By Charles Sullivan
World Prout Assembly
June 19, 2008

The following essay stems from a core belief that capitalism, freedom, and a healthy planet are fundamentally opposing ideas that cannot peacefully coexist. It further posits that democracy and basic human and species dignity are equally impossible under capitalism’s ponderous weight; and that there are better and more harmonious ways of living than those offered by capital. It recognizes that capital is a human construct and that it has no counterpart in nature. In other words, it is an artificial system, not a natural system. One that, ignoring the realities of nature, is doomed to extinction.

It also posits that happiness and fulfillment do not require an excessive amount of material goods and services; and that minimal consumption and waste are better not only for the individual, but that they are also better for the community, the region, and the planet. Conspicuous consumption and waste are the creation of perception managers whose sole purpose is to enhance the bottom line of multi-national corporations and to subjugate the working class through long hours of toil and personal debt.

It also recognizes that a byproduct of capitalism is the socio-economic class system, and the valuation of everything from work to people that is assigned by those at the top of the order, without the input of the producers. Aided by psychologists, advertisers and programmers have sown the seeds of superfluous want and desire in us, and have incorporated planned obsolescence into the products we build and they sell. They do not have our best interest in mind, or the interest of the communities we live in; and especially not the welfare of planet earth. From their perspective, everything from trees and insects, from crayfish and grass, to human beings and mushrooms—are nothing more than commodities to be exploited and sold for profit.

A rational consideration of the above conclusions deems that we do not need perception managers or the corporations they spawn. We are better off without them. After all, it is these corporations that have seized control not only of the economy, but also the political system; and it is killing the planet for the sake of privatized profit, subsidized by public funds and through the use military force. It should be noted that the United States military is also the greatest polluter on earth, and the greatest single consumer of fossil fuels.

Clearly, capitalism is not the democracy it purports to be. Corporate deregulation and so called free markets must never be confused with democracy; for deregulation is a subversion of the democratic process. It is the very opposite of what it claims to be, masquerading as democracy: a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

In reality, democracy and capitalism are no more compatible than capitalism and ecology; no more so than natural systems and artificial systems. From a purely ecological point of view, capitalism has assumed the role of a cancer with its ideology of endless growth and continuous expansion on a planet of finite proportions. Thus it is fundamentally incompatible with the organizing principle of life. That organizing principle is the perpetuation of species and the continuation of natural processes (evolution). One cannot have cancer and also enjoy good health. The two are mutually exclusive.

There is no way to repeal natural law; nor would it be desirable to do so if we could. These laws describe how nature works and they are as close to an absolute as anything known to us; and we always seem to think we know more than we do. The laws of physics will continue to act upon matter in ways that make sense of the universe; they will describe the cosmos as we know it and allow us to make predictions about how matter behaves under known conditions. Like it or not, everything we do will ultimately conform to the laws of nature or there will be dire consequences.

Like all of the other species of flora and fauna living on earth, Homo sapiens will exist within certain physical and ecological constraints—or perish. No species can exceed the carrying capacity of the earth or long survive ecological overshoot.

Carrying capacity may be defined as follows: maximum permanently supportable load.

Overshoot: growth beyond an area’s carrying capacity, leading to species die-off.

In terrestrial landscapes plants are the primary producers of food; the foundation of the food chain. Through the process of photosynthesis plants are able to convert solar energy into glucose, a substance that supplies calories and nutrients to primary consumers: namely, herbivores, the plant eaters. As these consumers are preyed upon by omnivores and carnivores (each group representing a different trophic level), heat energy, measured in caloric units, are exchanged. As this heat exchange continues through the food chain into higher trophic levels, increasing amounts of heat energy are lost. The greatest efficiency occurs at the lowest trophic levels: among the plants and the herbivores. It requires much more heat energy to nourish an animal than it does to sustain a plant, and it requires considerably more of other ingredients as well—such as water, productive soils, and carrying capacity.

That is why vegetarians have less impact on the biosphere than carnivores. If meat eaters were to go vegetarian as little as one day a week, it would significantly lessen their impact on the environment. Many little things added together have great effect.

