Solutions 7(1) by The Solutions Journal

January-February 2016, Volume 7, Issue 1

For a sustainable and desirable future

Solutions The Next Solutions by Ida Kubiszewski and Robert Costanza Rhino Poaching: What is the Solution? by Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes A Case Study of Small Hydropower by Karen Kellogg and Caroline Hobbs Is There a Secret to Aging Well? by Michael Smyer What a Clinton Presidency Would Mean for Women by Christina Asquith www.thesolutionsjournal.com USD $5.99 CAD $6.99 EURO €4.99

Solu%ons is housed at:

Sponsors

Adam J Lewis Family Founda<on

The Lewis Founda*on is a 501(c)(3) organiza*on established in 2002 by philanthropist Adam J. Lewis. The Lewis Founda*on seeks to award grants to nonproﬁt organiza*ons and/or individuals that are involved in environmental responsibility, green space issues and research, in addi*on to helping preserve wilderness and natural resources. Na<onal Council for Science and the Environment’s goal is to improving the scien*ﬁc basis for environmental decisionmaking.

Crawford School of Public Policy at Australian Na<onal University,

serving and inﬂuencing Australia, Asia, and the Paciﬁc through advanced policy research, graduate, & execu*ve educa*on.

U.S. Environmental Protec<on Agency (US EPA) has the mission to protect human health and the environment in the United States.

Ins<tute for Sustainable Solu<ons, Portland State University provides leadership and cataly*c investment from a diverse array of academic disciplines.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

serves the na*on by providing reliable scien*ﬁc informa*on to describe and understand the Earth.

Become part of the solu<on! Become a sponsor! As a sponsor or partner of Solu%ons, you will be helping to foster solu*ons to the world’s most pressing problems. There are many ways to support Solu%ons, ranging from monetary to editorial to promo*onal. To learn how you can become part of the solu*on, go to www.thesolu*onsjournal.com/sponsor

Kubiszewski, I. and R. Costanza. (2016). The Next Solutions. Solutions 7(1): 1. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/the-next-solutions-

Editorial by Ida Kubiszewski and Robert Costanza

The Next Solutions

ix years ago, a small team of academics and journalists launched the first issue of Solutions. The global economy was on a roller coaster, the Arab Spring uprisings were about to start, creating tens of millions of refugees, rising college tuitions drove students in Europe and South America onto the streets, and our ecological destruction continued— the Deepwater Horizon was spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and the IPCC was under fire for suppressing emails supposedly ‘proving’ that climate change was a hoax. While the media covered the depth of the problems, solutions were in scant supply. The media is a feedback mechanism for society. It provides society an opportunity to understand what is happening and potentially improve its behavior. However, presenting only the problems provides little advice or opportunity to discuss how to improve and develop. Society needs to know what can be done and how we can create a sustainable and desirable future together. People need to learn about what works in order to take effective action. They need to hear about solutions to be inspired, to build on what others are doing, and start implementing their own fixes. Innovative ideas and solutions already exist and are being put into practice across the world. At the local, regional, national, and global levels, solutions are providing our society with the ideas and possibilities it needs to make a positive, transformative shift. We recognized that these solutions exist; they are just not widely known or distributed. Over the past six years, Solutions has become a critical part of that distribution and ongoing conversation. Solutions has published well over

a thousand articles about solutions on all scales from over 150 countries through the voices of thousands of authors from all walks of life. It has brought together stories of success to create a global integrated network of solutions and connected those needing help with new ideas and people. It has been in the hands of kings, princes, prime ministers, presidents, parliamentary members, Nobel Prize laureates, educators, and millions of others.

• Availability of articles in PDF format and mobile access to all articles. • Access to entire current and archived issues. • Solutions forums and conferences online and live that bring together society members and others to develop and implement creative, integrated solutions. • A special issue on China and ongoing Chinese language versions of selected articles.

Society needs to know what can be done and how we can create a sustainable and desirable future together. It has influenced policy-makers and practitioners, helped to restructure curriculum, and changed how students view the world around them. Solutions has also promoted a growing awareness of the need for solutions journalism. Since the launching of Solutions, special issues of Scientific America on solutions were published, the New York Times launched a blog called ‘Fixes,’1 the Solutions Journalism Network was started with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,2 and many other initiatives have been created. Solutions is now moving into the next stage of its development and we are planning several new initiatives, including: • Launching a new website in early 2016, incorporating several design and usability improvements. • A ‘Solutions Society’ that will allow more direct interaction with authors and content, making it easier to share and discuss solutions with friends and colleagues.

• Supporting and promoting new projects that have the potential to make a difference in the world. For example, we have started the Claim The Sky initiative that is calling for citizens and countries to create a global atmospheric trust to help implement the Paris agreement.3 Other projects will follow on a range of topics, including measuring societal well-being, implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, designing a new inclusive, prosperous, and sustainable economy, and many more. The world needs Solutions now more than ever and we hope you will join us. We are growing in numbers and need everyone to help design a sustainable and desirable future. We cannot predict the future, but together we can create the best one possible. References 1. Opinionator. The New York Times [online] (2016) http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/fixes/. 2. Solutions Journalism Network [online] (2016) http:// www.solutionsjournalism.org/. 3. Claim the Sky [online] (2016) http://claimthesky.org/.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 1

Contents

January/February 2016

Features

The search for real answers begins with Solutions Join the Solutions Team Become a part of the global Solutions Team. Have Solutions delivered to your door or devices with our new PDF subscription. Keep up to date on our latest articles and gain exclusive access to online and face to face Solutions events.

Rhino Poaching: What is the Solution?

A Case Study of Small Hydropower

Submit

Your contribution will help bring together people from all walks of life in creating innovative solutions.

Rhino populations are increasingly threatened by rising demand for rhino horn in global black markets. While changing consumer behavior is the ideal solution, demand for illegally sourced horns can be more immediately displaced by introducing genuine horn from sustainable sources and synthetic substitutes into the market.

by Karen Kellogg and Caroline Hobbs For Skidmore College in Upstate New York, the restoration of a small hydropower facility has increased campus sustainability and decreased costs. This case study speaks to the minimal environmental impacts and broad economic and social benefits of small hydropower projects that could be replicated across the United States.

Join the dialogue. Submit your thoughts in the form of articles, news stories, features, or online comments. What are your solutions?

Become a Partner

by Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes

www.thesolutionsjournal.com

2 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

Is There a Secret to Aging Well? by Michael Smyer

As the Baby Boomer generation moves towards retirement ages, they are increasingly concerned about issues of aging. A wealth of literature on the sociology, experience, and science of aging can provide innovative insights into the process that many fear, yet all aspire to: getting older.

On the Web

Perspectives

www.thesolutionsjournal.org Explore the Solutions website for more content and interactivity. What are your solutions? Share your vision for a sustainable and desirable future and learn more about the Solutions community.

Envisioning

A View from Abroad: What a Clinton Presidency Would Mean for Women by Christina Asquith

The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Dynamics of Well-being by R. Costanza, L. Daly, L. Fioramonti, E. Giovannini, I. Kubiszewski, L.F. Mortensen, K.E. Pickett, K.V. Ragnarsdottir, R. de Vogli, and R. Wilkinson

A Political Platform for Rich Nations towards 2050: From Higher Income to Higher Well-being by Jorgen Randers

Helms Hurts: How the US Prevents Thousands of Women from Accessing Safe Abortions Each Year by Kendall Bousquet

We Feel Your Pain: Environmentalists, Coal Miners, and “Embedded Environmentalism” by Nives Dolšak and Aseem Prakash

On the Ground

In Argentina, an Innovative Traditional and Natural Medicine Initiative Sprouts from Urban Agriculture

by Robert C. Thornett A complete farm-to-clinic system for medicinal plants is one aspect of a new project in Rosario, Argentina that is using urban agriculture to provide herbal infusions free of charge to patients. The traditional and natural remedies stem from generations of community knowledge and complement conventional medicine.

A Talk Given at a Conservation Meeting a Hundred Years From Now… by Alex Steffen In the year

2115, conservationists look back upon their ancestors, whose innovative and mindful actions in the 21st century prevented the full realization of the planetary crisis and laid the foundation for a healing planet inhabited by more sustainable societies.

Solutions in History

Surviving the Second Conquest: Emperor Menelik and Industrial Plantations in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley by Will Hurd The people of

Ethiopia’s Omo Valley are no strangers to domination from outside forces. In the midst of a government led planning initia tive, local people are fighting to lead the development process.

Imagine Better by Solitaire Townsend

Idea Lab Noteworthy

07 Interview

New York Public Library Boosts Public Domain with Release of 187k+ Historical Images Is Ginger the Main Ingredient for Easing Poverty in Rural Uganda? Sahar Speaks Encourages Afghan Women to Tell Their Own Stories Project Sunroof Expands Homeowners’ Access to Solar Power

14 The New Oprah – A New Arabic Language Talk Show that Lifts Taboos on Women

Interview by Christina Asquith Host Zainab Salbi speaks about her Arabic language talk show, the Nida’a Show, and how to address values, empower women, and humanize men for audiences across the Middle East.

In Review How Do We Get From Here to There? by Karim J. Chichakly

Editorial The Next Solutions by Ida Kubiszewski and Robert Costanza

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 3

Solutions

Contributors

Editors-in-Chief: Robert Costanza, Ida Kubiszewski Associate Editors: David Orr, Jacqueline McGlade Managing Editor: Colleen Maney

3 1

Senior Editors: Christina Asquith, Jack Fairweather History Section Editor: Frank Zelko

Book & Envisioning Editor: Bruce Cooperstein Editors: Naomi Stewart, Dana Rawls, Cherie Stapleton Graphic Designer: Kelley Dodd Copy Editors: Anna Sottile, Nadine L. Business Manager: Ian Chambers

Interns: Kendall Bousquet, N’dea Yancey-Bragg Editorial Board: Gar Alperovitz, Vinya Ariyaratne, Robert Ayres, Peter Barnes, William Becker, Lester Brown, Alexander Chikunov, Cutler Cleveland, Raymond Cole, Rita Colwell, Robert Corell, Herman Daly, Thomas Dietz, Josh Farley, Jerry Franklin, Susan Joy Hassol, Paul Hawken, Richard Heinberg, Jeffrey Hollender, Buzz Holling, Terry Irwin, Jon Isham, Wes Jackson, Tim Kasser, Tom Kompas, Frances Moore Lappé, Rik Leemans, Wenhua Li, Thomas Lovejoy, Hunter Lovins, Manfred Max-Neef, Peter May, Bill McKibben, William J. Mitsch, Mohan Munasinghe, Norman Myers, Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir, Bill Rees, Wolfgang Sachs, Peter Senge, Vandana Shiva, Anthony Simon, Gus Speth, Larry Susskind, David Suzuki, John Todd, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Alvaro Umaña, Sim van der Ryn, Peter Victor, Mathis Wackernagel, John Xia, Mike Young

Subscriptions: http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/subscribe Email: solutions@thesolutionsjournal.com

Sponsoring Inquiries: http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/sponsor Email: ida.kub@thesolutionsjournal.com

On the Cover A multi-colored aurora borealis over Earth is captured by an Expedition 30 crew member aboard the international Space Station in February 2012. Photo by NASA. Solutions is subject to the Creative Commons license except where otherwise stated.

1. Michael ’t Sas-Rolfes—Michael

‘t Sas-Rolfes is an independent conservation economist based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has been actively involved in wildlife conservation for most of his life. His academic background includes a Bachelors in Business Economics and two MSc degrees, in Environmental Resource Economics (UCL) and in Biodiversity Conservation and Management (Oxford). He has specialist knowledge of the application of economic analysis and business principles to the biodiversity conservation sector, and has conducted detailed work and analysis on wildlife trade issues (especially relating to rhinos, big cats, elephants, and bears) and on innovative approaches to financing and managing both public and private protected areas. 2. Mick Smyer—Dr. Mick Smyer

is the former Provost and a current Professor of Psychology at Bucknell University. In addition, he is currently a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford and a Senior Fellow in Social Innovation at Babson College. Dr. Smyer is the founder of Graying Green: Climate Action for an Aging World. Graying Green links two global patterns: population aging and climate change. The Graying Green project works with older adults, climate communicators, climate scientists, and community and business leaders to engage older adults in education and action about climate change. 3. Karen Kellogg—Karen Kellogg is

an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Skidmore College, where she also directs the Water Resources Initiative and serves as the Director of

4 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

Sustainability. Karen studied engineering as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa and received her Ph.D. in Ecology from the Pennsylvania State University. Karen teaches a variety of courses including Sustainable Development and the Engineering and Ecology of Energy, and she works with undergraduate students on an interdisciplinary array of research topics including historical and contemporary water-related conflicts, the evolution and ecology of aquatic ecosystems, and the design and implementation of renewable energy systems. 4. Caroline Hobbs—Caroline Hobbs

is a senior Economics and Environmental Studies double major at Skidmore College, where she also serves as President of the Honors Forum and Captain of the Women’s Tennis Team. Caroline’s other research interests include ecosystem services valuation, perception of risk related to crude oil transport, and coral reef ecology and conservation. Caroline hopes to pursue a graduate degree in Ecological Economics or Environmental Management as she continues to integrate her passions for industrial ecology, renewable energy, behavioral economics, and marine conservation. 5. Ida Kubiszewski—Ida Kubiszewski

is a senior lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. She is a co-founder and former-managing editor of the Encyclopedia of Earth. She has worked on dozens of internet projects primarily related to science communications including establishing a suite of online courses and creating energy related information systems.

Contributors 8

11 12

6. Robert Costanza—Robert Costanza

is a Chair of Public Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at Australian National University. Costanza is cofounder and former president of the International Society for Ecological Economics. He has authored or coauthored over 350 scientific papers and reports on his work have appeared in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Economist, The New York Times, Science, Nature, National Geographic, and National Public Radio. 7. Christina Asquith—Christina joined

Solutions in 2009 as one of the founding editors. She has been an investigative reporter, war reporter, and narrative nonfiction author; working both as a staff writer and freelancer for The New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her articles have been read by millions of viewers, and she has reported from Afghanistan, Jordan, Dubai, Oman, Qatar, and South America. Christina is also author of two books, including the critically acclaimed Sisters in War, (2009 Random House). 8. Jorgen Randers—Jorgen Randers

is professor emeritus of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School. His focus is on sustainable development and the future. He spends much of his time lecturing and advising all over the world. He has spent one third of his life in academia, one third in business, and one third in the NGO world. He has been the chair of three Norwegian banks, nonexecutive member of numerous corporate boards, and serves on the sustainability council of Astra Zeneca in the UK and on the board of the Club of Rome. He coauthored The Limits to Growth in 1972

13 14

and wrote 2052—A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years in 2012. 9. Nives Dolšak—Nives Dolšak is

a professor at the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, and a visiting professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She has co-edited two volumes, The Drama of the Commons (National Academy of Sciences Press) and The Commons in the New Millennium: Challenges and Adaptation (the MIT Press). Her other work examines political and economic factors impacting global climate change mitigation at local, state, and national levels; linkages between commercial interests, voting, and bilateral environmental aid allocation; and the diffusion of market-based environmental policy instruments. 10. Aseem Prakash—Aseem Prakash

is Professor of Political Science, the Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Director of the Center for Environmental Politics at University of Washington, Seattle. He is the General Editor of the Cambridge University Press Series in Business and Public Policy, the Co-Editor of Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and the Associate Editor of Business & Society. He is the author of Greening the Firm (Cambridge, 2000), and co-author of The Voluntary Environmentalists (Cambridge, 2006). His co-edited books include Advocacy Organizations and Collective Action (Cambridge, 2010) and Voluntary Programs: A Club Theory Perspective (MIT Press, 2009). 11. Kendall Bousquet—Kendall

Bousquet is a senior at Northeastern University majoring in International

Affairs. Currently a journalist based in Istanbul, she is a student fellow at The Fuller Project for International Reporting, an organization dedicated to producing investigative journalism on issues related to women. 12. Robert C. Thornett—Robert C.

