Friday, March 30, 2012

Economic Growth and Development: Why ID Can’t Save the World

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation held by the Waterloo Institute for Complexity Innovation (WICI).  The title of the lecture was “Alternatives to Economic Growth”.  In it, Dr. Steve Mock lectured on the difficulties associated with the end of economic growth, and Dr. Steve Purdy argued for a renewed commitment to global governance in order to facilitate a smooth transition away from a growth-based economic paradigm towards an alternative system.  The most poignant aspect of this presentation, however, was the fact that both lectures were focused on finding solutions to the problems that humanity will face when global economic growth stops.  Importantly, these solutions are not merely answers to hypothetical problems necessary if growth to stops. The end to growth is inevitable, and the only choices we have relate to how we will deal with this fact.

This is because, in our current economic system, growth = consumption.  As economies grow, consumption increases, and as consumption increases, resources are depleted at faster rates.  Once resources are depleted, we can’t use them anymore.  This means that humanity essentially faces a choice: grow until we collapse, or create a new system based on long-term sustainability and steady-state economies.  Unfortunately, under our current global system, economic growth involves an increase in consumption rates, which in turn speeds us toward our eventual demise.  And, like it or not, international development is intrinsically tied to economic growth.  This means that, under our current economic paradigm, international development is hastening our society towards its own eventual destruction.  Honestly, this isn’t what I signed up for.

But it’s unavoidable.  Economic growth is intrinsically connected to every international development endeavor.  Any time a family living in poverty is able to augment their income, any time a microfinance loan helps a woman obtain financial freedom, or any time a child receives an education that leads to meaningful employment, the result is economic growth.
And all economic growth, even economic growth that is equitably distributed, holistic, and inclusive, is fueled by one thing: consumption.

So, global economic growth must come to an end, either through a managed transition or a sudden collapse.  And international development under the current system is taking us faster and faster towards the latter option.  I would suggest that every development practitioner, be they neo-liberal, neo-Marxist, or neo-feudalist, would agree to two things: that the goal of development is to increase human well being, both now and in the long-term, and that many living in the Global South need economic growth in order to confront the many difficulties that they face.  So if the Global South needs to grow and the world needs to move away from growth, the only place where the end to growth can be discussed is right here in the Global North.

Obviously, the transition away from growth will be difficult.  But here in the Global North our society enjoys unprecedented levels of wealth and freedom.  And while it may be a hard conversation to have, international development can only make sense if it is accompanied by action taken right here in the overdeveloping world.  Unfortunately, this issue is not politically popular, and is therefore unlikely to gain any serious traction among politicians. But unless we are able to change things, beginning right here at home, international development will never be able to change the world for the better.  So we may as well try.

Thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear comments,

Dan

Friday, March 16, 2012

“I hated Kony before it was cool”: A Hipster Responds to Kony Fever

First of all, let me preface my post with the following admission: this title is misleading for two reasons.  First, I’m definitely not a hipster.  Just because I listen to bands that you’ve never heard of, sport a lumberjack beard, and eat food from a dumpster, doesn’t mean that I didn’t think all of those things were lame before everyone else.  Second, in no way am I qualified to make a statement like the one in my title.  To be totally honest, I had no idea who Joseph Kony was before the massive campaign and subsequent counter campaigns flooded my facebook news feed.  But now I do, and so do you, and that is why I think the campaign has been so important.

Let me be clear: I don’t support everything that Invisible Children (the organization behind the Kony 2012 campaign) does, I am skeptical of their incredibly simple presentation of an unfathomably complex issue, and I am wary of the campaign’s potential to perpetuate stereotypes.  The Kony 2012 campaign clearly has its faults. Yet it has been undeniably successful in its main objective, which has been to raise awareness about the LRA and problems brought on by conflict in Central Africa.  Though this ‘awareness’ may have been presented in a less than desirable manner, the problems with the Kony campaign have, albeit unintentionally, created a wave of something even more valuable: dialogue.