Modern Homo sapiens often behave in foolish ways that betray ignorance of basic ecological concepts such as carrying capacity and overshoot. Indeed, virtually all technologically advanced economies are based upon fallacy rather than ecological science; they attempt to circumvent natural law and fail to consider how nature works. Too often we act like we are the only species on earth and that we can do without all of the others, unless they are economically exploitable. In other words, virtually all economic models attempt to construct a virtual reality that is designed to supplant actual reality; substituting a virtual world in place of the real. They are destined to fail because, like all of the other species that exist, we are subject to the same ecological restraints.

For example, congress might decide to repeal the law of gravity (an act that would surprise no one), but every moment of its existence, congress—and everything else, would still be subject to its influence. Without gravity, they would float off into space (not a bad idea!). So it is with carrying capacity and overshoot. Yeast cells, grizzly bears, tomatoes, slugs, and human beings are constantly subjected to and shaped by the laws of nature—including gravity. These restraints are what shape the evolution of the earth’s stupendous biodiversity.

So it can be seen that continued over population and endless economic expansion are not only unsustainable; they are foolish and stupid acts that are ultimately self-destructive. Nature will never conform to our concepts of her. It is we who must adapt to her.

Among technologically advanced societies (those that utilize sophisticated machinery that are designed and controlled with the aid of computers); it is widely believed that technology can somehow transcend natural law and the ecological constraints that impose limits upon growth. But even the most sophisticated technology cannot photosynthesize sunlight to produce food, nor can it create carrying capacity out of nothing. Economic expansion is also governed by ecological laws, the primary ones again being carrying capacity and overshoot. Technology can help to feed the world, but it cannot produce food.

Modern industrial agriculture is based upon fossil fuels of which there is a finite and shrinking supply. As supplies dwindle, so should dependence; but we are behaving as if they are inexhaustible.

Phantom carrying capacity (the temporary use of fossil fuels and complex machinery to enhance agricultural production) cannot replace actual carrying capacity. It is this phantom carrying capacity with its dependence on fossil fuels that has contributed to the burgeoning population problem.

We are accustomed to hearing that corporations produce natural gas and petroleum, but that is a misnomer. All of the natural gas and oil that exists was produced eons ago by geological and biological processes. Homo sapiens do not produce oil and gas outside of our own bodily functions; they extract it from the earth and refine it for use. There will never be any more fossil fuel than there is now and that amount is constantly shrinking as ever more human beings draw upon it and use it up. Our economy, like the global economy, is utterly dependent upon the availability of cheap fossil fuel, but fossil fuels are in limited supply. We have already moved beyond peak oil and we must seek alternative fuels and return to simpler technologies.

The military conflicts in the Middle East bear ample testimony about what happens when governments compete for the world’s remaining oil reserves. As these reserves are depleted, military confrontations and all of the horrors of war will worsen. How many more millions will die or be displaced from their homes? We are going to run out of oil and the government knows it; and that day will come sooner than you think.

Fossil fuel consists of decomposed organisms, both plant and animal, that has stored sunlight (calories) in their cells. It is this stored sunlight that is released through internal combustion that powers the machinery of industrial production. This is an inefficient release of caloric energy. Living organisms are much better at utilizing caloric energy than machines. As the remaining supply of fossil fuel is depleted, it will become more difficult to extract and more expensive to refine. As a result, the cost of fossil fuels will continue to rise as supply is reduced and demand increases, thereby driving up the cost of food. Economies based upon the availability of cheap fossil fuels are a house of cards waiting to fall.

The economy of the United States, like those of other developed nations, is based upon economic myth rather than an understanding of ecology and natural processes. It seeks to impose its will on the natural world and to substitute fantasy for reality—with dire consequences to the biosphere. We continue to behave with extreme hubris toward nature, expecting her to conform to our conceptions, while ignoring how nature works. That is a recipe that guarantees both economic and ecological catastrophe, as well as untold misery and suffering—most of which could have been avoided had we adopted a reality-based economic model.

Our task is to create economies that are based upon ecological principles; economies that work with nature rather than against her. These economies will look very different than the ones we have come to know. They will not depend upon fossil fuels or sophisticated machinery; they will rely upon natural processes, organic materials and healthy ecosystems; and they will be aided by simpler technology and perhaps humane animal husbandry.