Thornett is a Geography professor at Northern Virginia Community College, American Public University, and Trinity Washington University. He has written previously in Yale Environment 360 about environmental and social innovations in Kenya and Brazil. He has also presented twice on Bolivia’s migration patterns and Kenya’s wildlife wars at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers. 13. Solitaire Townsend—Solitaire

Townsend is passionate about making sustainability desirable. She co-founded the change agency Futerra to leverage the logic of sustainability and the magic of communications. Solitaire was named Ethical Entrepreneur of the Year 2008, is Chair of the Green Energy Scheme, and member of both Telefónica and Danone Group sustainability Advisory Boards. She was also a founding member of the United Nations Taskforce on Sustainable Lifestyles. You can find her talks for Harvard University, TEDx, and in the Participant movie ‘A Climate of Change’ online and read her insights in The Guardian, MoneyWeek and the Financial Times. She also holds a Masters Degree in Shakespeare Studies. 14. Alex Steffen—Alex Steffen is

“one of the world’s leading voices on sustainability and the future of the planet” (Vancouver Sun). He is currently writing a book on how businesses can thrive

in the coming future of unprecedented urban change. From 2013–2014, Steffen was Planetary Futurist in Residence at the design and innovation firm IDEO. His acclaimed 2012 book Carbon Zero: Imagining cities that can save the planet is an exploration of the kinds of design, technological, and policy innovations that can transform our cities into low-carbon engines of prosperity. From 2003–2010, he ran the pioneering sustainability and social innovation project Worldchanging. com, and edited the two best-selling Worldchanging books. Before that, Steffen was an award-winning journalist in print and radio, covering planetary change on four continents. 15. Karim Chichakly—Karim

Chichakly is the co-president of isee systems, inc., the makers of both STELLA® and iThink® systems thinking software. He has completed systems thinking modeling projects in business strategy, project management, health care, public policy, and the environment. Karim is Adjunct Professor of System Dynamics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Capitol Technical University. He holds degrees in mathematics, engineering, computer science, and system dynamics. Karim developed the draft XMILE standard for interchanging and archiving System Dynamics models, which was recently approved as an OASIS standard. 16. Will Hurd—Will Hurd lived among

the Mursi and in Ethiopia for seven years. He speaks Mursi language. He is Executive Director of the small non-profit organization Cool Ground/Ba Lalini (www.coolground.org) that advocates on behalf of the people of the Omo Valley.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 5

Thank you to all of the reviewers who contributed their time and expertise to making Volume 6 of Solutions a great success. We are trying to make our review process transdisciplinary and constructive, and our reviewers are an essential part of ensuring the quality, relevance, and unique perspective of Solutions. Here is a list of those who reviewed papers published in 2015.

Robert Mendelsohn Jessica Matthews I.A. Bisson

Vilas R. Kalamkar Luke Naeher Heather Eaton

Marc Levy Paul West Felix Herzog Tania Schoennagel Toddi Steelman Tom Kompas Carmel Finley Jon Coaffee Nii Otto-Akine Jack Ahern Stacy Rosenberg Richard Margerum Jana Davis Michael W. Hamm Karen Landman Peter Shaw Bradley “Kai” Fox Christopher Hartleb Brendan Canavan Beatriz Rodriguez-Labajos Giorgos Kallis Laura Lopez-Hoffman Sharon Megdal

Dekila Chungyalpa Douglas Kysar John Nagle Christiana Peppard Nancy Bertaux Lindsay C. Page Susan Linn Cristiana Mattos Assumpção Mary Evelyn Tucker Thomas Farrell Robin Darling Young Karen O’Brien Stuart Kauffman Kalevi Kull Graham Alabaster Pay Drechsel Amewu Sena Greg Silber Lei Lani Stelle David Wiley Russell Leaper Amy Knowlton

VOL 6 REVIEWERS

thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/noteworthy

Idea Lab Noteworthy

Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

This recently digitized image from the NYPL archives depicts the front façade of the New York Public Library in a photo taken on December 26, 1907.

New York Public Library Boosts Public Domain with Release of 187k+ Historical Images by Naomi Stewart The New York Public Library is an internationally renowned institution serving the equal exchange of human knowledge. The fourth largest public library in the world, with 53 million holdings, it serves over 18 million

people annually. However, the landscape of knowledge exchange has rapidly shifted from print to digital since the internet started becoming widespread, and many visitors now flock to library websites instead to access their compendiums of information. As of January 5, 2016, the New York Public Library took their duty of service to the public one step further and released over 187,000 digitized out-of-copyright items into the public

domain. No permissions are required to re-use the materials, and there are no restrictions on their use for any member of the public. While access to other items in their digital archive has administration fees and more complex processes for accessibility, the newly released materials are free and accessed through a visual browsing tool. This tool is, in and of itself, a powerful aspect of the release— patrons can browse through the images by genre, century, collection, or even

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 7

Idea Lab Noteworthy color. The visualized display is a beautiful rendition that allows online users to get a quick overview of hundreds of thumbnails at once—instantly granting access to a diverse array of incredible rare and historical images. From detailed pages of 11th century books showing the ascension of Muhammed to heaven with a host of angels, to images of the interior of Masonic Lodges in Philadelphia in the 19th century, this newly released collection is a veritable treasure trove of interest. The New York Public Library has once again shown their interest in continuing the exchange of knowledge for the betterment of humanity, allowing anyone across the world to instantly access and use hundreds of thousands of incredible snapshots of human history with just an internet connection. The New York Public Library’s newly released digitized images are available at: www.nypl.org/research/ collections/digital-collections/publicdomain.

Is Ginger the Main Ingredient for Easing Poverty in Rural Uganda? by Colleen Maney Rural communities in Eastern Uganda have long grappled with extreme poverty. Recognizing the potential of common livelihoods built around small agriculture, a local farmer named Anthony Kalulu saw an opportunity for a grassroots social enterprise to benefit entire communities. Demand for ginger in Uganda is high, and lack of local supplies has fueled imports from neighboring countries. Recognizing this gap in the supply chain, Kalulu created the Uganda Community Farm, or UCF.

Uganda Community Farm

Local ginger farmers pose at the entrance to the UCF training and demonstration center in Kumuli.

The UCF trains rural smallholder farmers in the production of organic ginger, and then pools their cumulative ginger produce into a cooperative. While the average smallholder farmer operates only two to three acres of land, their combined community harvest attracts larger buyers, including wholesale grocers and bottling companies, such as Coca Cola. Pooling their crop yields together in this way has provided unprecedented access for the rural farmers to high-value markets. Two UCF training and demonstration centers are already operating in Kumuli and Buyende, providing skills and knowledge needed for rural households to begin producing their own organic ginger crops. The recent construction of a large storehouse at the Kumuli demonstration center has created a central marketing location. Outside of the training centers, the UCF is harnessing local knowledge and community networks to educate

8 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

new ginger farmers. In each village, six model farmers are selected to provide peer-to-peer mentoring to new farmers. Sharing their technical knowledge and skills, the mentors will monitor cultivation and organize harvests and collection, as well as coordinate additional outreach activities. In addition to offering training and market access, the UCF has also devised a microloan program to allow the poorest farmers the means of establishing small ginger farms. Instead of cash, however, each farmer receives 20 kilograms of ginger rhizomes to get them started. After the harvest, the farmers repay this loan in kind, by offering the same amount of ginger rhizomes to the next household in need. This self-scaling approach aims to maximize access to the UCF community, thus increasing both yields and returns for all involved. With this approach, it is projected that the UCF will expand by 150

Idea Lab Noteworthy percent each year, with no additional external funding. What’s more, the UCF expects to be fully self-sustaining within two years, based on profits made from the ginger being grown at the two demonstration centers. At the moment, the UCF is still raising funds to provide 552 pilot smallholder farmers with the startup ‘capital’ of ginger rhizomes. Their initial outlook projects that within only the first year of operation, the income of each farmer will increase to USD$2,600, or $7 per day. In a country where the average income per household was a mere USD$704 in 2013, this would be a staggering increase in economic welfare in these communities. The potential of the UCF to alleviate poverty offers a promising local solution, with ginger and grassroots action as the main ingredients. To learn more about the UCF, visit http://www.ugandafarm.org/.

Sahar Speaks Encourages Afghan Women to Tell Their Own Stories

Initiatives like Sahar Speaks, a fellowship program that provides media training to female Afghan journalists, are working to solve this problem. Founded in 2013 by Amie Ferris-Rotman, the name ‘Sahar’ comes from a common name for Afghan women meaning ‘dawn,’ an apt title for an organization providing a new beginning for Afghan women. “Like all marginalized groups, Afghan women need investment. It’s down to the foreign press. If you don’t stick your neck out and help them, they can’t always help themselves,” says Ferris-Rotman. A group of ten participants will be selected to receive intensive training in Kabul on how to report on a wide range of women’s issues. Each participant will be paired with a mentor who will connect her to a larger network of female foreign correspondents. Their work will be published in The Huffington Post, marking the first time female Afghan correspondents are published in a global media outlet.

While working in Kabul as a senior correspondent for Reuter’s, Ferris-Rotman noticed a staggering discrepancy between the small number of female journalists and the amount of foreign news coverage focused on women’s rights. She hopes Sahar Speaks will work to address the systemic failure of the international press to allow Afghan women, not foreigners or Afghan men, to tell their own stories. “There are stories that only Afghan women can come up with,” says Ferris-Rotman, highlighting the need to incorporate more female voices into the press corps. Ferris-Rotman says she expects the stories from the first group of fellows to be released in April 2016, and hopes that eventually the project will be entirely run by Afghan women. She said she has already seen an interest in other communities for similar initiatives, and hopes that together they can bring more female voices to the forefront.

by N’dea Yancey-Bragg

Of the roughly 12,000 journalists working in Afghanistan, only about 2,000 are women, and none of them are employed by a foreign news outlet. Even after the fall of the Taliban and the withdrawal of US troops from the region, female journalists are still faced with threats to their safety, as well as social backlash. Cultural limitations on contact between the sexes mean that there are spaces and stories that only female reporters can cover. Given this reality, it is becoming increasingly important to prevent the erasure of Afghan women’s stories due to the lack of female reporters.

Fardin Waezi / UNAMA

Afghanistan marked World Press Freedom Day in May 2015 with speeches and awards to journalists given at a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 9

Idea Lab Noteworthy

Mike Linksvayer

A residential house fitted with rooftop solar panels in South Berkeley, California.

Project Sunroof Expands Homeowners’ Access to Solar Power by N’dea Yancey-Bragg Solar energy costs are at a record low in the US and the country’s solar capacity is expected to double over the next two years, according to projections from the Solar Energy Industries Association. Following landmark agreements reached at COP21 in Paris in 2015, US President Barack Obama pledged USD$120 million to boost solar power and other clean energy sources. According to a report by The Solar Foundation, jobs in solar energy have doubled in the last five years, now outnumbering the number of people working in oil and gas. Given that the solar energy industry is growing so fast and is becoming an

increasingly central component in the United States’ climate change policy, it is surprising that many Americans still feel solar power is out of reach for their personal homes. Misperceptions about the cost, viability, and effectiveness still persist, and many homeowners fail to consider it as a solution for themselves. Enter Project Sunroof, an initiative begun by Google to help homeowners assess the costs and benefits of installing rooftop solar panels. The online tool combines Google’s extensive mapping data with information on weather patterns and shadow obstructions to allow customers to determine how much they could save on their energy bill by using solar power. Users enter their address and average monthly electric bill and the program factors in solar lease and loan options as well as federal and state tax credits to generate the estimated cost.

10 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

The program also provides contact information for solar providers in the user’s area to help get them started on the process. Project Sunroof was introduced in 2015, starting in three test cities: Boston, San Francisco, and Fresno. Now, it is expanding into 20 metropolitan areas spanning California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, and Arizona. The Huffington Post reported that Google has invested more than USD$1 billion in solar energy in recent years, including SolarCity Corp., an organization that finances residential rooftop projects. With the expansion of Google’s new online service, information on solar energy will be more accessible, and homeowners wishing to make the switch will be better informed and better equipped to do so.

Steffen, A. (2016). A Talk Given at a Conservation Meeting One Hundred Years From Now… Solutions 7(1): 11–13. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/a-talk-given-at-a-conservation-meeting-100-years-from-now

Envisioning

A Talk Given at a Conservation Meeting One Hundred Years From Now… by Alex Steffen

This article is part of a regular section in Solutions in which the author is challenged to envision a future society in which all the right changes have been made.

e meet today to speak of great ancestors. Here in 2115, we may find it hard to understand that a century ago, many people actually believed there was nothing we could do to stave off the planetary crisis we faced. Many had given up. Many did too little. Some even lived in denial of increasingly loud warnings from the world’s scientists, or refused, on ideological grounds, to even consider change. Humanity made calamitous mistakes in the 20th and early 21st centuries, sometimes in the name of progress, but more often springing from inattention, ignorance, or simple shortsighted greed. The losses were staggering. We live today surrounded by the legacy of those mistakes, of that carelessness. The missing ice and rising seas, the burnt forests, the growing deserts, the toxic places, the tens of thousands of vanished plants and animals, the weather chaos we all experience, the conflicts over water and food, and the refugees they’ve created. We’ve lost so much. We came far too close to losing nearly everything. If things went on as they were, we might have. Instead, we live today on a healing planet. Yes, much has been lost, but much was saved or restored or reinvented, and what was saved and healed and made anew has become a powerful legacy.

Mark

The sun sets over a solar farm in Ontario, Canada.

Those gifts became the seedbeds from which sprouted our new world. That we have so much left from which to coax a long and bountiful tomorrow is no accident. Those seeds of hope were saved and planted and tended to by people who made the decision that they would live as if the future mattered. As if nature mattered. As if we mattered. These were visionary people. Responsible people. Courageous people. All around the world, our best ancestors took up the challenge of leaving a different, bolder legacy, one not of error and loss, but of leadership, stewardship, and innovation.

