: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future, ed. Linda Starke (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007), 9.
[15] James Kanter, "U.N. Warns of Rapid Decay of Environment," The New York Times International, October 26, 2007.
[16] Global Footprint Network, (accessed December 16, 2008).National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, 2006 edition (Oakland, 2006). Cited in Vital Signs 2007-2008, 54.
[17] The 10 principles of One Planet Living are: zero carbon, zero waste, sustainable transport, local and sustainable materials, local and sustainable foods, sustainable water, natural habitats and wildlife, cultural and heritage, equity and fair trade, and health and happiness.
[18] Eduardo Gonçalves, “One Planet Living: Innovative Partnerships for Sustainability, Development and Conservation,” Europa - European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/od2006/doc/presentations/c/goncalves_12c12.doc (accessed December 16, 2008).