The Eco-Industrial Revolution
What is an Eco-Industrial revolution? Ecology is essentially the study of all of the ways that natural systems are inter-linked and interdependent. We are a part of these systems. Everything we do has repercussions, either positive or negative, in the matrix of our world. These repercussions do not simply radiate out from us, but come back in a constant feed-back loop. In this way the rest of the natural word provides us with signals and information about the effects of our actions and decisions. Lately, the contents of much of this feedback has been alarming, to put it mildly.
At this point in human development, our industrial and household systems are overwhelming much of the world’s interdependent biological, atmospheric, marine and soil ecologies. The evidence for this is coming from every direction. The contamination of the biosphere – land, water and air – is signaling an oncoming threat to our ability to inhabit the Earth. What started as a slow accumulation of disparate signs is now moving toward an avalanche of scientific and observational data that is simply impossible to ignore.
To address this potentially catastrophic problem we need to reorient our human activities to be more aligned with nature as opposed to conquering it. We must cultivate a culture of conservation and habits that eliminate wasted energy and materials. We must consider all of the costs of our technologies including the loss of the functioning of living eco-systems and those of the natural world that sustain life. We must develop the technical means that will provide for our needs and a high standard of living, without disabling the healthful functioning of the planet. By doing this we can enable a durable prosperity that does not contain the seeds of its own destruction.
Wherever you look today, it is easy to find the negative side-effects of the first industrial revolution that began in the 1800s. The harnessing of both the energy and the chemical feed-stocks needed for materials production, plus the evaporation of volatile chemicals such as gasoline and industrial solvents, (all of which, are derived from carbon based fuels such as wood, coal and petroleum) are a present and growing threat.
Look at any distant horizon and you will see an encroaching haze. For those who have traveled the world and looked from the windows of airplanes, this yellowish haze blankets all of the world north of the equator (the centers of the first industrial revolution) and is gradually spreading southward to the lightly industrialized half of the world.
Sulfur compounds, soot particles, and a mixture of chemical compounds released from the burning of carbon fuels and the vaporization of chemicals, are mixed and combined in the atmosphere with the addition of intense ultraviolet energy from the sun. This is a cauldron of unintended chemistry. The resulting vaporous compounds and particles are eventually distributed by the winds and blanket the earth. The rains then wash a fraction of these compounds to the ground creating pollution of the soil and water. Many of these chemicals are highly toxic to living organisms and along with the less toxic, but cumulative effects of others, are causing a disruption to the ability of biological organisms, including humans, to sustain healthy life.
Ozone holes that increase skin cancer and blindness, acid rain that kills forest, plants and aquatic life, acidification of the oceans due to carbon dioxide releases resulting in massive die-offs of coral and the life it supports, creation of huge dead zones in bodies of water as a result of agricultural pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer run-off, the list goes on and on. The mass extinction process that is underway has caused the modern era to be named the Anthropocene (anthropo=man; cene=era), because it is so completely dominated by the activities of man.
Walk any beach that is not regularly cleaned and you will find it strewn with the rubble of industry and careless consumerism. Plastic items such as bottles and packaging, fishing nets and lines, shopping and trash bags, broken parts of discarded products, and unidentifiable bits, too numerous to catalogue, are ending up in the world’s oceans and strangling the marine ecosystem with vast islands of floating plastic rubbish derived from the short-sighted vision of an economy based on disposable products that are also not easily re-absorbed by natural forces.
And these are only examples of the problem that we can see. Most of the harm that is occurring can only be detected by specialized equipment in the hands of highly educated technicians and scientists.
Left unchecked, these trends will make the world uninhabitable. Our sources of food will be severely curtailed as will our ability to sustain health, because our hormonal and neurological systems will fail under the building chemical imbalances created by the industrial revolution. Compromised hormonal systems lead to reproductive malfunction and cancer along with many other maladies. Compromised neurological systems lead to diseases of the mind and nervous system which will ultimately compromise our physical abilities and our intellectual capacity to imagine and implement solutions to this threat.
