Bankrupting Nature

by Anders Wijkman, Johan Rockström

This powerful book shows us that we are in deep denial about the magnitude of the global environmental challenges and resource constraints facing the world. Despite growing scientific consensus on major environmental threats as well as resource depletion, societies are largely continuing with business as usual, at best attempting to tinker at the margins of the problems. The authors argue that regardless of whether governments respond to the economic crisis through additional stimulus packages or reduced government spending, environmental and resource constraints will remain. The crisis will be exacerbated by the combination of climate change, ecosystem decline and resource scarcity, in particular crude oil. The concept of Planetary Boundaries is introduced as a powerful explanation of the limits of the biosphere to sustain continued conventional growth. The book breaks the long silence on population, criticizing donor countries for not doing enough to support the education of girls and reproductive health services. It is shown that an economy built on the continuous expansion of material consumption is not sustainable. De-growth, however, is no solution either. The growth dilemma can only be addressed through a transformation of the economic system. A strong plea is made for abandoning GDP growth as the key objective for development. The focus should instead be on a limited number of welfare indicators. The trickle-down concept is seriously questioned, to be replaced by one of sufficiency. Rich countries are called upon to hold back their material growth to leave room for a rising living standard among the poor. Alternative business models are presented, such as moving from products to services or towards a circular economy based on re-use, reconditioning and recylcing – all with the aim of facilitating sustainable development. A Report to the Club of Rome

Genres: Science, Environment

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 2011, Anders Wijkman and Johan Rockström's Bankrupting Nature: Denying Our Planetary Boundaries is a useful analysis of what climate change does and of how we should understand and respond to it.

The title suggests that the core concept is planetary boundaries, which include things like biodiversity, ocean acidification, land use devoted to agriculture, etc. It is easy to follow how Rockström's boundaries come out of Tim Jackson's finite growth analyses and lead to Raworth's Doughnut Economics model, which, when visualized, looks very similar to Rockström's planetary boundaries image. The authors explore a lot more than planetary boundaries, however, and I especially liked the chapters on green revolutions, doubt, and "what the deniers do not want to know" useful. (This last title is poor, as are many of the chapter titles, imho.) I also appreciated the analysis of scientists and their reluctance as a group to become communicators on climate change.

There are many taxonomies and lists here, which I love. At one point, for example, Wijkman and Rockström provide an overview of six types of response to climate change:

1. It's already too late. Lovelock. Franzen might be a contemporary example.
2. Systems. Flannery, Hansen, and scientists who worry about runaway greenhouse effect go here.
3. IPCC mainstream. Many scientists. Often journalists go here. David Wallace-Wells might be a 2020 exemplar.
4. Good faith skeptics. ("Good faith" is my phrasing but I think it's useful as it identifies scientists who are part of the discourse as opposed to misinformation peddlers.)
5. Underestimaters. Bjorn Lomborg appears here, though I think this group would label itself "adaptability believers."
6. Deniers.

Lists are so interesting, even if I'd probably add more categories to this one.

When I read Bankrupting Nature there were 3 reviews and 15 ratings on Goodreads, which seems far too few. Having said that, it is written for an audience with some understanding of climate science but not so much that it requires climate model equations--a tricky niche, perhaps.

I finally note that although I found a lot of further reading in this book, the abbreviated references section, which focuses on major sources for the sake of brevity, frustrated me more than once. Why any author ever condenses their notes and bibliography is beyond me...

Regardless, recommended.

[Sean T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short version: [citation needed]

Longer version: I agree with the general premiss of this book, but found the way in which information was presented did the topic disservice. The failure to explicitly cite where information comes from makes it very hard for me, as a scientist, to endorse such a book. If you are going to throw around numbers in a book that has such an important topic, cite your sources.

[Emelia Hendrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

What struck me most is how clearly the authors lay out the scale of the problem. This isn’t just another environmental book warning about climate change in isolation, it connects climate, ecosystem decline, resource depletion, and economic systems into one uncomfortable but convincing picture. The idea that we’re “tinkering at the margins” while the core issues remain untouched really stayed with me.

The discussion around Planetary Boundaries is especially eye-opening. It gives language and structure to something many of us sense but struggle to articulate: that there are real, physical limits to what the planet can sustain, no matter how creative our economic models try to be. I also appreciated that the book doesn’t fall into easy answers. It challenges endless growth, but it also questions de-growth as a simplistic solution, instead pushing for a deeper transformation of how our economies are designed and what we measure as success.

This is not a light or comforting read, but it is a thoughtful, well-argued one. If you’re interested in sustainability, economics, or the future of development and you’re open to having some deeply held assumptions challenged this book is well worth your time.

[Bob Gustafson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yawn! I may have given this book another star had I read it when it was published, but in 2019, I've heard this all before.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When the subprime crisis and the global crisis struck after years of reckless speculation, many politicians and business leaders, especially those in the United States, argued that governments could not afford legislation to ease climate change. Regulations, taxes and subsidies to encourage use of alternative energies would cost too much, destroying jobs and communities, or so the argument went. Since 2007, more books are taking an economic approach in arguing for investment in renewables and phase-out of fossil fuels – and Bankrupting Nature: Denying Our Planetary Boundaries could be among the more engaging, even offering hope that dependence on fossil fuels can be overcome." YaleGlobal