Aim for a Post-Scarcity Economy, we will achieve a Green one

Perhaps it is a consequence of living in a world where the pace of growth has accelerated to such an extent that technologies less than half a decade old are seen as irredeemably obsolete; but I believe that society has appeared to have lost its ability to plan for the long-term. Even those among us who are trying to prevent the catastrophes of climate change, bred from an almost cannibalistic avarice for economic "development", are looking for solutions that can be implemented in the next decade or so, and would be quite pleased if their impacts would continue for the next century. I would like to advocate something far more radical; and while it may be appear to be an almost impossible request, we must remember that the last century has been identified by the ability of humanity to achieve tasks that were considered impossible in the not-so-recent past.

One of my favorite books of all-time is the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. For the sake of brevity, I will try to contain the highly complex plot to a few, brief sentences. In the far future, humanity has spread itself across the galaxy. Sociology and economics reach their zenith under the care of Hari Seldon, creator of the science of "Psychohistory" (a sort of kinetic theory of gases for sociology). Using the principles of this science, he predicts the inevitable collapse of the millennia-spanning 'Galactic Empire', followed by an even longer period of anarchy and intellectual darkness, before a new system can evolve to restore order. To stem the societal rot and decay that would follow in the interregnum, Hari Seldon advocates a radical plan which (and this is the nub of the matter) would be executed over the span of a thousand years.

Now, I do not claim to have invented such a new science, nor do I have a thousand-year plan to address the problems of climate change and sustainable development. Instead, all I wish to advocate is the idea that we can have a grandiose, extremely long-term goal, and work together as a single society towards achieving it. And the goal should be, quite simply, eliminating scarcity of any kind. The ultimate green economy would be no economy; a singular human civilization, completely capable of sustaining itself, and devoid of any resource imbalance.

The Soviet astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev devised a handy scale with which we could measure the progress of our civilization, and chart our future path. According to this scale, humanity is currently a Type 0.7 civilization, which I think is pretty much the ceiling of growth that is possible using existing energy technology. In order to ascend to a Type I civilization, it would be essential for us to be able to harness renewable energy on a massive scale. These were not the goals in mind while the technology we use today, or have been using for the last few centuries, were being made. In order for humanity to be able to - in the imminent future - achieve energy self-sufficiency to the extent that we can advance to a Type I Kardashev Civilization; and in order for us to eventually eliminate all scarcity completely, it would require, from all stakeholders (i.e. governments, corporations, bilateral and multilateral institutions, and even us common folk), a change in the approach we take to development. The scope of technological, social, and economic progress must be global; we must learn to view ourselves as equal users of a single common resource - the Earth.

This would, of course, require a change in mindset that is unprecedented. Yet, almost everything that has happened within my lifetime has been unprecedented; thus, I do not believe these goals are too daunting a challenge.