On every continent and in every sea, some of our most important wild places were made safe. Ecological restoration was begun. Species were saved. In the face of planetary catastrophe, the tide was turned. Forests have begun once again to cover the Earth. The oceans teem with renewed life. In every community, people and nature are being reconnected. We live, again, in a world of whales, tall trees, and awe-struck children. Our prosperity has found its rightful role within that living planetary fabric. Our great cities, our

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 11

Envisioning global industries, our science, and our inventiveness have all grown past their destructive adolescence. They’ve matured within the boundaries of our single, small world. We’ve discovered, of course, that living within our limits has made us more inventive than we were when we believed there were no limits. Science, engineering, design, technology: all have grown more creative when faced with constraints. We are richer now than we were then, in every sense of wealth. Our cities have become the engines of a bright green prosperity. Our ancestors began by planning and building ecological cities for billions more people. That work made possible innovative leaps in development and transportation. It helped rebuild slums into great neighborhoods, and develop entirely new districts that redefined the limits of urban ecology. Walkable neighborhoods, green buildings, and low-carbon infrastructure have made our cities more livable, but they’ve also made our cities far lighter on the planet. Though more than eight billion people now live in cities, their footprint is tiny compared to people a century ago. Our cities now, like cities then, depend upon their interconnection with nature. Now, however, we recognize the value of the natural systems that support our lives, and we safeguard it. The rivers that give us our water have been protected and restored. On the farms that feed us, soil is conserved and biodiversity woven into our fields and orchards. Welltended forests give us wood and fiber. Wetlands guard our cities from rising waters. Our world, of course, is powered wholly by clean energy now. Near every city can be found long rows of wind turbines, blades spinning slowly

Forgemind ArchiMedia

The cities of 2115 are powered entirely by clean energy from wind turbines and solar panels.

in the breeze, or fields of solar panels glittering in the sun. Carbon dioxide, meanwhile, is now being drawn back down out of the air, as forests regrow and carbon capturing crops are plowed back into our soil. The chemistry of the atmosphere is beginning, very slowly, to return to balance. We suffer tremendous disasters from the climate change already set in motion, of course, but restoring our climate is beginning to feel less like a dream than a plan of action. Our common humanity and shared world has continued to inspire us to do better by one another and by our own descendants. These are still tough times for many, and we still must struggle to make our societies rugged in the face of chaos and erosion. Yet, we do not live in the apocalyptic hell many once seemed to think was our destiny. We have grappled with tremendous poverty, inequality, poor health,

12 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

tyranny, failed states, ignorance, and despair—and if we haven’t yet succeeded in making a world where everyone’s basic needs are well met, the intent to do so no longer seems utopian. When you have met great challenges and won, you become less willing to accept the idea that some problems can never be overcome. Our ancestors gave us the early victories that today give us the strength to keep striving for not just a better world, but a fairer one. If today, in the 22nd century, we live in an era of optimism and hope, it is because some of our ancestors, in the dawn of the 21st, lived in a time of clarity and commitment. When they understood the planetary crisis they faced, their answer was not cynicism or surrender, but to seek out others and together meet that crisis with action. When they rose in the morning, they put their hands to not only the

Envisioning common tasks of providing for their families and communities, but to the exceptional work of honoring their kinship with those who would live in generations to come, and laboring on our behalf to leave a bright green world. When they sat to eat together, they not only nourished their bodies, they nourished their connection to Earth itself, and reminded themselves that humanity lives within this planet, not apart from it. When they looked at the world, they taught themselves to see with fresh eyes, eyes that saw the world not as a thing, but as a vast, intricate dance of flows and systems, seasons and cycles. They understood that we are only a small part of all that. They understood that we’re all in this together. When they dreamt, they dreamt of rain and forests, rivers and prairies, oceans and reefs, of fishing and farming and of lives lived outdoors. They dreamt of stewardship and healing, wonder and discovery. They dreamt of humanity coming home again. When they took council together, they felt the hopes of their childrens’ childrens’ children keeping them company. They made ambitious plans. When they rose to speak, they spoke not for themselves, but for human possibility and the renewed bounty of life on Earth. They spoke for bold action. They got to work, knowing time was short. Where these ancestors gathered, heroes gathered. And when they departed, they had given us back our future. Acknowledgments This letter was given as the keynote speech at the Nature Conservancy’s 2015 Annual Trustee Meeting. Thank you to the Nature Conservancy for giving me that opportunity.

Imagine Better by Solitaire Townsend How did you do it the future asks? With your outdated customs and old-fashioned clothes. How did you do it? Without much science or sense. Did you do it for us? Not for you, we answer, at least not at first. Amongst our bling and bravado we built a tomorrow, of beauty and fairness and super smart systems. Our disposable culture created up-cycling. Some selfied whilst some starved, yet less starved than ever before. Grand sweeping propellers caught energy from air, whilst we burnt more oil than all of our past. How did we do it? We talked and we tinkered. About kittens and catastrophes in the same breath. We engaged and invented. And believed our own stories. But how was it possible the future asks? How could you be both? The best and the worst. We learn about you in school, but we don’t quite believe. That people obsessed with their stuff could invent circularity? Or whilst grubbing for money you ended the worst poverty? You don’t really get us, you happy descendants. We stood on the cusp between better and worse, but passionately wished to avoid the whole question. Distracted by baubles and divided by ethos. Isolated, unequal, silly and dangerous. We stood in the gutter, whether obese or dirt poor. But enough of us started to shout, cry or build. From anger or passion or joy in invention Of technology and language and new ways of being. Not noble, not smart not even that visionary. We managed to build the basis for better. Better energy, better food, better lives and more living. Better systems, institutions, business and believing. All true, says the future. We live here and thank you. The beauty and brilliance of all we enjoy Are gifts from those people who cried, built and shouted. With your outdated customs and old-fashioned clothes. How kind, today answers, you deserve what we left you. But one question for those who enjoy our bequeathing. What wonders and follies will you leave behind you? With your new modern customs and fashionable clothes. Bùi Linh Ngân www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 13

Asquith, C. (2016). The New Oprah – A New Arabic Language Talk Show that Lifts Taboos on Women. Solutions 7(1): 14–16. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/the-new-oprah

Idea Lab Interview

The New Oprah – A New Arabic Language Talk Show that Lifts Taboos on Women Interviewed by Christina Asquith

or more than 20 years, Iraqi-born Zainab Salbi founded and ran Women for Women International, a DC-based, global women’s rights organization. In 2008, she published a best-selling memoir, Between Two Worlds, about growing up in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. This year, the 46-year-old launched the Nida’a Show, an Arabic language talk show that has included Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Arab rappers, female comedians, and frank talk about sex, women’s rights, and ISIS. The Nida’a Show currently airs in 22 countries across the Middle East.

For years, you’ve advocated for women’s rights. Talk to us about how you see a talk show achieving these goals? Women are facing a huge backlash in the region now. ISIS is 100,000 people out of one billion Muslims, but my worry is the long-term effect. Look at Mosul, and across Iraq: all women are covering themselves for safety. If you leave it like that for long enough, it will just become the norm. Why the talk show? It’s not to be rich and famous. We are living in a time of crisis. It’s a global crisis, but as Muslims, we have an identity crisis as well. When we look in the mirror, we see a broken mirror and the West can’t resolve this identity issue. They’re telling us religion is this, but we grew up with religion being something else. So what are we? It’s a horrible time, but it’s the time to show up. So I’m showing up. The extreme voices are the loudest, but there are

other voices, and they are beautiful voices, but they are like sparks and they speak up and get hit on the head. No one is gathering those voices. Can you advocate for women’s rights in an Islamic context? And how do you deal with the diversity of opinions and beliefs within the Arab world? I believe you can resolve women’s rights with Islam. The issues I deal with are not political or religious. I talk about values.

When I go around and speak with women in the Arab world and ask them what they want to hear about, most of them talk about sexual harassment and the pressure they feel. There’s an incredible pressure on women. Every breath we take is a reflection of society, family, and culture. And, it’s always a reflection of the father. Personally, I can relate to that. It has taken me a lifetime to free myself of this. My father doesn’t care about the US press. But, if the Arabic world translates it,

The extreme voices are the loudest, but there are other voices, and they are beautiful voices, but they are like sparks and they speak up and get hit on the head. Tell us about the shows that have already aired? One of my guests was a Palestinian father whose 9-year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli soldier. He said, “I was so scared my 13-year-old son would take revenge and I would lose my entire family.” He eventually went to the soldier and told him he would forgive him. Another story was on a transgender woman. I do a lot on young women as well, and often their issue comes down to their relationships with their father. A woman’s honor is her family’s and when she speaks out about something, it’s about her whole family. That’s the number one reason why women stay silent—because the father says to.

14 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

he has friends who read it. If I didn’t experience the pressure myself, then I wouldn’t know what these women feel. So it’s a new challenge for me, too. I can’t ask others to do things unless I’m also willing to do it. We have to confront our men. Even though I’m an adult woman, I still am afraid to confront my father. I have to tell the truth. Is this message for young or old women, or the elite? More and more, young women are saying: ‘We have crossed the line and we can not be silent anymore.’ I thought it was the elite who felt this way, but no, even the Yezidi women spoke openly about the

Idea Lab Interview details of their rape. They say, ‘My conciousness doesn’t allow me to be silent.’ We have a new phenomenon of young women who say, ‘We have to continue.’ You talk about your show giving voice to the voiceless, and your show includes female comediennes wearing full veils, women rock climbers, designers, and yoga teachers from Saudi Arabia. What’s your aim? In Saudi Arabia, you can easily find women entrepreneurs, especially in business. We’ve had Saudi women rock climbers, designers, and artists. We had a yoga teacher and she came in ready to go live with tattoos and a sleeveless top, and I asked her, “Are you sure?” and she said, “Yep. This is my choice.” But, all Saudi women, no matter their profession, talk about how they have to challenge their parents. In some cases, it’s the culture and not the laws that hold back women. This is the struggle of the woman. In Morocco, an illegitimate boy can still get registered by the government, but the culture ostracizes him. The culture is in play now. The people are harsh on each other. So it’s the culture we need to change. I feature people who are transforming that culture and turning it around and that’s the inspiration. I show how normal they are. I interviewed a niqab-wearing comedienne and after talking to her for a few minutes, I realized I liked her a lot, and suddenly, my own discomfort was lifted. Do you ever feature men on your show? Do you feel you ought to? My strategy is to only show good news and good-hearted men. They cry and they talk about their depression and it humanizes men. When the biggest singer in the Arab world talks about depression, or the man from

Courtesy of Zainab Salbi

Zainab Salbi

Abu Dhabi says, “The eagle is the best teacher,” and shows he cares about the environment, it humanizes him. A lot of women are saying now, ‘I want a better relationship with my husband,’ and they need to know it can happen, and it can happen in their culture, and inside a Muslim culture, because they have influence.

How do you get around getting stuck in the politics of the region? My goal is to humanize the story, and to look at it from the heart and not the head. Who am I to say, do this or do that? My goal is to show why someone does what they do. I’m not advocating an agenda: just let us hear all the stories from our heart. The

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 15

Idea Lab Interview

The Nida’a Show

Zainab Salbi films the Nida’a Show.

illegitimate boy from Morocco is an example. He had two messages: ‘See me for who I am, and my mother is not a whore.’ No topic is off limits, but we need to gradually broach topics. There is a pressure to address every topic at once, but lets go step by step. If we talk about premarital sex too quickly it will backfire. I won’t gain anything by talking about that now. We have to respect the culture. How has the rise of ISIS changed the debate on women, and do you ever fear for your own safety? Arabs believe ISIS is all foreigners, but they’re all Iraqis. And I’m saying, actually, they are us. We must take responsibility that this is coming from

us and our culture. ISIS is part of our culture, just like the KKK is part of the US culture. They are rejected and dark, but they are a part. I have ISIS supporters in my audience. I can tell from their questions. ISIS threatens actors, comedians, and some people say, “Aren’t you afraid that they’ll come after you and kill you?” But I’m a single woman without children, and this is my calling, so I can live with the consequences. There are three reasons why ISIS is popular. The first is that ISIS provides an ideology that says the West has screwed us up so now we will have our caliphate and we will be glorious again. The second is that they provide jobs that pay USD$500 to $1000 a

16 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

month to people suffering from high unemployment. The other night, I was talking to the man who served me shisha at a restaurant and he told me he has a college degree. He said, “No one is upset that I have a college degree and I’m serving shisha.” The third is that they give sex. We never talk about the deviation, the rape, the incest caused by a culture that forbids premarital sex. There’s no healthy discussion at all. Sex isn’t talked about. I’m not advocating a sexual revolution, but we don’t talk about it. If you say, ‘Hey, there’s no shame in this. Let’s talk.’ ISIS is providing a loophole to the ban on premarital sex, and it’s our responsibility because we’re not providing an alternative.

Asquith, C. (2016). A View from Abroad: What a Clinton Presidency Would Mean for Women. Solutions 7(1): 17–19. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/a-view-from-abroad

Perspectives A View from Abroad: What a Clinton Presidency Would Mean for Women by Christina Asquith

UN Women / J Carrier

Hillary Clinton speaks at the UN Women event “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality” in New York City in March 2015.

ollowing the Benghazi hearings, and more recently with the terrorist attacks in Paris, the foreign policy of presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has come under scrutiny. However, few ask her about the one issue that most defined her legacy as US Secretary of State: her fight for women’s rights abroad, and her belief that “the subjugation of women is a threat to the common security of our world and the national security of our country.” While some see women’s empowerment as a soft or secondary issue in foreign policy, Clinton clearly doesn’t: she’s been calling attention to it since her famous Beijing UN speech in 1995, and getting more women into power

was a driving goal during her tenure as U.S. Secretary of State.1 However, despite her achievements, many international women’s rights advocates still refuse to embrace her—accusing her hawkish position on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere as hurting women more than helping them. Are they overlooking a chance to make the planet’s most powerful person a self-declared feminist, or are they right? A new book, The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy takes a sharp lens to Clinton’s foreign policy impact on women. Authors Valerie Hudson of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and journalist

Patricia Leidl trace the history of the international women’s movement, assessing Clinton’s commitment. First, they consider whether her premise is rhetorical or real: does the status of women and girls really matter to national security? A growing body of research conclusively says yes, and Hudson and Leidl make their case.2 For example, one study of all armed conflicts between 1954 and 1994 found that the lower the percentage of women in power, the higher the rate of violence.3 Several other studies show that governments with stronger laws for women were much less likely to use force first and were much less violent once in a conflict.4

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 17

Perspectives In yet another study, 186 Harvard Business School students were given computer games in which they pretended to be national leaders in a conflict over a diamond mine. The results showed that women were much less likely to use force, and much better at resolving conflict once it starts. “Overwhelmingly,” all-female pairs proved “significantly less likely than all-male pairs, to spend money on weapons procurement or go to war when confronted with a crisis,” researchers found. Overconfidence was also a reoccurring issue for men, as was the use of unprovoked violence as a tactic, researchers found. Much of this data is being housed at a donor-funded research website launched in 2007, Womanstats.org, run by a team of international academics—and cited frequently by Clinton.5 Despite the mounting data, women still don’t have a seat at the table—or even in the building. Women hold on average fewer than 20 percent of parliamentary seats in government worldwide. In the last 20 years, they have represented less than ten percent of participants in peace negotiations and less than five percent of signatories. Security forces are overwhelming dominated by men, even at places like the UN, where 97 percent of UN peacekeepers and 90 percent of UN police forces are still men. Even in the US, there may be “binders full of women,” but they rarely appear on foreign policy panels, at the Pentagon, or in the Oval Office.6,7 We should accept that women’s rights do matter in the global effort to stop terrorism and improve national security. How does Clinton’s record fare on the issue? While the international women’s rights movement can be traced back to the UN declaring its “Decade for Women” in 1976, most peg its inception to Clinton’s 1995 speech at the

UN Beijing conference in which she declared, “Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.” The movement continued to gather steam as rape camps and other atrocities against women during the Balkans war spilled into the headlines; and in 2000, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1325, which called for states to ensure women were represented in conflict resolution as well as in security and in pushing for the prosecution of sex crimes. Clinton was vocal in advocating for women globally as First Lady, and formed Vital Voices, an initiative to lobby for women’s rights. When Clinton returned to the international stage in 2009, she had the budget and manpower of the State Department behind her—and she put it to use. At her request in 2009, Obama increased the budget for the Office of Global Women’s Issues by ten fold. She created a “women’s track” to various strategic meetings with countries such as India, Pakistan, China, and Indonesia, forcing them to provide a female counterpart and giving her access to Clinton’s top officials. Clinton pushed through the U.S. National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security, which prompted countries to create specific goals for women’s advancement. Clinton’s four-year strategic plan for the State Department included 133 mentions of women and girls on 242 pages, according to Hudson and Leidl. “There’s no doubt that Clinton’s signature issue during her tenure as Secretary of State was women’s empowerment,” Hudson and Leidl write. She also required gender training for State Department employees, many of whom oversee the implementation of hundreds of millions in spending for development overseas and who were now learning how to effectively use those programs to empower women.

