7th January 07 - John Feeney, Growth is Madness

Humanity’s greatest challenge is upon us. It’s a converging set of ecological problems. No other difficulty we now face has the potential to impact the human future as profoundly as the convergence of climate change, peak energy, mass extinction, groundwater depletion, and a slew of related environmental catastrophes in the making. People need to know about it. It needs to saturate the media, to be in the headlines, in best-selling books, and on talk shows. And we need feature length films about it. By now, there should have been many theatrical documentaries on the subject.

But there have been only two: The 11th Hour and What a Way to Go. Both worthwhile, the latter offers the less sanitized picture of the precipice toward which we’re headed. Excluding some shoestring-budget short pieces, that makes one film so far which has made an effort to present the unblurred truth of this subject.

Now another is in the works and this one promises finally to awaken the public to the challenge ahead. It’s called Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity and it’s from Dave Gardner, one of a handful of people in the world with the training of a filmmaker and a solid grasp on the global sustainability crisis.

Cutting through the smokescreen

Dave is founder of the Colorado Springs growth control group, Save the Springs. His work there caught my eye when, involved in my own fight against urban growth, I noticed he had refined his responses to “growth machine” propaganda to an indisputable level. Statements such as, “Expansion cannot be sustained indefinitely, so a community that pins its hope for prosperity on expansion is guaranteed eventual failure” told me Dave was one activist with the ability to cut through the smokescreen to reveal the truth of our environmental dilemma.

Another of Dave’s great strengths is his ability to connect local growth issues with their counterparts at the global level. He understands how local economic policies promoting population increases interact reciprocally with national and even global population growth. Drawing on his experience with community growth control issues he demonstrates this relationship as it plays out in today’s seemingly endless urban growth. The result is a new clarity for the phrase “Think globally, act locally” as it relates to the growth of population and the economy. 

A preview

What can we expect from Hooked on Growth? Here’s what I know: Importantly, it will highlight the causes of our ecological crisis. Population growth, consumption growth, urban growth, and economic growth fuel our our mindless journey to the brink. Through interviews, examples of pro-growth mythology in the media, cutting edge animation, and 60-Minutes-Style case studies, the film will examine these drivers of environmental destruction and their insidious interactions.

To see how these issues play out on the community level, the movie will visit US cities such as Phoenix and Atlanta where the impact on water availability of population growth, climate change and groundwater depletion seem not to worry denial-driven, growth-cheerleading community leaders.

From the film’s website:

A sampling of those already interviewed for the film includes Al Bartlett, Paul Ehrlich, Brian Czech, Hunter Lovins, and Bill Mckibben. This suggests a lineup able to provide key information on issues of sustainability without any of the usual clutter.

A real strength of this film should be its inclusion of commentary from growth-boosters, perhaps even “cornucopians” in the tradition of Julian Simon. Though one might think including such material could work against the film’s message, I suggest it will make it clearer. The basic growth-boosting arguments are so common, and their refutations so seldom heard, many simply assume them to be true. They are, however, logically indefensible. Put them side by side with the essentially irrefutable ecological or pro-sustainability counter-arguments, and viewers will suddenly see through the “growth is essential and good!” propaganda we’ve all heard so often.

I’m glad to know a part of the message of Hooked on Growth is that “even if we manage to decrease per capita consumption and emission, we can’t achieve true sustainability as long as we are increasing population.” This is an issue I’ve been investigating and on which I believe Dave is it exactly right. His message here has to spread if some of those who dismiss the environmental impact of population growth are going to recognize its centrality in the sustainability equation.

But Hooked on Growth won’t highlight only problems. There’s a message of hope associated with Dave’s work, a message that we can replace our futile and self destructive grasping for a prosperity imagined to result from growth with the achievement of true prosperity through a new, harmonious relationship with the earth. 

You can help!

Of course, to produce a film this ambitious, a filmmaker needs help! As some of the most successful documentary makers do, Dave is seeking support directly from interested and concerned citizens. You can go here to make a tax deductible donation, volunteer some time to help with the project, or subscribe to any of three email lists designed to keep you up to date on the film, to spread the word, or to provide input. You can even get your name in the credits!

The project is well along, by the way, with 70% of shooting complete. If you’re looking for an environmental cause worth supporting, one which deals in ecological truth, this is one of the few I’d recommend.