So you want to save the environment: do you realise what it will take?

Most people have no idea how far beyond sustainable ways we are, nor do they realise that the planet cannot be saved in or by affluent-consumer-capitalist society.

Discussion about the environment problem typically fails to grasp what would have to be done to solve it. The usual demand is for stupid politicians captured by corporate interests to find the courage to close the coal-fired power stations and buy back the Murray and stop land clearing etc. But the main reason why they don't do these things is because they can't be done in this economic system.

If they took the necessary steps the economy would collapse and they would be tipped out of office. We have an economic system which cannot function unless the amount of work, jobs, investing, producing, and consuming going on are not just kept high but are increased all the time …that is, there must be economic growth or unemployment, bankruptcy and recession surge.

Around 400,000 Australians are dependent on coal being mined. If you close the mines what are you going to do with them? Put them all into windmill production next day? If you return the right amount of water to the Murray then you will need to organize funerals for many country towns.

"But can't we slowly transfer the miners out of the mines and into windmill production?" To some extent yes we can, but then they will be producing and consuming as much as before, and the problem is that there is too much producing and consuming going on.

The common mindless assumption is that sufficient adjustments could be made, by a tweak here and a subsidy there and more solar panels. All we have to do is crank up our effort to recycle our garbage, buy green label products, put in rainwater tanks, create more national parks, shift to electric cars and develop more efficient technologies, and that will cut the environmental impact to a sustainable level, while we all go on enjoying affluent lifestyles and economic growth. That's what the "Green Growth " people tell us.

Most people have no idea of the huge magnitude of the reductions required. Here is an indication of the case that to reduce to sustainable levels all the world's people could share, current Australian per capita rates of resource consumption would have to be cut by around 90%.

According to the World Wildlife Fund it takes about 7 ha of productive land to provide for each Australian, so if all the 10 billion people expected by 2050 were to live as we do now we'd need around 70 billion ha …but there are only about 13 billion ha of it on the planet. So if we left 1/3 for nature we Australians would be taking around 10 times our fair share. Figures for other things, such as minerals, are worse. And with the normal 3% p.a. growth in our economy, we take for granted, by 2050 the multiple would be around 20 times.

There is now a global "degrowth" movement but even within it there is little understanding of the magnitude of this issue.

All the big global problems threatening our existence are being caused by the fact that the amount of producing and consuming going on is far beyond levels that are sustainable or those all people could ever rise to. This is why resources are being depleted, the environment is being shredded, the poor countries are not getting a fair share, resource wars are needed, and social cohesion in the "rich" countries is crumbling.`

"But technical advance will solve the problems."

The standard response to this "limits to growth" analysis of the situation is to claim that better technology and more recycling etc. will reduce the impacts sufficiently without us having to think about reducing our high "living standards". That is, resource and environmental impacts can be "decoupled" from GDP growth. But this can no longer be believed. The detailed reviews by Hickel and Kallis, Parrique et al., and Haberl et al. (800 studies reviewed) conclude that it is not happening and is not remotely likely to happen; if GDP increases resources are depleted and environmental impact increases.