18 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

This matters because Bush, too, sent hundreds of millions of dollars to women’s causes in Iraq and Afghanistan, but much of it was considered a waste because of insensitive or ham-fisted implementation on the ground.8 Advancing women’s rights overseas without appearing to push a meddlesome agenda of Western feminism is tricky (just ask former Bush aid Karen Hughes, who was verbally whiplashed by Saudi women for suggesting they be able to drive.9) And Clinton deserves credit for pulling it off. She travelled extensively, met vigorously with grassroots women leaders and used social media and talk shows to spread her message. Rarely, if ever, do the media cover this. Hudson and Leidl conclude that Clinton is not only deeply sincere on women’s issues but that she would do great things for them with the muscle of the Oval Office behind her. As Secretary of State, she funded clean cook stoves as a way to improve global health and actively promoted participation of women in the countries she visited. All this and more despite having a boss (President Obama) who showed at best a lukewarm response to women’s rights, according to the authors. But is that worth anything to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women widowed by an invasion she supported,10 or Afghan women living in fear of drone attacks, or Libyan girls unable to attend school following the destabilizing coup she supported? Clinton stands accused by many of pushing a hawkish, promilitary agenda that perpetuates the very insecurity and instability that hurts women the most.11 To her critics, though, she is an American imperialist in a skirt and women are much worse off. If the term “feminist hawk” is a contradiction in terms, then it seems unclear how a Hillary presidency would reconcile a

Perspectives

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, passed in 2000, is a landmark of the international women’s rights movement.

desire to prioritize the betterment of women’s lives overseas with a willingness—even advocacy—of using force that guarantees the opposite. “All of the things Hillary Clinton has done for women get undone by war,” said Medea Benjamin, head of a San Francisco women’s antiwar group, in a phone interview recently from the Syrian border, where she was meeting with women. “And she has never met a war she didn’t like.” Many of her supporters believe that a Hillary presidency would mean an even deeper implementation of the pro-woman agenda she began at the State Department—and she’d be able to put real muscle behind it. The question is exactly how much of Hillary’s muscle do women around the world really want?

References 1. Lemmon, GT. The Hillary Doctrine. Newsweek

Washington Post [online] (January 20, 2015) https://

[online] (March 6, 2011) http://www.newsweek.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/

com/hillary-doctrine-66105.

wp/2015/01/20/the-mysterious-absence-of-women-

2. Women Stats. Codebook [online] (2015) http://www. womanstats.org/.

from-middle-east-policy-debates/. 8. Rubin, A. Afghan policewomen struggle against culture. The New York Times [online] (March 1, 2015)

3. Caprioli, M. Gender equality and civil wars. Environmentally and Socially

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/world/asia/

Sustainable Development Network [online]

afghan-policewomen-struggle-against-culture.

(2003) http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ INTCPR/214578-1111996036679/20482367/

html?_r=0. 9. Weisman, SR. Saudi women have message for U.S. envoy. The New York Times [online] (September 28,

WP8trxtsep3.pdf. 4. Hudson, VM. What sex means for world peace. Foreign Policy [online] (April 24, 2012) http:// foreignpolicy.com/2012/04/24/what-sex-means-forworld-peace/.

2005) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/world/ middleeast/saudi-women-have-message-for-usenvoy.html. 10. Kami, A. The daily struggle of Iraq’s widows of war.

5. Womanstats [online] (2015). http://www. womanstats.org/.

Reuters [online] (November 9, 2011) http://www. reuters.com/article/us-iraq-widows-idUSTRE7A841

6. Cardona, M. Romney’s empty ‘binder full of women.’ CNN [online] (October 18, 2012) http://

T20111109#TYzVXloQ1hGk1hfI.97. 11. Khalek, R. Hillary Clinton and the feminism of

edition.cnn.com/2012/10/17/opinion/cardona-

exclusion. FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

binders-women/index.html.

[online] (January 1, 2015) http://fair.org/extra-

7. Wittes, TC & Lynch, M. The mysterious absence of women from Middle East policy debates. The

online-articles/hillary-clinton-and-the-feminism-ofexclusion/.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 19

Costanza, R., L. Daly, L. Fioramonti, E. Giovannini, I. Kubiszewski, L.F. Mortensen, K.E. Pickettm K.V. Ragnarsdottir, R. de Vogli, and R. Wilkinson. (2016). The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Dynamics of Well-being. Solutions 7(1): 20–22. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/the-un-sustainable-development-goals-and-the-dynamics-of-wellbeing

Perspectives The UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Dynamics of Well-being by Robert Costanza, Lew Daly, Lorenzo Fioramonti, Enrico Giovannini, Ida Kubiszewski, Lars Fogh Mortensen, Kate E. Pickett, Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir, Roberto de Vogli, and Richard Wilkinson

UN Photo / Mark Garten

Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor for the UN Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, speaks at the UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015, at which world leaders adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

he UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an unprecedented step forward.1 Unlike the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which they replace, they apply to all countries and represent universal goals and targets that articulate the need and opportunity for the global community to build a sustainable and desirable future in an increasingly interconnected world. How can we best seize this opportunity to put human and ecosystem well-being at the core of global policy?

The 17 SDGs and 169 targets represent an amazing global consensus, years in the making. However, they provide no guidance on how to achieve the goals or how they are interconnected, including their synergies and trade-offs in contributing to overall human and ecosystem well-being. There is no clear means–ends continuum, no ‘narrative of change,’ no description of societal changes and policy reforms necessary to achieve the SDGs, and no elaboration of how this change could happen within existing socioeconomic and geopolitical circumstances.2,3 For example,

20 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

progress on food security under SDG2, macroeconomic policies under SDG8, reduction of inequality under SDG10, and resilience against climate change under SDG13 are all required to achieve SDG1 of ending poverty, which then contributes to the achievement of SDG 3 on health and well-being.4 There are also trade-offs among goals and targets in the SDGs. For instance, an increase in agricultural land use to end hunger (SDG2) may cause biodiversity loss (SDG15), overuse and pollution of water resources (SDG6), and adverse effects on marine resources (SDG14),

Perspectives and thus lead to food security concerns (SDG2). Since the SDG framework does not consider these interactions among goals and targets, it may be internally inconsistent and potentially unsustainable. Therefore, to mitigate the trade-offs and to emphasize the synergies, it is necessary to develop a framework in which targets and indicators of each goal are linked to other goals and to the overarching goal of sustainable and equitable human and ecosystem well-being. For these kinds of interconnected well-being aspirations to influence policy making, we need aggregated metrics that are integrated with dynamic models of the system of the economy in society and in nature, to supplement broadly shared visions of the UN 2030 Agenda.

Overall Metrics of Well-Being To guide real global development (and replace the misuse of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) as the primary national policy goal) the SDGs need an overarching goal, with aggregate metrics of progress toward that objective.7 One could argue that such an aggregate indicator is not necessary (or possible) and that the pursuit of the individual goals will be sufficient to achieve sustainable development. For example, Knoll produced rankings for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries of their achievement of the SDGs using two indicators per goal and overall rankings by averaging country’s ranks over all the indicators.5 This might work if the goals were independent of each other and they all contributed to the overarching objective equally. In reality, however, there are clear trade-offs and synergies across and within the goals, especially in how the environmental, social, and economic targets interact with one another. For example, in the recent past, a single-minded focus on the growth

in GDP has exacerbated inequality and environmental damage in many countries. If one takes these elements into account, as the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) does, there has been no real progress globally for decades.6 Increasing income inequality, environmental damage, and other costs cancel out positive gains from GDP growth. The new metrics should therefore incorporate current knowledge of how natural, social, human, and built capital assets interact to contribute to sustainable well-being, based on the idea that the best system is one that achieves the overarching goal of a system which is simultaneously prosperous, equitably shared, and sustainable. There have been a large number of alternative approaches to aggregate indicators of societal well-being and progress developed over the years.7 These include (1) modifications to GDP, like the GPI; (2) aggregate indicators based on unit-less indicators, like the OECD Better Life Index; and (3) indicators based on subjective life-satisfaction surveys, like Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness. What we need going forward are aggregate indicators that are hybrids of these three approaches, that tie in to the SDG’s, and that are based on the best current models and data on how the integrated system of humans and nature functions over time and space. How can this be accomplished?

Integrated Dynamic Models The GDP has been successful in part because it is linked to the overall System of National Accounts (SNA), which are based on a static, linear, input–output model of the market economy. Although this approach was the best available when the SNA and GDP were being developed in the 1930s and 40s, we now know much more about how complex, dynamic systems involving interacting human and natural systems

function. The static, linear model needs to be replaced by integrated natural and human system models that incorporate the dynamics of stocks, flows, trade-offs, and synergies among the full range of variables that affect the SDGs and overall human and ecosystem wellbeing. In addition, new methods of data collection and analysis that can support these models need to be incorporated. For example, the UN Data Revolution Expert Group points to the need to rethink the SNA’s conventional data collection processes to harness the integrative capacity of new “big data” and crowd-sourcing technologies.8 These can provide real-time information on a wide range of environmental, social, and economic variables, and their changes in time and space.

Positive Visions of the Future We also need a detailed vision of the kind of world that would result if all the SDGs were achieved. This can be done through the integration of scenario-building exercises with the metrics, modelling, and data collection mentioned above. Consensus building, envisioning, and scenario planning can also be extended through stakeholder workshops and public opinion research.9 We need to explore and develop innovative methods to build broad consensus around the characteristics of desirable futures—both individually and collectively—and the important differences between the two. We also need better methods to communicate the complex trade-offs that each future scenario entails, going well beyond narrative descriptions to include videos, movies, virtual realities, and other methods to fully engage people in understanding alternative futures and building consensus on the future we want by 2030. Building consensus also demands that we recognize the likely sources of opposition and the reasons why we

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 21

Perspectives

Freya Morales / UNDP

Goodwill Ambassadors are appointed by the United Nations Development Program for SDG 2, progress on food security, on 18 January 2016. The ambassadors will advocate for enhanced food security and promote job creation and environmentally sustainable practices within the food industry.

have continued so long on a path that damages the planet while failing to serve human well-being adequately. Although the SDGs call for a reduction in poverty and inequality, there have been long periods of economic growth when both have increased. Crucial to reducing emissions, resource use, and world poverty are major increases in aid efforts and financial transfers from the developed countries to finance sustainable technologies in less developed countries. Development policies of this kind are also an essential part of the longer-term solution to the growing problems of economic migration and flows of refugees, which will become even more serious as the effects of climate change lead to conflict and loss of livelihoods. For example, reducing inequality both within and between countries (SDG10) will require additional policies against tax avoidance in order to enforce and support the agreements

that OECD countries have reached with tax havens to share information on accounts with national tax authorities. The aim of increasing sustainable human well-being is an essentially democratic one (SDG16 and 17), which may be jeopardized both by a lack of democracy and by the influence of special interests in politics. The SDGs represent a major potential tipping point in the future of humanity. For the first time in human history we have a set of goals and targets agreed to by all countries that include the full range of factors that contribute to equitable and sustainable well-being. We must not squander this opportunity to change the trajectory of humanity toward a sustainable and desirable future. References 1. United Nations. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [online] (2015) https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/ transformingourworld.

22 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

2. Costanza, R. A theory of socio-ecological system change. Journal of Bioeconomics 16, 39–44 (2014) (doi: 10.1007/s10818-013-9165-5). 3. Ostrom, E. Do institutions for collective action evolve? Journal of Bioeconomics 16, 3–30 (2014.) (doi:10.1007/s10818-013-9154-8). 4. International Council for Science and International Social Science Council. Review of the sustainable development goals: the science perspective (2015) [online]. http://www.icsu.org/publications/reportsand-reviews/review-of-targets-for-the-sustainabledevelopment-goals-the-science-perspective-2015. 5. Kroll, C. Sustainable development goals: are the rich countries ready? Bertelsmann Stiftung [online] (2015) https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung. de/en/publications/publication/did/sustainabledevelopment-goals-are-the-rich-countries-ready/. 6. Kubiszewski, I. et al. Beyond GDP: measuring and achieving global genuine progress. Ecological Economics 93, 57–68 (2013). 7. Costanza, R. et al. Time to leave GDP behind. Nature 505, 283–285 (2014). 8. United Nations. A world that counts: mobilising the data revolution for sustainable development. Independent Experts Advisory Group on the Data Revolution [online] (2014) www.undatarevolution.org. 9. Costanza, R. Scenarios for Australia in 2050: A synthesis and proposed survey. Journal of Future Studies 19, 49–76 (2015).

Randers, J. (2016). A Political Platform for Rich Nations towards 2050: From Higher Income to Higher Well-being. Solutions 7(1): 23–28. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/a-political-platform-for-rich-nations-towards-2050

Perspectives A Political Platform for Rich Nations towards 2050: From Higher Income to Higher Well-being

widening of the past pursuit of “higher consumption.” The shift away from consumption makes even more sense today, as total consumption is starting to have negative side effects on the planet and human well-being.1 Higher well-being for all could be an engaging answer to the questions ‘What is the point?’ and ‘What is the goal of our collective effort over the generations ahead?’

by Jorgen Randers

Problems Arising from Continued Growth

Steve Jurvetson

Robotics researchers at MIT’s Rethink Robotics are programming robots to mimic human capabilities. These robots will be safe to operate among humans and easily trained to replace humans in performing menial tasks.

n many ways, the rich world has succeeded. It has largely solved the problems of poverty that plagued its populations for millennia by reaching satisfactory levels of per capita consumption. But new problems have emerged and are starting to threaten the hard-fought victory of material well-being. The physical environment is degraded and climate change is in the process of increasing the damage from extreme weather. Rising inequity does not improve the situation. And more fundamentally, it is becoming apparent that increased material consumption, beyond a threshold passed by rich countries

several decades ago, no longer leads to a guaranteed increase in well-being. Many have started the search for meaning beyond increased after-tax buying power. As I see it, the rich nations need a new goal: a new and positive challenge, something meaningful and engaging to pursue over the next generation or two. One option could be to make the poor world as rich as the rich world. But this goal, sadly, does not really engage the rich-world majority. A more promising option—which I recommend—is to pursue “higher subjective well-being.” This positive ambition would be an extension and

The rich nations removed large-scale poverty and increased the average level of well-being among their citizens through a continuing process of economic growth. Using capitalism, markets, and democratic decision making as their major tools, the output of goods and services (GDP) increased year by year. The GDP grew faster than the population and led to higher GDP per person and the possibility of increased average per capita consumption. As a result, many rich nations had already reached satisfactory levels of per capita consumption 40 years ago. Still, these rich nations continued their pursuit of economic growth. But now for a second reason, namely, in order to attain full employment and a reasonable distribution of the output among its working-age people. The rich nations sought to add new sectors to the economy fast enough to absorb those workers who were no longer needed in old sectors, where labour productivity rose as a result of the addition of ever more technology and capital. And largely they succeeded, leading again to an increase in average per capita production and consumption. But during the last 30 years, the effort to remove poverty and maintain full employment through economic growth ran into increasing

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 23

Perspectives problems because of the finiteness of planet Earth. Ever higher outputs required the use of ever more resources per year and generated an ever stronger stream of pollution, in addition to a growing destruction of biodiversity and wild nature. The emerging cost of climate change appears to be the most serious of the negative side effects of continued economic growth.

