My study of sustainable development from God's perspective continues its embryonic phase. So far I've loosely outlined what is meant by sustainable and thrown out some thoughts on whether this is a biblical concept or how it might be redefined biblically.
At the end of that post, I briefly touched on a question which I'd like to look at more closely here and throw open to general debate. That question is; "can development ever be truly sustainable?!"
The Problem:
It is argued that on a planet with finite space and finite resources, development must surely be limited by the constraints of the physical environment. It is also argued that we are rapidly reaching (or have even overshot) the limits of those resources.
The Implications:
This thinking is everywhere. It is impacting everything from public policy to commercial marketing. Companies jump on the 'one planet' idea to market their environmentally friendly products and services. Meanwhile, governments around the world are attempting to find ways to tackle and mitigate against climate change, largely based on a worldview that says; the planet isn't able to cope with so many people living the lifestyle they are living. This has further impacts on international relations as developing nations, seeking to obtain the standards of living of developed nations, are seen as a new threat to climate and the environment. No doubt we could come up with quite a lengthy list of the outworkings of this mentality.
The Question:
The question I have is two-fold:
Firstly...
How as Christians do we respond to this when God's original mandate was for us to 'fill the earth and subdue it." Have we already fulfilled this? Is the earth just full? Or have we misinterpreted it? Does 'fill' have another connotation?
It seems to me that blessing and population growth often go hand in hand in the bible. Is this just a cultural feature of ancient near eastern society? How can and should we interpret that today? Furthermore, what implications does this have for countries (of which there are several in western Europe) where the population is actually in decline?
Secondly...
If God is infinite and has infinite power and resource (think manna from heaven or the feeding of the five thousand) what does that say about a worldview of finite resources?
I feel quite at a loss with both of these so I'd be very interested to hear other people's thoughts...
Great questions. I think we also need to consider putting in to play at least a provisional definition of 'development'. There seems to be some consensus around development denoting physical/material improvement to life, health and dignity. So improvement, betterment, progress and growth are all aspirations linked to development.
ReplyDeleteBut in the West such a definition has crafted a notion of economic development as limitless growth. Even in the most ecologically aware decade of modern times, the received economic wisdom is to grow our way out of the current financial crisis. Economic development in the West has long since superseeded the aim of growing just to improve life-expectancy, health and dignity (ie people not living in abject poverty - problematic definition, I know!). Perhaps we need to consider separating development from economic growth (beyond a baseline that maintains acceptable life, health and dignity levels) and think about we as humans develop who we are, not just what we have? Maybe it's time to de-develop as consumers, before we are enveloped by the mountains of stuff we don't need and by a planet that can't cope.
Two other comments/questions. 1) I haven't thought too hard about the population growth = blessing idea. But it seems a cruel irony that the countries with growing populations are either in poverty, or facing significant future problems unless population growth reduces. While the most advanced countries have little net growth (other than immigration). I wonder whether a direct link between population and blessing is rather culture-time bound. But I'm sure there is still much to learn from studying this connection.
2) As the reality that economic growth (as it currently looks) is not limitless sinks in, that means that our own 'development' (defined as material betterment in excess of a baseline) is connected to other people's (reduced) ability to develop (even if living below such baseline).
"But it seems a cruel irony that the countries with growing populations are either in poverty, or facing significant future problems unless population growth reduces."
ReplyDelete- actually living alongside poverty, I would say that the conditions themselves are not what make people 'unblessed' but rather their attitudes towards them. Truely, when people realise the potential of the kingdom of God, Luke 6:22 comes into place: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."
We have found the book 'When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Yourself' by Fikkert and Corbett a very interesting look at poverty. They state causes of poverty:
S - sin (corruption)
K - knowledge (lack of education)
O - oppression
R - resources
We often assume poverty to be lack of resources, but as is the case in Latin America, it is actually sin and lack of knowledge that play the greatest roles. Here in Peru there is many resources, but poor administration.
Anyway, I digress!
I wonder if the tightening of worldwide resources and population growth problems will actually be part of the spiritual tightening needed for miracles to happen. After all, those countries with the greatest population problems and greatest poverty are those which are also seeing the greatest revivals.
Thanks for raising these questions, Stephen, and thanks also to Nathan and Anna for your insightful responses.
ReplyDeleteI am of the opinion that development can be sustainable. Moreover, even though I agree with Nathan's comments, I believe that economic development (i.e. GDP growth) can also be sustainable.
Fears about the effects of population growth are nothing new. Thomas Malthus wrote about similar issues about 200 years ago, expressing concern about how food production could keep up with growing population. However, since then, global population has increased exponentially while living standards have also rapidly increased. So one could argue that Malthus's fears have proved unfounded.
We have to understand that, while people are the primary consumers of resources, they are also the primary producers. So population growth actually leads to an increase in the earth's productive capacity.
Of course, economic growth still relies on the earth's natural capital which remains fixed while population grows. But this natural capital is very adaptable thanks to human ingenuity. Take climate change for example. The earth's atmosphere has a finite capacity, so as increasing economic growth leads to increasing carbon emissions, a point is reached where the natural capital runs out. But does this mean that there is a ceiling on sustainable growth? No, because us humans have found ways to adapt. Our consumption of energy, and hence our consumption, can continue to grow sustainably by using more renewable sources.
So I don't think there is a ceiling on sustainable economic development but this doesn't detract from the fact that GDP growth doesn't necesarily lead to improved quality of life, as Nathan points out.
As for your second question, Stephen, I have a less ready answer. If our resources were not finite, then we wouldn't need to be good stewards. But then Jesus continually tapped into supernatural (and therefore potentially infinite?) resources to solve problems of scarcity, so we should do likewise. As Anna points, poverty can lead to an opportunity for miracles. This is a question that definitely deserves further consideration.