Think of the electric vehicle. It is a good illustration of the extent to which the global effort to address the climate catastrophe has come because it is sleek and almost silent. It has a carbon footprint that is roughly three times lesser than the petrol counterpart, and unlike a typical car, it doesn’t generate any of the harmful pollutants or greenhouse gases that cause air pollution. The good news is that. Then take into account that each electric car’s battery requires 8kg of lithium, which was probably taken from brackish pools on South America’s salt flats, a procedure that has been linked to the shrinking of pasturelands and the agglomeration of deserts.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mining operations for cobalt have contaminated water sources and soil, provided the 14 kg of cobalt that keep the car’s battery from overheating. The extraction and refinery of these parts will increase as popularity of electric vehicles rises, harming natural ecosystems even more. The International Energy Agency, or IDEA, projects that the demand for lithium will have grown more than four times by 2040.
The status quo is improved by electric cars without changing its greedy resource use. They are easily integrated into the economic theories that inform how policymakers think about lowering carbon emissions because they are subsidized by governments and supported by the automotive industry. According to proponents of “green growth,” who encompass the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the White House, societies can experience limitless expansion while lowering their carbon footprint if the appropriate policies are put in place. Growth, the process through which a nation raises the volume of products and services it generates, is intended to boost people’s earnings and give governments money to put toward public services like hospitals and schools.According to advocates of green growth, emerging technologies like electric vehicles would help “decouple” progress from emissions of carbon dioxide and permit people to live prosperous lives within the boundaries of the earth.
That is, at least, the theory. However, there is little proof that it will be feasible within the requisite timeframe. The amount of carbon dioxide being emitted globally is at an all-time high. Researchers have recently issued a warning that humanity’s safe space on Earth may already have been exceeded. In response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, keeping global warming below 1.5C is essential to preventing irreparable harm to the environment. Climate scientists estimate that in order to do this, high-income countries’ emissions must fall by a factor of ten from their current level.
Kate Raworth, an economist, thinks she has something to offer. She contends that it is feasible to create an economy that promotes the wellbeing of both people and the environment. By doing so, much of what characterized 20th-century economics must be rejected. This is the central thesis of her sole book, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist, and that was published in 2017 and quickly became a surprise bestseller. This book, which has been published in 21 different languages, makes one think of a captivating lecturer who imparts unconventional knowledge to a classroom full of students. “Citizens of 2050 are being taught an economic paradigm that is rooted in the textbooks of 1950, which are in turn rooted in the theories of 1850,” argues Raworth.
Raworth wants to demonstrate how our thinking has been limited by economic ideas that are essentially unsuited to the major challenges of this century by revealing the flaws in these outdated theories, such as the notion that growth in the economy will significantly reduce inequality or that people are merely self-interested.
Raworth believes that a ring doughnut best represents the perfect economy of the future. Its inner ring stands for a social base, while its outer crust signifies an ecological boundary. Going over the ecological limit would irreparably harm the environment. Falling below the social basis will result in some people losing access to necessities like food, housing, or money. According to her, economies must be crafted to function within this ring in order to promote the well-being of both people and the environment. The three main tenets of the doughnut are that the economic system ought to distribute wealth fairly, replenish the resources it consumes, and promote individual prosperity. Raworth contends that none of this should be dependent on economic growth.