A New Challenge: Robotisation

In the future, very few of us will work in the primary and secondary sectors; we will all be in services, culture, and care. And the demand for such output will only arise if the profits made from robotization is redistributed into higher wages for ordinary citizens. This is certainly not the plan of the robot owners, who plan to keep the profits for themselves. The result will be a lack of demand for services and excessive asset inflation, in other words, higher unemployment.

achieve full employment if one places restrictions on the free flow of goods, services, jobs, and capital. The cost is lower productivity growth, but again, increased consumption is no longer as important as forty years ago. The standard economists’ solution to the challenges facing the conventional growth strategy is to tax what we do not like (pollution, climate gas emissions, and destruction of biodiversity) and to stop taxing what we like (jobs, repair, and adaptation work). The idea is to make it more profitable to do the right thing and less profitable to do what harms the planet or the future. The hope is that this will shift the composition of investment, and later production and consumption, in directions that involve less resource use, less pollution output, less biodiversity decline, more jobs, and less inequity. This has proven difficult—after 20 years of hard work, we do not yet have a sufficiently high price on carbon emissions to shift the direction of investment from dirty to clean sectors. Internalizing the externalities remain the recommended approach, probably because there is no generally known alternative. Many understand that the era of economic growth is nearing an end, but there is no agreement on where to go next.

Traditional Solutions Do Not Work

A New and Politically Feasible Solution

It is worth noticing that the problems faced by conventional growth policy is made worse—not simpler—by the dual ideals of free trade and free migration. These ideals served the rich nations well during the era when the primary goal was to remove poverty through increased productivity. But increased output is no longer the primary goal. Today higher employment (more jobs) is more important to average well-being in the rich world. And it is much simpler to

Luckily, there does exist a new way, a new political framework that can improve well-being in rich nations toward 2050. The framework does not require a revolution; it suffices with a pointed modification of the main tools of the growth era, namely, capitalism and democracy. And this new framework consists of policies that each convey a short-term advantage to a majority of voters, not only a sacrifice today for a benefit in the far future. This framework has the chance

Over the last decade, and likely to accelerate steeply over the next decade, there has appeared an extra threat to employment, namely, the possibility of the automation of all repetitive jobs. The first line response, namely, a call for retraining of those who lose their jobs so they can get new well-paying jobs in manufacturing, appears insufficient.

The total effect of more compulsory vacation will be lower growth in GDP, consumption, and resource use. The obvious response is to reduce the ecological footprint per unit of consumption. In other words, to reduce the resource use and the pollution output per unit of consumption. And to do it to such an extent that the total footprint fits inside the limits of the planet. The technical term is “decoupling,” which is to use capital, labor, and technology to reduce the ecological footprint per unit of GDP. But it has proven difficult to get majority support (among voters and, especially, among the incumbent workers and owners in the “dirty” sectors) for strong action beyond what is profitable in the short term. The effort to fight climate change serves as an example: although it only costs two percent of world GDP to solve the climate problem (meaning a shift of two percent of the world’s labor and capital from dirty to climate friendly sectors), this has proven politically impossible because it is even cheaper to postpone action. The majority have not been willing to pay an extra two percent tax to get an uncertain benefit for their children and grandchildren.

24 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

Perspectives

Karen

Full employment, and the benefits of participation and contribution through a job, can be achieved if measures are taken to split work among all people of a working age.

of obtaining majority support in the rich nations of today—in spite of their being dominated by short-term voters and investors. This new political framework consists of seven new policies, each with a clear objective, and each—as mentioned—formulated in such a manner that it provides a net benefit in the short term to a majority of voters.

A Guaranteed Annual Income for All In order to establish a credible floor under which no citizen is allowed to fall, even when unemployed or sick, rich nations should convert (and enhance) all current support schemes into a guaranteed minimum annual income for all. The minimum income

should be paid regularly by the state and financed through a broad based progressive tax, where the richer minorities pay more than they receive back. This tax-based, minimum income system will provide a net income increase to all those who earn less than the minimum income, since the tax revenue will be earmarked for immediate repayment to the recipients, each of whom will get the same amount of money. Thus more voters will win than lose, and the scheme should gain majority support in a well-informed democracy. To simplify administration, the minimum income (perhaps USD$10,000 per year) should be paid to all from birth to death, and should replace all the other forms of income

transfers from the state (for sickness, unemployment, pension, child care, nursing homes, etc.). The cost of a minimum income of say USD$10,000 per year would be some 25 percent of the GDP in a rich nation. This means that 25 percent of the population would need to work to guarantee the basic needs of the whole population. To avoid initial misuse, and to help lower population growth rates, the third child of a couple will not receive its minimum income before it is 15 years of age.

More Compulsory Vacation To make sure that everyone has a job, and the opportunity to participate and contribute, rich nations should introduce a gradual shortening of the

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 25

Perspectives

Yu-Jen Shih

A street scene in Times Square, New York City. Increasing movement of people into cities requires that rich nations teach their citizens how to thrive and live happily in urban settings.

work year, so that there is a paid job for everyone. Every year a nation has a certain amount of work that needs to be done. Full employment can be achieved if this work is split among all the people of working age. If there is not enough work, it makes sense to reduce the number of hours worked per person per year (i.e. having 100 percent of the people working 90 percent of the time rather than having 10 percent unemployed and the rest working full time). The total cost of an organized shortening of the work year is zero. This policy simply shifts the burdens and benefits of work within the population.

Still, the shortening of the work year will be opposed by many of those that are in full time jobs. They will not necessarily want to give away part of their income to the unemployed. But the policy could be re-engineered to garner majority support. It could be introduced gradually as a legislated increase in the number of annual vacation days (e.g. two new days of vacation every year and no increase in annual salary). If such a policy was introduced in the US, after 25 years Americans (who currently work 2,000 hours per year in a full-time job) would work as little as the Germans (who currently

26 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

work 1,600 hours per year). The total effect of more compulsory vacation will be lower growth in GDP, consumption, and resource use—and more time for everything else, for example, family, friends, hobbies, and provision of free services.

An Increasing Pension Age In order to solve the problems arising from the ongoing rise in the number of old people in society, rich nations should introduce an increasing pension age. This allows those people who want to continue working to do so, while allowing those who want to exist on their minimum income to

Perspectives do so while pursuing other nonpaid activities. Notice that the growth in the need for care in rich nations is smaller than normally assumed, since the increase in the number of (care-needing) old is logically accompanied by a decline in the number of (care-needing) young. Hence, the total need for care in a rich society will not increase by more than 30 percent in the rich nations by 2035 (and much less in the US). In quantitative terms, the “dependency ratio”—which equals the number of old plus the number of young divided by the number of working age—will only rise slowly in the decades ahead (after having declined in most places since 1970). Increasing the pension age among those that are willing to continue to work for pay will not cost anything at the national level. To the contrary, it will increase the labor force and the productive capacity of society. If it leads to fewer job openings for the young, this can be handled by a further reduction in the length of the work year.

Education That Enhances Urban Living In order to help people enjoy the life they are going to live, rich nations should introduce education that enhances urban living rather than preparing students for specialized jobs. Towards 2050, ever fewer people will be working in agriculture, manufacturing, repetitive office operations, and energy production. The vast majority (more than 80 percent) will work in services, culture, and care—in jobs that are difficult to automate and robotize. Nearly all will live in cities. They will typically work short days, although for most of their life. The challenge is to make people thrive in this reality. They certainly will not if they are educated to fill jobs that will no longer exist.

The obvious solution is to educate people in what they find interesting—hobbies, research, family, sports, creative activities. This is what will occupy most of their time. Most paying jobs will be relatively simple, something everyone will have to put up with part of their time (in exchange for their minimum income). Furthermore, the pay per hour will not rise fast. This is because productivity growth (the increase in output per person-hour and hence potential income) will be slower in the decades ahead— simply because most people will work in tertiary jobs. In this sector, it is hard to increase productivity either because the service is inherently hard to automate (writing novels or doing research) or because we actually want the human touch (personal training or old age care). Again, the challenge is to educate people so they will thrive in this future of urban service-based leisure.

More Green Stimulus Packages In order to accelerate the effort to reduce the ecological footprint per unit of GDP, rich nations should introduce a “war chest for decoupling.” This would be a fund to pay for the not-yet-profitable investments necessary to cut greenhouse gas emissions, introduce renewable energy, and protect biodiversity. The fund would be tax-based and used by the state or politicians to solve the major societal problems that do not (yet) provide a sufficient economic return on investment as seen by private investors or ministries of finance. The war chest would enable society to build the nation according to plan and not only restrict itself to what is profitable. As an example, the People’s Congress in China has set aside USD$800 billion to clean the nation’s air over the next decade. This means paying some eight million Chinese engineers to produce

clean air rather than producing consumer goods and services. It is a clear political choice, which is likely to increase average well-being in the long run, while creating paid jobs in the short term, but also sacrificing some consumption growth. In order to solve all the well-known problems associated with resource scarcity, environmental damage, climate change, and biodiversity loss, the war chest needs to be supplied with two percent of the nation’s GDP every year. In the long run it would mean that society will use two percent of its labor and capital to solve those societal problems that do not yet have profitable solutions. It could be financed through higher taxes (or by printing money and thus spreading the cost evenly in society through higher inflation) and the short-term benefit would be the increased number of interesting jobs in the clean-up sector. The “green stimulus packages” adopted by some rich nations after the financial crash of 2007–8, can serve as a model. The green stimulus packages found political support because they accelerated the economic growth after the crash.

Measure Progress in Well-Being Finally, there is the issue of what should serve as the main guide for societal development, to replace the guide of “higher GDP” in the past era of economic growth based on cheap fossil energy. To this end, rich nations should introduce “higher well-being” instead of “higher consumption” as their central goal. This can be made operational by regular measurement of the fraction of the population who thinks there is progress. The answer can be derived from annual polls where everyone must respond to two questions: Do you think life is better/same/worse now than five years ago? Do you think life will be

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 27

Perspectives

Bailey Cheng

A home aide takes her elderly charge out for some fresh air in Hong Kong. Moving towards 2050, the vast majority of people will reside in cities and work in the service and care industries.

better/same/worse in another five years? If a respondent answers better on both, he or she is scored as thinking that society is on a good track. (Notice that it is not enough to ask how satisfied people are at the time of measurement. Experience has shown that rich world citizens give the same answers over time, irrespective of the conditions under which they live. As an example, UK citizens have given roughly the same answer since the late 1970s.)

Use Regular Polls as the Guide And finally, rich nations should introduce direct democratic governance via a regular questionnaire to all citizens. Questionnaires will make it possible for voters to signal to the politicians what aspects of current society they find acceptable and what

are most in need of improvement. It will help to make sure that the nation’s politicians actually use the nation’s common resources to solve those problems that the citizens find most bothersome. This system is already in use in Bhutan, where citizens fill in forms where they rate their satisfaction on 109 issues. The ministry tabulates the response, and the parliament is allowed to work in peace on improving the situation until the next measurement ahead of the next election.

Enlightened Majority Rule By implementing this new political framework, the rich nations will be able to shift smoothly from the era of consumption growth to the new era of higher average well-being. The shift is simple in principle. It amounts to

28 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

passing the seven policies described above, all of which are politically feasible as they provide a short-term advantage to a majority of the voters. The total effect of the framework is to use part of the productive capacity of the nation to produce more well-being rather than more consumer goods and services. It is not elitism, communism, rightwing thinking, socialism, leftism, or green politics. But it will redistribute, taking from the few privileged and give to the large majority. The new era in the rich world could be described as ”enlightened majority rule.” References 1. Randers, J. 2052 – A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years (Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont, 2012). 2. See also the book website www.2052.info for the mathematical model and data underlying the analysis.

Bousquet, K. Helms (2016). Hurts: How the US Prevents Thousands of Women from Accessing Safe Abortions Each Year. Solutions 7(1): 29–31. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/helms-hurts

Perspectives Helms Hurts: How the US Prevents Thousands of Women from Accessing Safe Abortions Each Year by Kendall Bousquet

William Murphy

Activists call for safe abortion options for women at a rally in Dublin in 2011.

uring a visit to Kenya in the summer of 2015, President Barack Obama gave a rousing speech to a crowd of Kenyan youth at a soccer stadium in Nairobi, citing the advancement of women’s rights as a major factor in the country’s progress. “Treating women as second-class citizens is a bad tradition,” said Obama. “It holds you back. There’s no excuse for sexual assault or domestic violence… These traditions may go back centuries; they have no place in the 21st century. They are issues of right or wrong in any culture.”1

The speech was well received by many of the young Kenyans in attendance, but for all of its gender equality rhetoric, drew severe criticism from several Kenyan women’s rights organizations. The reason? Obama failed to address the controversial US foreign aid policy, the Helms Amendment, which precludes the use of any US aid dollars to fund abortions in other countries. As it is currently enforced, the policy acts as a blanket ban for the use of foreign aid funds for abortions under any circumstances, including rape, incest, and endangerment of the mother’s life.