Rather than large-scale economies, we must bring back local economies such as small-scale organic farming and the family vegetable garden; and that will require preserving as much of the earth’s carrying capacity as possible for producing food not only for Homo sapiens, but for millions of other species as well. These species play an integral role in promoting healthy ecosystems. This might be accomplished in part through a thoughtful and visionary expansion of the commons. But if we continue to allow developers to take acreage out of biological production and to reduce rain water recharge areas, it will not be possible to sustain even modest populations, much less optimal numbers of human beings and other species.

Taking land out of production for the purpose of growing corn to fuel automobiles is short-sighted, profit-driven, and sacrilegious. It is more important to feed the world’s people and to preserve habitat than to drive SUVs. Bio-fuel has already had a measurable impact on the food supply, and it serves as a gateway for oil companies to maintain control over fuel prices, and the continued fleecing the public.

Several things must happen if we are to live sustainably in this world. We must stop thinking of nature as a commodity or a resource for the exclusive use of our species. We must see her as a source—the source—of all life; and we must see ourselves as ordinary members of a much larger biological community, rather than as a special creation exempt from natural law, endowed with the magical powers of a deity. A sense of entitlement attaches to so much of what we do and a persistent, unfounded belief that we are immune from the consequences of our actions.

We must create a new paradigm that is based upon ecology and respect for other living things and free from dogma; a reality that embraces wildness and the necessity of intact, fully functioning ecosystems that are buffered from human activity and connected by biological corridors. These corridors are necessary to promote the migration of genetic material between habitats in order to sustain viable populations of flora and fauna.

The side effects of healthy and robust ecosystems are all positive: among them pure drinking water, clean air and the sequestration of carbon dioxide. Other benefits include: access to nutritious food that is free of toxins, opportunities for recuperative sleep and green space for walking and exploration.

In the contiguous United States, as elsewhere in the world, wilderness exists in the midst of a sea of development and other destructive human activities. As a result, habitats have become fragmented and isolated; they are biogeographical islands where extensive inbreeding occurs and extinction is a likely outcome. Riparian areas are of particular concern as well as species that are habitat specialists, such as grassland birds and plants and animals that require mature forest interior habitat that is free from edge effects.

Biological pollution is the result of edge effects such as invasive exotics including garlic mustard and nest parasitism by the brown-headed cowbird. Other common edge effects that occur by habitat manipulation include excessive deer browse and road kill.

American wilderness offers tremendous scenic beauty but it tends not to be highly biologically productive land. Environmentalists used to refer to the American wilderness as “rock and ice.” It also tends to be pitifully small and isolated, lacking biological connectivity. Less than two percent of the land mass, most of it in Alaska, is preserved as wilderness and even that is under siege from corporate lobbyists.

Similarly, severe restrictions must be placed on oceanic fishing so that dynamic equilibrium can be restored there as well. This necessarily entails restricting the waste and runoff that flows into streams and rivers, and inevitably find their way into the oceans. It also means the end of unsustainable large-scale industrial fishing. Only after significant recovery has occurred can small-scale fishing that utilizes simpler technology begin again.

Meanwhile, each of us can stop consuming ocean fish and wild-caught salmon, Maryland crabs and lobster. Only sustainable farm raised fish should be consumed, giving wild stocks the opportunity to recover. Tilapia is a good example of sustainable fish farming.

To implement and enforce these policies, unprecedented cooperation between the world’s peoples will be required. That will also require a new paradigm: A Declaration of Interdependence. The United Nations could serve as the overseeing institution, but some other institution may have to be created for the purpose.

Rather than a global economy dependent upon free trade agreements and fossil fuels acquired by multi-national corporations through militarism, a matrix of millions of local economies would replace them, administered by neighborhood people rooted in the home economy. Virtually all work will be performed locally, thereby reducing the necessity of long distance travel. These economies will be based upon cooperation rather than competition; and they will be for use rather than for profit. Success will be measured in the quiet enjoyment that stems from living in communal harmony with the Earth Mother.

Communities will be designed for sustainability and connected through networks of foot trails and bicycle routes, with mass transit readily available. The automobile as we know it will have to become a relic of the past. People will not be allowed to live everywhere, especially where biological hot spots occur. Hot spots could be defined as critical habitat for the most imperiled species. Cities and villages might be thought of as human enclaves in the midst of vast nature preserves. Designs will be in harmony with nature and will aesthetically blend in with the landscape rather than tower over it like obscene phallic symbols.

