Our Growth Model By: Nabila Brache

Each day, humans are using more and more of Earth’s resources. We strive to grow and better ourselves, but we often don’t realize the harm our actions have on the planet we call home. The economic growth model we use does not truly account for real costs, as it does not recognize that natural systems have limits (Robertson, 2017). For instance, the real cost of burning fossil fuels is so much higher than what the price is in the marketplace. Margaret Robertson explains this as an externality. An externality is a cost that is external to the entity creating the damage. Another example of this is if a whole forest is cut down for our use of wood, in this model it is not calculated the amount of species that will lose their homes or that become extinct because they cannot survive outside of their natural habitat. Because natural systems are being severely affected, this is why constant growth is impossible. If we continue to grow and consume, our planet will have no more resources!

This is a very scary thought, but we must know that there are solutions. We need to become more aware of our ecological footprint because too many of us are living in a way that exceeds the planets carrying capacity. The current consumer-product manufacturing system that creates products with few uses and big wastes needs to change. Specifically in the fashion industry, people are buying clothes in fast fashion retailers that they will only use for a season and eventually end up discarded in landfills. Malia Brown shared with us how 80 billion new pieces of clothing are made each year and that just in the United States, each person takes out 87 pounds of clothing per year. Just imagine all of that waste! A new economy needs to take place and it is known as circular economy. Here, the economy will find ways to reuse and recycle materials and will need to consume renewable resources more than nonrenewable resources. This is a trend we have started seeing in fashion, as some designers have started incorporating recycled fabrics in their collections. We can all be part of the change and together we need to help our planet survive!