“In Kenya, maternal deaths and injuries can and must be prevented,” says Evelyne Opondo, Nairobi-based regional director for Africa at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR). “President Obama has been a champion for women’s health in the United States, so we now call on him to take a stand for women worldwide and fix the Helms Amendment.” President Obama has remained consistent throughout his presidency on the right of a woman to choose when to terminate a pregnancy, even as abortion access has become increasingly limited for

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 29

Perspectives many women due to bills introduced by Republican lawmakers, and in the face of domestic terrorist attacks, such as the shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic in November 2015 which killed three people and wounded nine. Reproductive health activists like Opondo are calling for Obama to defend the same right for women abroad.

of the Geneva Convention, and has called upon the United States to repeal the Helms Amendment. Norway, also citing international law, has similarly challenged the policy. Given varying infrastructure, political circumstances, and the status of women’s rights in aid-receiving countries, some women are left more vulnerable by the Helms Amendment

“President Obama has been a champion for women’s health in the United States, so we now call on him to take a stand for women worldwide and fix the Helms Amendment.” — Evelyne Opondo

Introduced in 1973 by Republican US senator Jesse Helms, the Helms Amendment states that, “No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.” The policy was enacted in the same year as Roe v. Wade, and exists as a living relic of the conservative reaction to the introduction of legal abortion domestically. The restrictions outlined in the amendment are unique to the United States, the largest supplier of foreign aid globally. “The United States is the only major donor to have any kind of restrictions” for funding abortions, says Aram Schvey, senior policy counsel at the CRR. “Other countries simply don’t.” The United Kingdom, the second largest donor, contends that abortion procedures may be covered under foreign aid funds, citing the fact that girls and women raped in armed conflict are entitled to abortions when medically necessary under Article 3

than others. “In Kenya in particular, there’s evidence that US influence has been particularly noxious,” says Schvey. The USAID Global Health Initiative’s Kenya strategy acknowledges that, “maternal mortality levels in Kenya remain unacceptably high at 488 per 100,000 live births,” and cites the United Nations estimate that one in every 39 Kenyan women dies in childbirth. Kenya’s Ministry of Health states that unsafe abortions, often coupled with side effects like sepsis, ruptured uterus, and postpartum hemorrhage, is one of the top causes of maternal death. The Ministry of Health’s National Reproductive Health Policy goes on to say that adolescents aged 10 to 19 are the group most at risk of unplanned pregnancy and unsafe abortions. These under-the-table abortions have had devastating effects for women and girls in Kenya, with those who survive the practice often experiencing appalling health complications. In Failure to

30 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

Deliver, the CRR’s report on women’s health rights in Kenya, a nurse administrator describing her experience treating women who received unsafe abortions recalled that, “One woman’s infection was so bad that we could smell her while she was outside approaching the building, and flies were following her. She had … an abortion about a week ago, and everything was toxic.”2 Laura Bassett, writing for The Huffington Post, documented cases of women who “insert poisonous herbs into their vaginas, drink crushed glass,” and who have been forced to have their “stomachs stomped on by village elders until they miscarry.”3 Access to medical abortions is highly restricted in Kenya, though the Constitution does allow for the procedure to be legally performed in cases of physical or mental health emergencies, if the life of the mother is in danger, or where abortion is permitted “by any other written law.” Despite these provisions, which would allow for life-saving abortions to be legally performed, the Helms Amendment nonetheless bars the use of any funds for the procedure. Given this, reproductive health groups claim that there is a need for a reinterpretation of the policy. The Helms Amendment stipulates that USAID, “cannot pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning. It is not an outright ban,” says Schvey. Situations which fall outside of the definition of family planning, he says, “would include rape, life endangerment, incest, [and] health endangerment.” The CRR is not alone in calling for a reinterpretation of the policy. In 2015, a coalition letter addressed to President Obama consisting of 71 organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and a number of faith-based groups, called for a reconsideration of the current implementation of the Helms

Perspectives

Heinrich Böll Stiftung East & Horn of Africa

A woman poses a question at an event titled “Unsafe Abortion: Is Kenya Brave Enough to Take a Stand?” as part of the May 2014 Gender Forum, a monthly public dialogue in Nairobi.

Amendment, while 81 Democrats in Congress have urged that Obama proclaim that the policy allow for aid to go to abortions in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment. In the 47 years since the Helms Amendment has been implemented, hundreds of thousands of women have died as a result of unsafe abortions. As the death toll continues to climb, it is with a sense of urgency that civil society organizations and politicians seek a reinterpretation of the policy. Addressing the Planned Parenthood

National Conference, President Obama stated that efforts to defund the organization are an attempt by Republican lawmakers to tell women, “You’re on your own. They’re talking about shutting those women out at a time when they may need it most—shutting off communities that need more health options for women, not less.” Until he chooses to engage with those calling for a reinterpretation of the Helms Amendment, it remains to be seen if President Obama is willing to extend the same concern to women abroad.

References 1. Smith, D. Barack Obama in Kenya: ‘no excuse’ for treating women as second-class citizens. The Guardian [online] (July 26, 2015) http://www. theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/26/barackobama-condemns-tradition-women-second-classcitizens-nairobi. 2. Center for Reproductive Rights and Federation of Women Lawyers – Kenya. Failure to Deliver: Violations of Women’s Human Rights in Kenyan Health Facilities [online] (2007) http://www. reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/ documents/pub_bo_failuretodeliver.pdf. 3. Bassett, L. Instruments of Oppression. The Huffington Post [online] (2015) http://highline.huffingtonpost. com/articles/en/kenya-abortion/.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 31

Dolšak, N. and A. Prakash. (2016). We Feel Your Pain: Environmentalists, Coal Miners, and “Embedded Environmentalism.” Solutions 7(1): 32–37. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/we-feel-your-pain

Perspectives We Feel Your Pain: Environmentalists, Coal Miners, and “Embedded Environmentalism” by Nives Dolšak and Aseem Prakash

Mark Dixon

“EPA Rules Destroy Good Jobs:” Members of the UMWA protest outside of EPA hearings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in July 2014.

hy are some policies enacted quickly, while others are delayed or never enacted at all? One might argue that if the aggregate benefits of a policy exceed aggregate costs, the policy will be put into place. Yet, as political scientists note, policy enactment depends not necessarily on its aggregate benefits and costs, but also on how these benefits and costs are distributed across different sectors or industries. This is a critical insight in understanding why policies like those

for climate change mitigation are stalling in the United States and show varying progress across the world.1 Those hurt by mitigation policies have incentives to organize and protest against them, especially if they believe that they have been unfairly and disproportionately targeted. This includes those who work in fossil fuel industries, like mining. As Cecil Roberts, the President of United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) notes, his union “does not dispute the science

32 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

regarding climate change. Our dispute is with how our government is going about addressing it, and on whom the administration is placing the greatest burden in dealing with this challenge.”2 So why is the current political approach not working? Perhaps a new climate advocacy strategy is needed that seeks to work on the political bottlenecks and address the concerns of policy opponents. We suggest that an important reason fueling opposition

Perspectives to mitigation is that domestic equity implications have not been appreciated. To address equity issues, we outline a proposal for “embedded environmentalism” that can provide a new direction for the debate over climate change mitigation policies. While this proposal is directed principally at environmental groups as they are both the most visible and vocal in pushing for climate change mitigation, we hope it can inform the policy approaches of all mitigation advocates including regulators, politicians, and scientific bodies. Along with advocating for emission regulations, mitigation advocates should lobby for the compensation of sectors and stakeholders that might be negatively impacted by such regulations. Our approach coheres with the proposal Hillary Clinton recently outlined to revitalize coal communities in Appalachia.3 The USD$30 billion Clinton Plan focuses on investments in local infrastructure and responds to concerns that federal air emission regulations have contributed to the downturn in the coal industry. Embedded environmentalism recognizes that policies can differentially impose costs and bestow benefits across sectors and industries.4 These costs and benefits can be economic or financial, but can also include psychological, social, or ideological ones. Some policies might concentrate costs (therefore imposing high per capita costs for those who incur them) or bestow benefits on specific sectors, while others might diffuse them over the whole economy (therefore creating low levels of benefits or costs on a per capita basis). Policies such as those for climate change mitigation, which currently tend to create diffused benefits for many but impose concentrated costs on a few, face intense opposition and sometimes get stalled. This is as a result of those who lose out from the

policy having incentives to organize and oppose it, while those who benefit have less compelling incentives to advocate for it. The climate change debate in the United States seems to pit the predominantly educated, affluent, and urban pro-environment constituencies against relatively less privileged coal miners, manufacturing workers, and others in fossil fuel industries. Techno-determinists, such as Thomas Friedman, invoke Schumpeterian “creative destruction” to explain why the fossil fuel-based industrial order must perish.5 For them, renewables, information technology, and technological breakthroughs will herald a ‘new order.’ For many American coal miners, climate change-mitigation policies are job killers that will force them into poverty, an argument echoed by several Republican presidential hopefuls such as Senators Ron Paul and Marco Rubio. While emerging technologies do create new jobs, these probably will not be filled by comparatively poorly educated miners. Of course, one might argue that coal miners opposed to mitigation policies are being manipulated by the fossil fuel industry; declines in coal-related jobs are mostly related to mechanization, not environmental regulations. Even if some job losses are caused by regulations, the number of miners in places like West Virginia is quite small; mining constitutes only about three percent of the employed civilian labor force there. Even when incorporating indirect employment, the coal industry only provides jobs to about seven percent of the employed civilian labor force.6 While these arguments have merit, they still ignore the reality that organized and concentrated interests tend to have more political clout than nonorganized ones. Indeed, the UMWA is very actively highlighting the impact

of climate change regulation on the mining industry and coal communities. For example, in response to the EPA’s proposed rules for clean power to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, Cecil Roberts also noted: …it’s not just that these jobs will be lost, it’s that the ability of companies to continue funding pension and retiree health care benefits will be at great risk... And no one - no one - can point to a significant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions that is guaranteed to come from this rule... And why on earth should we be willing to sacrifice the lives and livelihoods of thousands upon thousands of our fellow citizens on the naive bet that current and emerging economic competitors like China, India, Brazil, Russia and others will follow our lead?… Some point to new so-called ‘green jobs’ that may be created by this rule, and say that there will be a net increase in jobs over time…The jobs that we are told will be created will very likely not be in the coalfields, will not pay particularly well, will not have decent benefits, and will not allow workers to realize what we once called the American Dream.2 Mitigation advocates should recognize that (1) mitigation has domestic equity implications, (2) concerns of policy losers are legitimate, and (3) given the multiple veto points in the American political system, without some level of policy consensus, we are less likely to secure the appropriate type and scale of mitigation regulations. If so, might mitigation advocates consider experimenting with a new, bold, and unconventional strategy

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 33

Perspectives to address the concerns of their opponents, such as actively lobbying the federal government for compensating miners and their communities? Such compensation schemes have been used by federal agencies in the past. To protect specific fisheries, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) buys back fishing permits or even fishing vessels and the Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production. Yet domestic compensation policies have not been seriously examined in the context of climate mitigation. This is where embedded environmentalism comes in. It recognizes that (1) mitigation regulation imposes concentrated costs on a few sectors while creating benefits for many and (2) those bearing the costs should receive equitable compensation. Its core logic lies in coupling climate change mitigation with political and social realities. In making this proposal, we draw on trade politics literature, specifically the ‘embedded liberalism’ compromise of 1945–1970. This informal compact between labor and capital created domestic support for the expansion of multilateral trade, alongside state interventions in the domestic economy, to ensure full employment and the expansion of the welfare state. Similar to mitigation, free trade creates diffused benefits across the economy but imposes concentrated costs on the import-competing sectors. By introducing a new source of competition, it allows all consumers to enjoy lower prices and access higher quality products (therefore, diffused benefits). For example, think of a country that is contemplating removing import tariffs on steel. This policy action can create potential benefits across the economy by lowering costs for

industries that use steel or steel products, including construction, pipelines, automobile, and white appliances. However, removal of tariffs would place domestic steel industries under price pressures. This cuts into revenue, translating into lower profits and wages. In some cases, firms may lay off their work force or even close down their operation. Not surprisingly, domestic steel interests are likely to mobilize to oppose the removal of tariffs. This sort of push back against free trade by import competing industry was evidenced in the NAFTA debate and more recently in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Not surprisingly, free trade policies—reductions in tariff and nontariff barriers—have faced intense political opposition from importcompeting industries. In order to transfer the successful policy approach from trade policy to climate mitigation policy, we need to understand the causal logic: how did western democracies manage to establish a “liberal” trade order in the aftermath of the Second World War? Political scientist John Ruggie suggested that they accomplished this by embedding free trade in an interventionist state order that sought to provide full employment, regulate capital flows, and provide a safety cushion to trade losers.7 There is a substantial body of empirical literature that reports strong positive association between the size of a welfare state and levels of trade openness.8 Mitigation proponents often suggest a carbon tax to reduce fossil fuel use, and therefore greenhouse gas emissions, leading to debates about the appropriate tax level required to reduce fossil fuel consumption to the desired levels. Others suggest that to enhance support for carbon taxes, policy makers should explain how these might be used: for example, to

34 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

fund research into cleaner technologies or renewables. Disappointingly, there is less discussion on how to use carbon taxes to compensate policy losers such as coal miners—although the Clinton proposal is an important step in addressing economic concerns of mining regions. Embedded environmentalism can also reduce political opposition from anticlimate mitigation sectors. For example, a portion of environmental taxes could be earmarked to compensate policy losers beyond the token ‘worker retraining’ programs already in place. These compensation policies can be designed to assure some level of financial security to these workers, such as generous displacement allowances and pension schemes. Carbon taxes can also be deployed for tangible investments in mining communities. These could include youth educational investments, so that the children of miners can avail themselves of new opportunities, instead of just following in their parents’ footsteps. As noted previously, the federal government already has compensation policies for other environmental issues. If NOAA can buy back the boats of fisherman whose fishes are put on the endangered list, why not “buy back the boats” of the coal miners? More broadly, the compensation system can be modeled along the federal fuel tax (18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel) that is used for highway and bridge construction. Thus, while the fuel tax is imposing a burden on specific industries such as petroleum and automobile, it also creates benefits for them by improving the quality of transportation infrastructure. A portion of the carbon tax can be specifically earmarked to compensate the sectors hurt by this tax. There are several issues that will need to be debated and carefully examined such

Perspectives

Mark Dixon

West Virginian clean energy supporters were also present at the July 2014 EPA hearings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

as the criteria for eligibility, what sorts of projects will receive financial support, how much would coal miners, whose mines will be shut down, be compensated, and whether the federal or the state government will administer this program. There are other objections to our proposal as well. One might ask why the United States should privilege climate change losers for policy support—does this not pertain to the larger problem of ‘takings’ via environmental regulations?9 If most regulations create policy losers, should the government compensate policy losers in all circumstances? If so, will

this create a moral hazard problem, for example with the miners who rely on government checks, instead of retooling and re-inventing their skills? These are important and complex issues that need to be debated but still do not contradict our core point: environmentalists should appreciate the domestic distributional consequences of climate change mitigation, and the sources of opposition to climate regulation. The coal miners have valid concerns pertaining to their livelihoods in the wake of mitigation policies. It is time for mitigation advocates to start a dialogue with coal miners (and other sectors bearing the consequences of

such regulation) on how carbon taxes might be deployed to help them make an economic and social transition to a new post-carbon life. Will this be considered a sell-out? We don’t think so. After all, some environmental groups have reached out to their “adversaries” in the business and labor sectors, and worked collaboratively towards noncoercive approaches to address environmental problems.13 For example, The Nature Conservancy has helped communities and governments purchase development rights from farmers and ranchers, as opposed to say, lobbying for regulation to achieve the same

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 35

Perspectives

Mark Haller

In 2011, environmental activists participated in a five day march on West Virginia’s Blair Mountain, calling for an end to mountaintop removal mining. The West Virginia Coal Association adamantly opposed the march.

objective.10 This approach addresses the economic concerns of farmers and ranchers, and also allows their farms and ranches to remain intact and support wildlife and biodiversity. Environmental groups have collaborated with their “adversaries” in other ways as well. About 25 years ago, McDonald’s and the Environmental Defense Fund began working together to phase out food containers made from polystyrene.11 The objective was to reduce solid waste going to landfills. This collaborative partnership has survived and created pathways for others to flourish, including the Marine Stewardship Council ecolabel created by WWF and Unilever to address the issue of sustainable fisheries.12

We hope that subset of environmental groups can initiate this sort of collaborative process in the context of climate change. One idea could be to create a “Citizen Commission” that includes representatives from both pro and anti-mitigation camps. They could carefully and collectively examine different policy proposals on how America can lead the world in emission reductions while also addressing the concerns of sectors and communities that will bear the economic costs of such. This type of Citizen Commission would then serve as a best-practice example, and could tour to share their experiences, talk with different groups, and seek testimonies from citizens in the

36 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

affected coal communities. While this sort of initiative can be undertaken by governments via commissions or industry groups, we believe the policy of reaching out to firms and labor groups in sectors affected by new regulations will have the greatest impact if initiated by environmental groups. Sponsorship matters because it signals that the sponsoring actors are willing to take on political risks to try a new approach. Given the perceived animosity between environmental groups and miners, this sort of reaching out has the potential to break policy deadlocks. In sum, climate change environmentalism needs to be embedded in a new domestic order that addresses the

Perspectives

Bill Baker

UMWA members demonstrate in Ohio in 2012.

concerns of the policy losers. The COP 21 in Paris and other international meetings are important for climate policy, but insufficient to build a domestic American consensus on a highly contentious issue that has important equity and distributional implications. Embedded environmentalism, even with all its imperfections, can serve as a solid starting point to approach the mitigation issue from a different perspective. After all, public policy is about working towards better solutions, not perfect ones.