Alternative sources of fuel and energy must be developed. These might include hydrogen fuel cells, home designs that incorporate natural heating and cooling and use non-toxic, biodegradable materials. Solar cells would likely be a feature of buildings new and old but perhaps on a limited basis; and the homes will be of modest size so as to be easily heated and cooled in order to reduce consumption. Geothermal sources might also be incorporated into their design.

Mindless development and urban sprawl must be eliminated. It is superfluous and destructive to have a Wal-mart and a McDonald’s on every street corner. While this practice is profitable to the developer, it is harmful to the local economy and to the local environment. It is also redundant.

We need to think of work in a new way. Work should not harm the environment and it should benefit the community where it is performed. It should be done out of genuine need rather than for generating profit at the expense of the community and the ecology.

Millions of new labor intensive jobs will be created within sustainable communities in the field of ecological restoration. These jobs will replace work that is destructive and unsustainable. Rather than clear-cutting forests or blowing mountains to smithereens for coal, people will work at restoring landscapes already denigrated by intensive abuse and over population. Wherever possible, the natural contours of the land would be restored and polluted waterways cleaned up and brought back to health. There is no shortage of work to be done, and doing it could result in full employment of every able-bodied citizen.

Rather than operating on money, local economies could use a system of barter or local currency that incorporates a sliding scale of valuation agreed upon by two or more parties making a transaction. Everything produced will belong to everyone in the community, as it will be beneficial to everyone. All work will be perceived as having dignity and inherent worth, and no person’s occupation will be viewed as more important than any others, thereby giving rise to socio-economic divisions that provide privileges to some, while denying them to others.

Thus the biologist, the acupuncturist, and the janitor will be equals: each of them providing essential services that contribute to the welfare of the community, much like the individual species that play an important role in the local ecology.

Every role in the local economy will be based upon existing natural models that work with nature rather than against her. One could call them transition towns.

People with infirmities that prevent them from doing physical work will be taken care of by those without such impairments, and they can contribute to society in other ways. No one will be left behind. In a just society crime will be an aberration rather than a norm.

Through cooperation rather than competition, the needs of each individual (as well as those of the community) could be easily met. Every member of the community will have equal access to its bounty, thereby dramatically reducing the length of the work day and the duration of the work week. This will provide sufficient time for family, community, and self-improvement such as life-long learning.

Health is the natural outcome of ecologically-based living. Optimal health is the birthright of every citizen and every citizen’s needs would be met without cost. The vitality of the community rather than profit will be the objective of all work.

If we are to create a sustainable culture, we must reduce the human population to levels that are sustainable in perpetuity. This is where carrying capacity comes into play. Population control should be thought of as a moral imperative, because even small local economies are not sustainable with a burgeoning human population that overruns the planet and fosters superfluous consumption and waste.

That does not mean that we should start euthanizing one another or play god. It means that we should refrain from having children for a generation, or should have no more than a single child and take care of those already living. But death and decay are also important components of natural systems. Natural selection is what drives the evolutionary process and improves the odds of long term specie survival. Life and death are part of the same cycle. Artificially prolonging life may have implications that we do not fully comprehend. Yet these are acts of compassion that are widely held to be ethical and an important component of most religions. Individual conscience will have to decide such difficult moral issues.

I realize how controversial this issue is among some sects; but the concept is not only ecologically sound, it is a biological imperative. Failing this, nature will do it for us through overshoot, and it will be infinitely more painful and destructive.

If possible, rather than creating a world divided by borders, we should seek to create a global village without boundaries: one great commonwealth. However, population must be dealt with at its source rather than through mass migration. Cultural and societal boundaries tend to be more psychological than actual physical barriers. In natural systems long term viability and sustainability are greatest where biological diversity is highest. As in nature, cultural diversity tends to promote long term sustainability; and that is the model we should emulate.

If these policies were implemented, world maps would look very different than the ones we are accustomed to. More prominently than geopolitical boundaries, maps would feature ecosystems, physical provinces and ecotones (transition zones between ecosystems). These are the boundaries that nature recognizes; and they are often in flux.

An ecosystem must be large enough to accommodate the home range of its inhabitants, and to allow natural disturbance regimes such as fire and flood and disease to shape them. Highly diverse systems are more stable and resistant to outbreaks of disease than less diverse systems and monocultures. The larger and less fragmented they are, the better they function.

