Gardenworld Politics
Author: Douglass Carmichael Issue: 2022-04-20
Gardenworld Politics
by Douglass Carmichael
Climate, covid, economy, food crisis, oceans, soil, weakness of governance - forces seem to be closing in. We need plausible paths forward that could work... but it is a trap to take on a path that, on further reflection, is likely to fail. Take “electrify everything” as a path. It immediately raises questions which are all too often immediately avoided: How is the electricity generated? “Clean” fuel, which means burning trees.
End point costs. Currently converting a gas-heated house to an electrically heated house is about $10k. Moreover, delays are emerging on deliverability of heat pumps.
And who manufactures these at scale, and where do the raw materials come from? Mining, trucking - these are just a few of the unexamined side effects or issues.
A core issue, also ignored, is the deeper issue of growth. Growth is needed to pay interest and to increase equity - but growth uses more energy which contributes to CO2, which contributes to climate heating and turbulence.
I work with a group of economists, and after a long struggle they are willing to take on the issue of growth, which is hard for them because growth is considered the core driver of an economy.
When asked why growth is necessary, the first run of answers is “It just is”. But why? To create jobs, and when pushed further, to pay the interest on the debt. If you borrow a thousand to help your business you have to pay back the thousand plus some interest. Interest requires growth.
Aristotle wrote “You can have growth without development, and development without growth.” An interesting opening.
We are now having our first major conversations with a focus on growth. Suggestions please. It is really difficult.
Growth hurts the environment. All jobs use energy.
My own attempt to sort through these issues is based on the idea that the two major needs will be food and shelter. Putting these together, we could get Gardenworld.
And this leads me to the conclusion that the major resistance to needed changes comes from land ownership. We will need to repurpose land and buildings. How to do it?
I have a draft of a book, Gardenworld Politics, and a blog, at https://douglasscarmichael.substack.com/, where I keep working the issue. Part of my current thinking is that the effort to get from where we are to a better place won't work.
Things need to fall apart some before we can put them together better. But it helps to have a vision of what that “better” could be, so we can understand that bad news is part of good news.
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