2. Roberts, C. EPA existing source emissions rule puts American jobs at risk, does nothing to address climate change. United Mine Workers of America [online] (2014) http://www.umwa.org/?q=news/epa-

bigger governments? Journal of Political Economy 106(5), 997–1032 (1998). 9. Meltz, R, Merriam, D & Frank, R. The Takings

existing-source-emissions-rule-puts-american-jobs-

Issue: Constitutional Limits on Land Use Control and

risk-does-nothing-address-climate-change.

Environmental Regulation (Island Press, Washington,

3. The briefing: Hillary Clinton’s plan for revitalizing coal communities. HillaryClinton.com [online]

DC, 1988). 10. The Nature Conservancy. Conservation Easements

(2015) https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/

[online] (2015) http://www.nature.org/about-us/

factsheets/2015/11/12/clinton-plan-to-revitalize-

private-lands-conservation/conservation-

coal-communities/.

easements/all-about-conservation-easements.xml.

4. Wilson, JQ. The Politics of Regulation (Basic Books, New York, 1980).

11. Environmental Defense Fund. McDonald’s and Environmental Defense Fund mark 20 years of

5. Schumpeter JA. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (Routledge, London, 2013).

partnerships for sustainability [online] (2010) https://www.edf.org/news/mcdonald%E2%80%99s-

6. Blaaker, D, Woods, J & Oliver, C. How big is big coal? Public perceptions of the coal industry’s impact in West Virginia. Organization & Environment 25(4),

References

8. Rodrik, D. Why do more open economies have

385–401 (2012).

and-environmental-defense-fund-mark-20-yearspartnerships-sustainability. 12. Marine Stewardship Council. Our history [online] (2015) https://www.msc.org/about-us/our-history.

7. Ruggie, JG. International regimes, transactions,

13. Prakash, A & Potoski, M. Voluntary environmental

and change: embedded liberalism in the postwar

programs: a comparative perspective. Journal of

a cross-sectional analysis. Review of Policy Research

economic order. International Organization 36(02),

Policy Analysis and Management 31(1)L, 123–138

26(5), 551–570 (2009).

379–415 (1982).

(2011).

1. Dolšak, N. Climate change policy implementation:

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 37

‘t Sas-Rolfes, M. (2016). Rhino Poaching: What is the Solution? Solutions 7(1): 38–45. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/rhino-poaching-what-is-the-solution

Feature

Rhino Poaching: What is the Solution? by Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes Ray Morris

A black rhino in Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

In Brief Rhino poaching is a serious contemporary global concern. Significant recent growth in demand for rhino horn in Asian consumer markets has driven black market prices to extraordinary levels, undermining attempts to conserve wild rhinos and enforce a worldwide trade ban. A closer analysis of countries that have succeeded in conserving rhinos reveals that they owe much of their success to policies that enhance the direct economic benefits flowing from rhino protection and link these to relevant local people and institutions. If trade ban enforcement alone cannot save rhinos, then other solutions must be considered. As one alternative, international conservation NGOs typically support campaigns aimed at changing consumer behavior, arguing that poaching will end when consumers stop buying rhino horn products. Skeptics of this approach argue that it would be better to displace existing demand for illegally sourced horn either with genuine horn from sustainable sources or with a synthetic substitute. All three approaches deserve careful consideration, both individually and in possible combination.

38 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

ild populations of the world’s five rhino species have been in steady retreat for centuries in the face of expanding human populations that encroach upon their habitat and hunt them for their meat and body parts. Since the 1970s, the greatest threat to rhinos has been the trade in rhino horn, which is sought for both ornamental purposes and as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicines used to treat a range of human ailments linked to toxicity and inflammation. In response to this threat, the world’s governments listed all rhino species on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), thereby effectively banning all international trade in rhino horn since 1977.1 The initial market response to the trade ban was a more than ten-fold increase in the price of rhino horn in the following two years.2 Poaching continued unabated—if anything, it became more aggressive. Over the next 15 years, the world’s governments stepped up enforcement efforts, persuaded more countries to sign and implement CITES, and finally, in 1993, the US government threatened four remaining key consumer countries with trade sanctions unless they passed and enforced strict domestic laws against the use and sale of rhino horn.3 The four countries—China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Yemen—acceded. Numbers of African black rhinos, which had declined precipitously from an estimated 65,000 in 1970 to 2,500 in 1993,4 finally stabilized and started to increase. The ban was finally thought to be working. However, by 1993 meaningful numbers of both African rhino species—the black and the white—only survived in a handful of countries, with South Africa being by far the most significant, followed by Namibia, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. Within those countries, the animals typically survived in well-managed

and well-funded protected areas, with significant support from the private sector. South Africa had managed to almost completely avoid the poaching crisis and had steadily built up its rhino numbers over the 20th century. Whereas both black and white rhinos were on the verge of extinction at

Key Concepts • Rhino poaching can be viewed as an economic problem: as rising consumer demand drives up prices for rhino horn, incentives for illegal activity increase relative to the incentives to protect live rhinos. • Where wild rhino populations have survived, this has been due to adequate enforcement spending and rhino-related economic benefit flows to relevant local people, not necessarily because of restrictions on rhino horn trade. • Campaigns aimed at changing consumer behavior may ultimately reduce black market rhino horn prices, but fail to address the economic aspirations of the local people who control the animals’ destiny. • Legalizing trade in rhino horn has the potential to raise much-needed funds for rhino protection and create more lasting incentives for conservation, but faces opposition from advocates of demand reduction and requires significant institutional reforms that do not enjoy widespread political support. • Introducing a synthetic substitute product to the market provides a third option, sharing both certain advantages and disadvantages of each of the two other approaches.

the start of that century, by the year 2000 they were thriving in South Africa, which also played a key role in supplying other African countries with animals to replenish their lost populations. South Africa (and Namibia) also allowed commercial live sales of animals and a controlled off-take

of rhinos to be sold to the lucrative international trophy hunting market. This provided an important source of funds for rhino conservation to add to state subsidies and income from regular wildlife tourism. It is worth noting that, unlike many of the countries that ended up losing their rhino populations, in South Africa, Namibia, and the other enclaves where rhinos survive, incoming funds tend to be more directly linked to the animals’ existence. The economic benefits from live sales, hunting, and tourism tend to reach the agents who ultimately control the rhinos’ destiny: public and private park managers and the local rural communities living in close proximity to rhino reserves. It seems clear that these factors, and not necessarily laws against rhino horn trade, play a vital role in ensuring rhino conservation success.

Prohibition Failure Unfortunately, the success of the 1993 legal measures to discourage rhino horn trade was relatively short-lived; by the start of the 21st Century, there were significant signs of renewed buying interest from East Asia. In 2003, South African hunting outfitters started engaging with clients from Vietnam to participate in legal rhino trophy hunts.5 Vietnam is not a country traditionally associated with sport hunting, and it soon became obvious that these clients were simply interested in obtaining the rhinos’ horns. At the time, trophy hunting provided the only legal means of exporting a rhino horn from South Africa, albeit a very expensive one. The price of African horn in Asia must have risen to unprecedented levels for this to happen. Between 2003 and 2008, the number of Asian hunters rose steadily, as did (legal) domestic exchanges of horns previously collected from naturally deceased rhinos. This signaled the emergence of an underground South African export market.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 39

Stefan Möhl

Chalk art in Cape Town, South Africa, reads “201 MURDERED THIS YEAR,” in a message spreading awareness to mark International Rhino Day on September 22, 2010.

Once the South African government became aware of what was happening, it responded with a series of measures aimed at thwarting rhino horn exports to Asia. These included imposing significantly more onerous permit requirements onto private landowners for any rhino-related activities, declaring a moratorium on all domestic sales of horn, and progressively tightening regulations on trophy hunting and live exports.6 Unfortunately, these restrictions, mostly implemented between 2007 and 2009, were accompanied by a sudden sharp rise in rhino poaching in South Africa, and incidents of illegal killing have continued to increase

every year since. Furthermore, the business of illegal trade has moved from the domain of profiteering wildlife industry players into the realm of sophisticated transnational organized crime syndicates, who have proven to be extremely difficult to apprehend. Today, some eight years later, the world’s single largest free-ranging rhino population, in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, is most likely in decline, as the level of poaching mortality now appears to exceed the natural rate of population growth. Elsewhere in the world, rhinos remain under serious threat. The matter is of great concern to conservationists and the general public alike. The

40 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

conventional approach of regulation and law enforcement, while perhaps not implemented to its full potential, seems to have limited scope for further success. With rhino horn fetching black market retail prices at stratospheric levels, law enforcement efforts are too easily undermined by corruption, as with other high-value black markets such as the drug trade. The War on Drugs has been a spectacular failure, and the war on rhino horn trade may fare no better. If law enforcement alone won’t solve the rhino-poaching crisis, then what will? There are three different schools of thought on this, leading to three distinctly different types of

International Fund for Animal Welfare Animal Rescue

A stockpile of illegal rhino horns seized by Czech and Slovakian law enforcement officers in September 2014.

solutions. The first school believes that rhinos will only be safe once the demand for rhino horn is completely eliminated—or at least substantially reduced to unthreatening levels. This school supports the concept of ‘demand reduction,’ that is, measures beyond law enforcement that will change the behavior of consumers by persuading them to stop viewing rhino horn as an acceptable product to buy. The other two schools adopt a different approach and rather seek to offer consumers an acceptable substitute to illegal horn from poached rhinos. The second approach involves the reintroduction of a regulated legal trade in harvested rhino horn supplied from sustainable sources, and the third involves introducing a synthetic or ‘cultured’ rhino horn product into the market.

Demand Reduction The demand reduction approach is currently advocated and supported by most nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with conservation and animal welfare, including international heavyweights such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Humane Society, and International Fund for Animal Welfare. It is epitomized by the slogan of the organization WildAid: “When the buying stops, the killing can too.”7 To sell this message in Asia, WildAid has employed the assistance of several East Asian celebrities, including the Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, retired Chinese basketball champion Yao Ming, and various young pop stars in Vietnam. The WildAid message has also been embraced by Sir Richard Branson and a coalition of Western

conservation NGOs through the UK Royal Foundation’s ‘United for Wildlife’ campaign, in which Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, plays a prominent role as an ambassador. WildAid is very confident of the celebrity-driven approach, claiming that it has already achieved substantial success with a campaign against the consumption of shark-fin soup, and that it is having a positive impact on rhinos, too. In 2014, the Humane Society similarly claimed that its efforts in Vietnam were starting to have an effect (enthusiastically endorsed by Vietnam’s law enforcement authorities), but this was quickly refuted by other NGOs, who are using different methods. For example, WWF supports a campaign called ‘Chi’ that attempts to use more subtle methods of advertising.8

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 41

International Fund for Animal Welfare Animal Rescue

Illegal rhino horn, along with ivory tusks and leopard skins, are seized at the Hong Kong Customs and Excise headquarters in August 2013. The large seizure of wildlife products originated in Nigeria, and was disguised as timber inside two containers. Rhino horn is in high demand in booming underground Asian markets, where it is sold for medicinal and ornamental purposes.

Whatever success these campaigns may be achieving in Asia, their proponents have so far been unable to convincingly demonstrate results that are significant or fast enough to end the current rhino-poaching crisis. It is unclear to what extent the campaigns matter to existing rhino horn buyers, and the reported success of the shark fin efforts may not be especially comparable or relevant. This is because the demonization of shark fin soup is something fairly new, and to the extent that markets have shrunk, this could be considered analogous with the efforts to reduce rhino horn consumption in the early 1990s. Two decades later, the extant niche consumer market for rhino horn is certainly aware of both the product’s scarcity and illegality–in fact this appears to be a significant part of

its appeal, as possession of rhino horn now signals a certain kind of status (by being above the reach of laws applied to common people). Proponents of demand reduction simply cannot tell us how much time and money it will take to decisively change the remaining committed rhino horn buyers’ and consumers’ behavior, which is grounded in potentially deeply embedded perceptions of healing power, cultural prestige, and commercial value. To remove the incentives for illegal trade, this approach has to bring about the effective collapse in the market price of what is currently one of the world’s most highly valued commodities by weight—this is most ambitious. But even if the campaigns eventually succeed in achieving this, they manifestly fail to address the other challenge

42 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

facing rhino conservation on the ground in Africa: the chronic shortage of conservation funds and shrinking relative economic appeal of wildlife conservation versus other forms of land use on a continent with rapidly growing human populations and development aspirations.

Legal Trade In contrast to the proponents of demand reduction, a substantial majority of southern African rhino owners and managers, both private and public, advocate a different approach. Not only are they skeptical that demand reduction can work, they are desperate to find sources of funds to cover wildly escalating security costs. And even if they are presently able to find such funds—currently often from shortterm donors—they increasingly find

their security systems undermined by internal corruption. The incentives to supply horn often outweigh the incentives to protect the rhinos. For this reason, rhino owners increasingly support the potential re-establishment of a legal rhino horn market, supplied from existing stockpiles and future routine horn harvesting from selected animals. Proponents of legal trade point to the past success of the sustainable use approach and the extent to which managed commercial trophy hunting has boosted the economic incentives to breed and protect rhinos. They see sustainable commercial supply of horns as a simple extension of this approach. Many rhino managers already routinely dehorn their free-ranging animals as a security measure, by sedating them and removing the portion of horn above the growth point. The animals experience no significant pain or obvious social disruption and the horn regrows, allowing for further harvests and accelerated horn production. At present, most harvested horn is securely stored, adding to a South African stockpile that could already meet the equivalent of three to five years of current illegal supply (based on the current rate of poaching). Those opposed to the idea of legalizing trade raise a number of objections, ranging from ethical to practical concerns. Ethical concerns need to be carefully weighed up against the current reality, in which both rhinos and humans are subjected to extreme suffering and daily deaths in what has become an effective violent war—the current situation is undisputedly morally repugnant. Among the relevant practical concerns, perhaps the most significant are the potential for a legal trade to stimulate further consumer demand, for a parallel illegal trade to continue and possibly even benefit through laundering, and for rhino poaching to be displaced to

Frank Douwes

A group of rhinos on a reserve in Windhoek, Namibia.

other rhino species and countries for which legal trade is not an option. The practical concerns could be addressed to at least some extent through the design of an intelligent trading system. Existing DNA and microchipping technology allows for rigorous supply-chain management and, given Asian consumer concern over the high incidence of fake horn, provides an opportunity to implement a single-channel marketing

and certification system that could prevent the infiltration of illegally sourced horn up to the retail level. The Kimberley Process in the diamond industry represents a potential model to follow. To mitigate possible spillover effects, participants in a legal trading regime would also need to consider cross-subsidizing the protection of nonparticipating rhino populations in the event of market expansion leading to black market price increases.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 43

The legal trade proposal faces significant interrelated obstacles. It requires that both the proposed selling and buying countries substantially change their existing laws and, furthermore, that that they receive approval from a two-thirds majority at an official CITES meeting. Given the powerful influence of NGOs advocating demand reduction and the support of their host governments, political resistance to this approach is dauntingly high. Even if this solution makes the most economic and conservation sense to the most significant rhino range countries, South Africa and Namibia, the incentive structures within the CITES system conspires against it receiving the necessary international support.