We must recognize that geopolitical boundaries do not exist in natural landscapes, that they are an artificial construct of the human mind. While it is true that other animals establish territories for breeding purposes, they are not lines arbitrarily drawn on maps designed to keep other species out, nor are they for the exclusive use of a particular species.

Nature wastes nothing. Modern economies should function upon the same principles. Throughout all but a small segment of our history, human beings were organic creatures. There were no synthetic substances that did not harmonize with the earth or readily decompose. We need to recreate an economy that does not generate mountains of waste; one that does not flood the food chain with toxins and hormone inhibitors that create mutagens and other diseases solely for the sake of corporate profits.

A new paradigm based upon cooperation and mutual aide must evolve to replace the current paradigm of competition, economic self-interest and exploitation that is fostered under capitalism. Imagine every organism with the same rights and legal status as human beings. This is the way that most indigenous cultures perceived their world. It is way of seeing that promotes harmony and sustainability. The present system is predatory and cannibalistic.

We cannot wait for elected officials to take the lead on these issues. We must ourselves set about this important work and we must begin immediately. A good way to start is to plant a vegetable garden in the back yard and to nourish it with organic matter. Grow heirloom varieties and keep the seeds for the following year. Buy only what you need and pay as you go or better yet, barter with your neighbors for goods and services.

Compost all of your organic waste. Conserve water; it is far more precious than oil. Live gently and with respect for other people and other beings. They have as much right to be here as we do. Drive no more than necessary and combine trips; carpool and do not exceed 55-60 miles per hour. Make certain that your tires are properly inflated. Reduce, reuse and recycle. Drive small, light-weight vehicles that are fuel efficient. Walk or bicycle whenever possible or stay at home. Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Buy organic food from local farmers’ markets or cooperatives; support small local businesses and boycott large retail chains. Eat low on the food chain. Simplify your life and the world will seem less complex and more hospitable. In lieu of flying, use trains and boats for long distance travel.

It is imperative for the long term survival of the human family that we abandon the exploitive and unsustainable culture of conspicuous consumption and waste that characterizes us as a people. We must reduce our impact on the biosphere, or ecological and economic calamity will ensue (as we are already witnessing with the advent of global warming and mass extinction). Carrying capacity and overshoot are always in play. Ignoring this fact guarantees a future of unnecessary misery and suffering for our offspring and the offspring of countless other species.

Conspicuous consumption is our addiction. It is as harmful and self-destructive as our addiction to war and to fossil fuels. Let us see it as an artificial creation for the short term benefit of a few at the expense of the many; the creation of advertisers and perception managers that capitalism requires. Turn off your television set and go for a long walk. It will do you and the world immense good. That is how reconnection to the real world begins: by letting go of the artificial.

We must dramatically reduce our consumption; especially our carbon footprint and we must do it now. Superfluous consumption and population growth are malignant outgrowths of capitalism that are destroying its biological host: planet earth. There are better ways to live.

Eventually, others will see the wisdom of living in harmony rather than in competition and will follow suit. A life in harmony with nature is both possible and imperative. Every community can reorganize in this way. There is no alternative. We are living a lie and we must have the courage to face the truth, no matter how unpopular or inconvenient. The more we are connected to cell phones, ipods, and other electronic devices, the less connected we are to the earth. Artificial wants must never be allowed to replace the genuine needs of the many residents of the great commonwealth. We may even discover that we really do not need leaders when we have community.

Naturally, the author realizes that the core ideas of this essay are at odds with everything we have been conditioned to believe. Even so, that does not detract from its truth. Others will dismiss these arguments, which are a well-intentioned effort at solving perplexing and seemingly insurmountable problems—albeit an imperfect one, as a Utopian pipedream.

Yet it is my hope that someone may find some of these ideas useful and worth pursuing. We have already seen where the current road has led us: to the brink of oblivion. We need another vision and another path through this world. We have followed fools long enough. Countless practical matters will have to be worked out on the fly and inevitably mistakes will be made; but we can learn from them. Together, we can find our way.
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Charles Sullivan is a nature photographer, a naturalist, free-lance writer, and an environmental educator residing in the Ridge and Valley Province of geopolitical West Virginia. He welcomes your comments at csullivan@(no spam)copper.net.