Johan Rockstrom is one of many climate scientists and climate spokespeople who have been describing the same problems and the same solutions for many decades. In this TED talk, recorded in July 2024, he tells us that scientists are really worried. He tells us that he has delivered all these dire warnings many times before. He tells us that things are much worse now, because of all the tipping points that are slipping by. At 16 minutes in, he goes on to tell us that we have solutions for a secure stable future for humanity.Let us consider the ‘solutions’ that Rockstrom reels off so blithely:
- Rapid transition away from fossil fuels — here, he overlooks the ecological damage involved in that transition.
- Transition to a circular economy — a circular economy is great if we are coming from a sustainable start point. Unfortunately right now we are deep in ecological debt.
- Healthy diets and sustainable food systems — we have 8 billion to feed on a planet that can only sustain about 3 billion, assuming they stick strictly to minimal consumption. We are reliant on fossil-fuelled industrial agriculture to feed our huge population of 8 billion.
- Scaling regeneration of ecosystems, soil recovery — Rockstrom claims we have solutions for restoring ecosystems. However, we have no evidence that the ‘solutions’ that he is referencing can be scaled at the same time as climate breakdown unfolds. None of these ‘solutions’ have been tested in 1.5–3 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels.
Rockstrom then goes on to admit that ‘the path (to net-zero) is steeper than ever’.
‘All Will Be Well’ Endings
Like so many influential people in the scientific world, Rockstrom immediately nullifies the fear-raised by the ‘steeper than ever’ comment. At 17 minutes he lulls his audience back into apathy and complacency. He says how encouraged he is that people are aware and they want solutions. He offers no indication of any need for willingness to change our expectations, or his own expectations. He declares that implementing these ‘solutions’ will result in a more healthy, secure future, with flourishing jobs and economies. He reassures his audience, ‘we all win, if we succeed’. In this statement, Rockstrom reveals his total blindness regarding all the human suffering on the planet right now.
How Human Suffering Arises
A recent paper entitled the ‘Unequal Exchange of Labour in the World Economy’, sheds considerable light on the cause of suffering in today’s world. See abstract below:
Researchers have argued that wealthy nations rely on a large net appropriation of labour and resources from the rest of the world through unequal exchange in international trade and global commodity chains. Here we assess this empirically by measuring flows of embodied labour in the world economy from 1995–2021, accounting for skill levels, sectors and wages. We find that, in 2021, the economies of the global North net-appropriated 826 billion hours of embodied labour from the global South, across all skill levels and sectors. The wage value of this net-appropriated labour was equivalent to €16.9 trillion in Northern prices, accounting for skill level. This appropriation roughly doubles the labour that is available for Northern consumption but drains the South of productive capacity that could be used instead for local human needs and development.
Unequal exchange is understood to be driven in part by systematic wage inequalities. We find Southern wages are 87–95% lower than Northern wages for work of equal skill. While Southern workers contribute 90% of the labour that powers the world economy, they receive only 21% of global income.
Wealth Inequality and Ecological Injustice
Global wealth inequality and ecological injustice lie at the heart of our problems today. Influencers like Johan Rockstrom need to become aware that unless we address the social issues that come with pronatalism and growth economics we shall fail to even begin to bend that ever steepening net-zero ambition. We are still in the grip of the Great Acceleration.
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