These trends have already been identified by researchers. No one will be safe from their effects. No amount of money will be able to shield individuals, families, communities or nations. The rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, without any possibility of sanctuary, are being poisoned by the unintended consequences of industrialization.
That is why we must act now, before we lose the intellectual and physical abilities to undertake the necessary actions to restore healthy functionality of the infinitely interdependent world that we inhabit. No matter what your political or environmental views, the building body of facts support taking remedial action before it is too late.
These corrective changes cannot be brought about by government or industry alone. This must be an undertaking of the entire human community and its effects must reach and change our behavior, down to the youngest child. In all of human history, “united we stand, divided we fall”, never had a more urgent meaning.
What Can We Do?
When I was a child I lived on a hill overlooking a magnificent river. The river was wide and lined with trees and was beautiful to behold. However, upstream were numerous towns that had developed during the 19th and early 20th century. Unchecked industrialization including the wholesale dumping of chemical wastes into the water had turned this waterway, which had once teemed with life, into a toxic wasteland despite the fact that it was a tidal river that was rinsed daily. The accumulation of, floating, oily wastes actually made it possible for a fire to be ignited on the water’s surface. Recreational use had become impossible.
Finally in the early 1960s, the communities along the river decided to take action to restore the river and its eco-system. By closing down all sources of river pollution, and taking other cleansing remedial actions, over a twenty year period, the river was restored to the point that it became a center of water recreation and a source of fish.
This demonstrates the value of remediation efforts by individuals and communities and can be extended to nations and the global community. Of course, this river reclamation project took decades to make a noticeable difference, but twenty years is not a long time in the greater scheme of things. The problems discussed here will certainly take that long and more to correct and require huge amounts of economic resources. On the other hand, the benefits derived from restoring the inheritance of future generations is beyond any economic system of valuation.
It is also important to note that all effects of the industrial revolution are not negative. During this extraordinary period of development the flowering of human potential has been widely demonstrated. The organization of human intellect, creativity and material resources has lead to a much higher quality of life for billions of people than would have otherwise been possible. Now we must turn these positive human capabilities in a new direction.
This direction, the Eco-Industrial Revolution, will seek and develop ways to:
Power our material needs by harnessing clean energy sources to the production cycle and for household consumption.
Clean and remediate the damaged and polluted environment, by turning waste into valuable products.
Develop rational products by designing the entire product lifecycle with the goal of the minimization of wasted energy, wasted materials and zero unintended consequences.
Update the educational system to include the necessity of human responsibility for stewardship of the planet. In particular, the users of products, the engineers and managers must be educated to this necessity.
Develop a culture of efficiency and zero-waste that encourages the reduction of the materials and of the energy-use required for the maintenance of a high standard of living.
Eliminate the bureaucratic, structural impediments to making these changes. Educate the bureaucracy and the politicians to the necessity of formulating new regulations that allow and encourage this new direction.
Update economic theory by including all costs to our foundational biological systems.
Develop an industrial model that does not depend on the churning of vast amounts of virgin materials but maximizes recycling instead.
Develop an economic system that encourages the development of long-life, modular, updatable durable goods such as automobiles, equipment and computers. The revenues from updating and servicing of such equipment, will replace those lost from reduced manufacturing.
Set ambitious goals to achieve these changes and award substantial prizes to those whose creative and technical efforts demonstrate the way forward. Make these intellectual achievements public domain.
Seek leadership within the communities of teachers, engineers, managers, politicians and entrepreneurs with the capabilities needed for leading this revolution.
Identify and expose people and organizations whose short term career and economic ambitions stand in the way of the movement toward a healthful, durable prosperity.
Use the internet to establish independent citizen movements to monitor the activities of individuals, corporations and governmental organizations and to reward the responsible innovators with commendations and to penalize the irresponsible with boycotts and legal actions. Organize support for responsible political leadership.
Source: lightontheearth.blogspot.com
