„It would be a bad thing for science if later generations were not permitted to add new insights on the knowledge of their predecessors.“ (Georgius Agricola, De Re Metallica, 1548) „How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor his products be, compared with those accumulated by nature during whole geological periods. Can we wonder, then, that nature’s productions should be far ‚truer‘ in character than man’s productions; that they should be infinitely better adapted to the most complex conditions of life?“ (Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection, 1859)
„It would be a bad thing for science if later generations were not permitted to add new insights on the knowledge of their predecessors.“ (Georgius Agricola, De Re Metallica, 1548)
„How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor his products be, compared with those accumulated by nature during whole geological periods. Can we wonder, then, that nature’s productions should be far ‚truer‘ in character than man’s productions; that they should be infinitely better adapted to the most complex conditions of life?“ (Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection, 1859)
Today, climate change, extinction of species and environmental destruction are the gravest existential challenges threatening the lives of all human beings irrespectively of their different cultural and political conditions. In view of this, we call on the business, scientific and political communities to switch to an ecologically sustainable and participative economy in order to reduce the threat to nature and mankind and to develop a new modern style of economics. (Deutsche Version)
Many countries have already decided to phase out nuclear power due to the hazard potential of radioactive waste, which can last for hundred thousands of years, and prioritize the use of renewable primary resources for electricity generation (energy transition). Further important steps are to:
And also to:
As a general rule, ecologically sustainable management has to be prioritised over recycling strategies, as it avoids environmental damage from the start.
Efforts to reduce damage, however, alone will not be sufficient, unless they are accompanied by an economic transition: The way we deal with nature has to be modernised. We know nature does not need us, but we (Adam Smith: human animals) live from our natural basis. We are heterotroph, we live from organic matter. With every breath we take in air and give back to nature no longer needed gases. Therefore, our today’s view of nature solely as an external object, disposable at will by man (Karl Polanyi: „fictitious commodity“) has to be overcome. It was an historic and reductive assumption (Peter Bendixen). It has to be modernised. We have to follow now the understanding and insights of modern physics (Carlo Rovelli). We know that we, as natural beings, interact with the nature external to us in a continuing, open and reciprocal process directly, immediately and unmediated. It follows that external nature can no longer be treated as if it only is our environment, we have to recognise it as our co-world (Klaus-Michael Meyer-Abich). We discern three different forms of our exchange with nature:
and the interchange between the means and the aim (= economicult), which diminishes our co-world, as well as our own natural abilities, as pure means for the increase of money. Suchan interchange is neither fair nor without repercussions. We understand that destroying our living co-world is the consequence of our present way of acting on it and viewing it. It is a culturally developed form of interaction, not a natural one. This insight allows us the understanding that we are the culprits, and also the victims of such a logic. Against all better knowledge, this logic is still defended as having no viable alternative. Unless that traditional economic view of nature is modernised, any call for change might be iscredited as a kind of threat to existing industries, economic growth, tax revenue and jobs. Therefore we call for not only a quantitative, but also a qualitative transition in our approach to nature; a paradigm change.
Many international and national institutions have already implemented strategies for sustainable development and some have even anchored the expression „conservation of nature“ in their constitutions. In the light of this statement, important next steps are to:
Ecological sustainable modernisation must be prioritised in all areas of life, in the public and business sector, as well as in the scientific and private sphere:
The Integrated Balance Sheet is to be separated into business-, product- and human ecology. That way, it is possible to state nature’s annual profit through reduced utilization, which can become an equally important objective to the entrepreneurial pursuit of financial profit. A key area in terms of transitioning towards a fundamentally fair and cooperative interaction with our co-world is the financial industry:
Furthermore, we demand that labour and income are decoupled. An unconditional basic income of the same amount for men and women is necessary. Additionally, „houses of self-work“ need to be established. Not until then we will value our own abilities in the same way as paid dependant labour. It means progress when everybody can enjoy more freedom and self-determination in their work. Last but not least, as the US economist Kenneth E. Boulding wrote, „Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad or an economist.“
This statement was drafted on 2 May and last amended on 29 May. It is based on individual, subject-specific statements by environmentally conscious members of the scientific community. The authors of the individual sections are united by a common recognition of the urgent necessity for modernising. Although, agreement with all the demands presented herein is not a prerequisite. Initial signatories:
Additional signatories:
Dr. Hofmann war bis 2008 TV-Redakteur, u.a. ARD-Korrespondent Südamerika und Chefreporter SWF, Chefkorrespondent n-tv und RTL. Als Chef der Agentur Zukunft, berät im Bereich der erneuerbaren Energien und Nachhaltigen Entwicklung, u.a. die Desertec Initiative Dii, das IASS Potsdam, acatech und die Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.
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