If you were on Facebook at all during these past few weeks, you must inevitably have witnessed something resembling the following scenario.  First, a few videos posted by excited individuals about some man in Africa named Joseph Kony began to pop up on profiles throughout Facebook.  Soon, statuses and profile pictures were changing, Kony 2012 action groups were being created, and incessant postings and repostings of that same half-hour video began to fill news feeds.  Kony 2012 was the biggest thing to hit Facebook since Farmville.  And then the criticisms struck.  Some began to question Invisible Children and the logic behind the Kony campaign.  Some began object to the way that this issue was being presented.  In response to these questions, some of which were raised in an undeniably self-righteous and patronizing manner, status updates and wall posts across Facebook began to change their positions faster than Mitt Romney in a GOP primary race!  People began to question many of their previous assumptions about international development, foreign aid, and the ‘plight of the Africans’.  People became aware of the complexity of these issues and of the depth of research required to adequately understand (or not understand) them.  I believe that this more holistic awareness, though probably not Save the Children's original goal, has been the greatest outcome of this campaign. 

Though it remains to be seen whether or not the campaign will have any real effect on the situation in Central Africa, Kony 2012 has undoubtedly taught a valuable lesson to all who have caught the Kony fever: that incredibly complex issues in international development require an equally complex understanding.  Getting ‘informed’ is not as easy as watching a video or reading a blog.  It usually requires dialogue.  And for those who do find reason to criticize the next online ‘save Africa’ craze, instead of intimidating well-intentioned people with condescending and self-righteous responses, remember that these campaigns create an excellent opportunity to raise holistic awareness about complicated situations.  Whatever you do, don’t be an INDEV hipster!

Thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this issue,

Dan

Friday, March 9, 2012

Grupo de Emprendimientos Ambientales: It’s Official!

The long-awaited acceptance package has finally arrived, confirming my 2012-2013 field placement with GEA in Huancayo, Peru.  As noted in the previous post, a link to GEA’s website can be found on the right-hand side of the blog. Fortunately, GEA maintains a well-organized, professionally presented, and moderately up-to-date website rife with information.  Unfortunately, the ‘English Version’ link found on the site is merely decorative, and won’t, despite what you might expect, actually take you to an English version of the website.  Because of this, I have decided that it might be useful to explain in English the many doings of this organization, with a particular focus on the community-based sustainable tourism program that I will be working with in September.

GEA, whose full title is ‘Grupo de Empredimientos Ambientales’ or ‘Group of Environmental Entrepreneurs’, is a Lima-based not-for-profit, founded in 1992.  Though technically a non-governmental organization, GEA prefers to refer to itself as a ‘business with social and environmental goals’.  GEA works to support environmentally and socially sustainable development by promoting green technologies, processes, and practices in four main areas: businesses, cities, tourism and community organizations, and schools.

During my placement, I’ll be working with one of GEA’s community organization and tourism support programs in the rural region of Huancayo.  These programs focus on the provision of the resources needed to design and manage successful tourism operations, including the design of necessary infrastructure and support for businesses and arts groups. I was glad to see that GEA’s approach to sustainable tourism recognizes that fact that tourism can often be invasive, exclusive, and damaging to communities.  GEA maintains a focus on promoting organizations that are owned, operated, and sustained by communities themselves, in such a way that the economic benefits are enjoyed by the whole community. 

I must say, I was somewhat skeptical when I first learned that I would be working to promote tourism in rural areas in Peru.  The idea of creating organizations for the purpose of allowing wealthy people to travel to and spend money in poor villages seemed like less than my ideal vision of sustainable development.  I was relieved, however, to see the emphasis that GEA places on ensuring that the benefits of tourism accrue to all members of each community. Tourism may not be the perfect development solution in many cases, but it does provide poor families with opportunities to augment incomes, generating wealth that can then be used to improve access to education and health care.  Tourism may appear to be a solution that merely treats symptoms of the disease of global inequality and it may leave something to be desired by many a radical ID student, yet I believe that it does present Peruvian communities with a home-grown means of overcoming many of the problems of poverty.  GEA’s programs offer a pragmatic solution to many who can’t wait for the implementation of a New World Order to solve their day-to-day problems.

 Thanks for reading.  I would love to hear comments.
Dan