Satisfying Our Needs While Safeguarding Earth's Life-Support System


The Pledge
Certification
The Pledge Takers

The Pledge

Humanity needs an economy that meets our needs while safeguarding the life-support system of our planet. Therefore, we urge all those who partake in economy be it as producer, provider, or user, to pledge:

I will carry out economic activities with the goal to meet our needs while safeguarding Earth's life-support systems, on which the wellbeing of current and future generations depends.

Take the Pledge

You will be able to take the pledge here soon.

RATIONALE

Economy is the link between humanity and the Earth's life support systems. The inherent goal of economy is not to make money or to increase human wealth; the inherent goal, and the only goal that can lead to a sustainable development, is to regulate how we meet our needs without degrading or destroying Earth's life support systems, on which we all depend.

Much of today's economic activities are misguided by a perverse goal to increase human wealth with no regard for our basic life-support system. While this goal was justified 250 years ago, when humanity was still small and without the means to significantly change the ELSS, made sense, today it will inevitably lead to the degradation of the ELSS and is threatening the very existence of human civilization. Safeguarding the ELSS has to become congenital to our economic model.

E4H urges all those who partake in economy, be it as producer, provider, or user, to take a pledge that underlines the dual purpose of economy. At the core of the transition is the certification of producers, traders, investors, and users as responsible participants in E4H following up on their pledge. In many societal areas, voluntary and mandatory certification has proven to be transformational, for example, for safety of work processes and products, the environmental quality of buildings, and to some extent “green businesses.” This societal validation of the effectiveness of certification as a means to guide societal development in desired directions provides a solid basis for the approach of E4H.

Those benefiting from the current economy, which discounts natural capital and allows individuals and companies to gather seemingly unlimited (virtual) human wealth are likely to resist any transition to a novel E4H. Many of them are already resisting far minor transitions to renewable energy and more environmentally consistent production practices. The transition from an economy with the goal of infinite growths to one that safeguards the ELSS will be resisted by individuals, companies, and to some extent governments. However, increasingly people across the planet understand that the current development is unsustainable and threatening the wellbeing of current and future generations. Many of those who realize that we are taking away the future of our children are engaging in the global unrest. Engaging them in the transition to E4H will help to overcome the resistance from those who want to keep the short-term benefits of the current system for them.