An Ecomodernist Manifesto
"A good Anthropocene demands that humans use their growing social, economic, and technological powers to make life better for people, stabilize the climate, and protect the natural world."
What It’s About
An Ecomodernist Manifesto argues for an optimistic, pragmatic, and technology-driven approach to environmentalism. Rather than advocating a return to simpler lifestyles, the manifesto promotes harnessing technology and efficiency to reduce humanity’s impact on nature, challenging the conventional idea that economic growth inherently conflicts with ecological preservation.
Upshot
The manifesto asserts that:
- Decoupling is essential: Despite a historical connection between growth and environmental damage, modern societies can reduce their footprint on wild ecosystems and carbon systems while enjoying rising living standards
- Technology alone enables decoupling: Technologies like nuclear power, solar energy, urbanization, agricultural intensification, aquaculture, and desalination are vital tools for protecting nature while enhancing human well-being
Did You Know? Despite fears of overpopulation, global fertility rates have already dropped below replacement level in countries representing over half the world’s population
Why It Matters
This manifesto is one of the founding documents of the technological environmentalist movement and has new relevance as an inspiration for the Abundance Agenda.
Who Wrote It
The manifesto was authored by a group of leading environmental scholars, economists, and public intellectuals, including:
Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus are co-founders of the Breakthrough Institute and authors of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism.
Stewart Brand was the founder of The Whole Earth Catalog and a proponent of nuclear energy and synthetic biology.
Mark Lynas is the author of The God Species and Nuclear 2.0.
David Keith is Professor and Founding Faculty Director of Climate Systems Engineering Initiative at the University of Chicago.