Synthetic Horn Advances in biotechnology and 3-D printing have recently enabled a potential third approach: the manufacture of a synthetic rhino horn substitute that is potentially indistinguishable from the genuine item, to the extent that it even contains infused rhino DNA. In theory, there are at least two distinct strategic ways in which this product could be used: it could either be marketed openly to consumers as an ethical substitute product (e.g. ‘cultured horn’), or it could be covertly introduced into the illegal supply chain to disrupt the existing market. In the case of the latter option, the synthetic horn could potentially play the role of a ‘cutting agent,’ diluting the supply of genuine horn from poached rhinos. A third option would combine the two strategies. Each of these three options has different implications that are worth considering. Proponents of this approach share the animal welfare sentiments of those opposed to legal trade in genuine horn (and perhaps the skepticism that this will be allowed), but do not support the demand reduction approach. They argue that demand reduction amounts

to the imposition of a Western set of cultural values over Asian values (sometimes labelled as ‘cultural imperialism’) and that it may fail to deliver satisfactory results. However, various rhino conservation NGOs and supporters of demand reduction—including some with an animal welfare orientation—have issued statements strongly opposing the marketing of legal synthetic rhino horn products, arguing that this would undermine efforts to completely stigmatize the use of all horn and unnecessarily confuse Asian law enforcement officials, reducing their incentives to crack down on illegal product. The option of covertly introducing synthetic horn into the black market may also face practical challenges, as it would potentially confuse law enforcers and criminals alike. How does one sneak a fake product into an underground market, unbeknownst to criminals, but with the knowledge and approval of law enforcement? And how does one assign the legal mandate and responsibility to undertake something like this? Given the evident strong links between corrupt officials and criminals, it is unclear that this represents a plausible sustainable solution, even if a short-term covert operation might achieve something. Notwithstanding these difficulties, recent market research suggests that openly introducing synthetic horn into the market could displace at least some of the existing demand for genuine rhino horn, given that the former costs significantly less to produce. A further advantage of allowing overt sales of synthetic horn is that it might reveal information about market demand more generally, thereby allowing for more targeted future interventions. The unresolved question is whether perpetuating interest in generic ‘rhino horn’ products would lead to greater demand for genuine horn (harvested from rhinos) in the future. In any event, a further disadvantage of this approach is the one it shares with

44 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

demand reduction: it fails to address the immediate financial needs of rhino owners and managers—unless, of course, the synthetic horn producers donate a significant share of their sales proceeds toward subsidizing rhino conservation efforts in the field.

Final Thoughts In theory, there appear to be three plausible solutions to the rhinopoaching problem, aside from further attempts to enforce the poorly performing trade ban. In practice, all three present varying, but significant, challenges. To further complicate matters, they are somewhat incompatible with one another. Although there is nothing to preclude all three being attempted simultaneously, this would likely cause some confusion, especially given the competing interests of their proponents. That said, the issue is already confusing, and it seems unlikely that the proponents of conflicting solutions will ever reach full agreement on working together, given their substantially differing underlying values, assumptions, and incentives. The demand reduction approach is grounded in a Western value system, which is not universally shared and accepted by Africans and Asians, who may continue to trade illegally with the assistance of corrupt officials. Relying on this approach is therefore not without substantial risk: it is unclear how much time and money is needed for it to be truly effective. Furthermore, following this approach moves rhinos further toward being an aid-dependent species, which arguably sets up inappropriate longer-term conservation incentives in a developing country context. As a more sustainable solution, a carefully managed legal trading regime might better satisfy both conservation and economic objectives for countries such as South Africa and Namibia, provided that such a regime addresses concerns relating

Dunlop Marshall Photos

A black rhino in Okaukuejo, Namibia.

to potential market responses and laundering of illegally sourced horn. However, to implement this would also require time, resources, and institutional change, not to mention negotiating a satisfactory cooperative arrangement with other affected countries. The alternative of supplying a synthetic rhino horn product presents a potentially faster and more cost-effective solution, but may not go far enough to address the economic incentives of the local people who control the destiny of wild rhinos. So what is the best way forward? Of the three potential solutions, demand reduction is the only one currently implemented and congruent with existing laws. However, this does not completely preclude future legal trade or the sale of synthetic substitutes—consider the example

of cigarettes, which remain legal while accompanied by strong demand reduction campaigns and more recent competition from personal vaporizers. Legal trades of genuine horn or a synthetic substitute have the potential to deflect demand for illegally sourced horn and earn much-needed money for conservation, but require further work to establish. The overt sale of synthetic or ‘cultured’ horn products presents a more immediate potential option, with a controlled legal trade in genuine horn providing perhaps the most sustainable long-term option for rhino conservation. Whichever solutions—or combination thereof—ultimately prevail, let us hope that they do so effectively and soon, for the sake of both the rhinos and all those risking their lives daily in the current gruesome war.

References 1. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Appendices I, II and III. CITES.org [online] (2015) https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/ app/2015/E-Appendices-2015-02-05.pdf. 2. Leader-Williams, N. World trade in rhino horn: a review. Traffic International [online] (2002) http://www.traffic.org/mammals/. 3. ’t Sas-Rolfes, M. Assessing CITES: Four Case Studies, in Endangered Species, Threatened Convention (eds Hutton, J. and B. Dickson) 69–87 (Earthscan Publications Ltd., London, 2002). 4. ’t Sas-Rolfes, M. Rhinos: Conservation, Economics, and Trade-offs (IEA Environmental Unit, London, 1995). 5. Rademeyer, J. Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade (Zebra Press, Cape Town, 2012). 6. ’t Sas-Rolfes, M. The rhino poaching crisis—a market analysis. Rhino Resource Center [online] (2012) http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/ pdf_files/133/1331370813.pdf. 7. WildAid [online] www.wildaid.org/. 8. Novel Chi campaign launched in Vietnam on World Rhino Day aims to reduce demand for rhino horn. WWF.org [online] (2014) http://www.wwf.org. za/?12061/Chi-campaign-launch.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 45

Kellogg, K. and C. Hobbs. (2016). A Case Study of Small Hydropower. Solutions 7(1): 46–54. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/a-case-study-of-small-hydropower

Feature

A Case Study of Small Hydropower by Karen Kellogg and Caroline Hobbs

hile climate systems are incredibly complex, the causes of contemporary climate change and many of the potential impacts are now well understood. The atmospheric concentrations of several greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) have increased to unprecedented levels, in at least the past 800,000 years, and carbon dioxide levels are now hovering around 400 ppm, a concentration beyond the 350 ppm concentration now widely recognized as a target level to preserve our social systems. As a result, it is unequivocal that there is a warming of the climate system, including the atmosphere and oceans, and it is consensus that human influence has been the dominant cause of warming since the mid-20th century. We understand, with varying degrees of certainty, that this warming has and will continue to cause snow and ice melt, sea level rise, ocean acidification, loss of permafrost, increased severity of storm events, significant changes in precipitation patterns, biodiversity loss, spread of certain insect-borne diseases, and the displacement of human populations and cultural loss. And the positive and negative feedback loops inherent in the climate system could very well accelerate these impacts.1 It is also worth noting that there are major inequities intrinsic in contemporary climate change. Relatively few of us

have enjoyed the lifestyle associated with high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and, of course, not everyone is experiencing the burdens of climate change equally. As one metric, climate change threatens to cause the largest refugee crisis in human history. By 2050 more than 200 million people, largely in Africa and Asia, will potentially be forced to seek refuge in other places. Hundreds of millions more are expected to experience hunger and other life-altering hardships due to climate change.2 There are hopeful signs that we are altering the course of climate change; for example, last year the global economy grew by close to three percent, but energy-related carbon dioxide emissions remained constant and renewables accounted for nearly half of the new power generation capacity.3 And, just months ago at the COP21 meeting in Paris, the ministers from 195 countries adopted, by consensus, a legally binding agreement to fight climate change. The COP21 accord aims to help the world abandon fossil fuels within this century.4 The reality at this moment, however, is that we continue to rely largely on coal, oil, and natural gas, the highest life cycle GHG emitting energy sources.5 In fact, globally 68 percent of electricity generation still comes from fossil fuels,6 and energy demand continues to grow by about two percent per year.7 There also remains the fact that 1.3 billion people worldwide still lack access

46 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

In Brief Climate change, and its associated impacts, are challenging the very core of our natural, social, and economic systems, and it is now widely accepted that we must take steps to significantly reduce our global greenhouse emissions while simultaneously addressing the energy-related inequities that continue to plague so many human populations. Small hydropower (<10 MW) has been gaining ground as a renewable energy source that could play a significant role in both reducing our fossil fuel use in many developed and developing countries and in helping some regions of the world that are currently handicapped by inadequate electricity supplies. We include here a summary of the literature on the impacts of small hydro compared to other types of energy production and a case study of a restored, small hydro facility on a natural abutment in New York State. This case study speaks to the minimal environmental impacts and the broad economic and social benefits that are possible with well-planned small hydropower projects.

to electricity, while 2.7 billion must rely solely on traditional biomass to meet their energy needs. Another one billion people have access to poor quality electricity or can only obtain it intermittently from unreliable grid networks.8 Envisioning and achieving a more sustainable energy future will, therefore, require us to simultaneously address energy-related social and environmental inequities while improving our energy efficiency and production all around the world. And, we must move on this work quickly, recognizing that we need to analyze each choice as holistically as possible, while accepting that no solution is perfect—there will always be some level of environmental, social, and/or economic impact.

Small Hydropower Small hydropower has been gaining ground as a renewable energy source that could play a significant role in both reducing our fossil fuel use in many developed and developing countries and in helping some regions of the world that are currently handicapped by inadequate electricity supplies.9 While there is no international agreement on what constitutes small hydropower, and the upper limit can vary between 2.5 and 100 MW depending on the country and state, the most widely accepted value is 10 MW.10,11 And, indeed, much of the literature on the assessment and impacts of small hydropower uses this definition. According to comprehensive assessments, there is a global potential of 173 GW of small hydropower, and only 75 GW have been installed to date. Approximately 65 percent of this global potential is in Asia, 16 percent in Europe, 13 percent in the Americas, five percent in Africa, and one percent in Oceania. Over the past decade, many countries have executed fairly aggressive policies to promote the design and

implementation of small hydropower projects given the purported minimal environmental, economic, and social impacts of small hydro, especially compared to more conventional energy sources.12 Because of this global push, there is a burgeoning

Key Concepts • It is now widely accepted that we must take steps to address climate change by significantly reducing our global greenhouse emissions while also simultaneously addressing the energy-related inequities that continue to plague so many human populations. • Small hydropower (<10 MW) has been gaining ground as a renewable energy source that could play a significant role in both reducing our fossil fuel use in many developed and developing countries and in helping some regions of the world that are currently handicapped by inadequate electricity supplies. • While no energy production is perfect—there will always be some level of environmental, social, and/ or economic impact—the balance of the most comprehensive and dataintensive studies indicate that small hydro, especially run-of-river small hydro, can result in fewer impacts to the surrounding natural and social systems and can offer many economic benefits compared to other forms of energy production. • The restoration of a small hydro facility on a natural abutment in New York State was made possible by fairly recent legislative changes, and this case study demonstrates the multi-faceted benefits that are possible with a well-planned small hydropower project.

literature assessing critical questions regarding the comprehensive costs associated with small hydro. Evaluating these questions has proven challenging given the complexity of methodology,13 variation of impacts based on design and ecosystem sensitivity,14 and variation in

input to and oversight of the design, implementation, and operations of small hydro.15 There also have been comparisons of small hydro to not only other renewable energies and more conventional sources, but also analyses of the accumulated impacts of many small hydro projects compared to the equivalent production of several large-scale hydro projects.16,17 The balance of the most comprehensive and data-intensive studies point to the potential of small hydro as an important component of a cleaner, more just energy future. For example, one total life-cycle assessment found small hydro produced far fewer gCO2equiv/kWh than more conventional sources of energy (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas),18-20 and, depending on the assumptions about reservoir emissions and the type of turbine installed, small hydro outperformed even photovoltaic, nuclear, and, in some cases, wind in terms of greenhouse gas production.21,22 In addition, it appears that reducing gCO2-equiv/kWh also leads to a reduction of most other environment impacts (e.g., abiotic resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity, eco-toxicity, etc.).23 Small hydro, and, in particular run-of-river small hydro (that is, hydropower where there is little to no water storage associated with the dam), also minimizes, in comparison to larger-scale hydro, the changes in stream flow, modifications to thermal regimes, sediment buildup, alterations to aquatic communities, and risk to the downstream natural and built environments should there be a failure to the dam.24-26 Economically, small hydro can offer enhanced price stability,27 competitive costs,28,29 and low energy payback times (that is, the years necessary to recover primary energy consumption throughout a project’s life cycle by its own energy production).30 Another important benefit is that this technology has been around for a long time, and, hence, equipment

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 47

The Chittenden Falls small hydropower facility, including the natural abutment, weir, sluiceway, and power house.

is readily available, and parts are durable.31 In addition, small hydro can smooth variations in supply from other, more intermittent, generation sources, and it can provide important flexibility given that production can be shifted to periods of higher energy demand. And, given that small hydro is a domestic, distributed power source, it contributes to national security and can dispatch, with minimal startup time, to a grid for blackout periods.32,33 While few studies discuss the additional social consequences of small-scale hydro, those that do point

to several benefits including the ability to bring small hydro to rural environments and the reduction of population displacement and cultural loss that is often associated with other forms of energy production, including large hydro. In addition, small hydro has been associated with fewer point sources of pollution, fewer downstream hazards, and reduced impacts to crop yields and overall quality of life.34-36 To realize these comprehensive social benefits, however, there must be proper oversight, community engagement, and consultation.37

48 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

It should be recognized that there is a seemingly competing stance on small hydropower—that is the vocal call for the removal of dams. Part of the confusion lies in the fact that in some literature, all dams, large and small, are lumped under a single heading. The reality, however, is that not all dams are created equal. In general, a large dam will have greater impact than a small dam, a dam in a critical ecological area will have greater impact than one placed in a less critical area, and dams that create significant reservoirs will have more impact than a dam operated in a run-of-river mode.38 Even

Caroline Hobbs

those who are most focused on stream restoration recognize that dams are an important part of an energy portfolio that better addresses greenhouse gas emissions. We should focus on removing the most problematic dams in terms of environmental impact, age, and safety,39 and dams should be considered, and ideally coordinated, in the larger context of regional watersheds.40 But the refurbishment, and even the construction of new, low impact dams that are sited, operated, and mitigated responsibly, could make important contributions to our future energy mix.41

Case Study: Small Hydro at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York While small hydropower figures (again defined as up to 10 MW) are difficult to assess in the United States given the state-to-state variation in the definition of small hydro, it is clear that the installed capacity of ~6,785 MW is only a fraction of the potential capacity.42 Multiple reports have been issued that indicate literally thousands of additional sites for small hydro development in the United States, including numerous run-of-river opportunities,43 and

conservative estimates of potential small hydropower range from 8,000 MW to upwards of 30,000 MW.44,45 At roughly 800 homes per MW of capacity, small hydro could power between 6.4 to 24 million homes based on the approximations above.46 Perhaps the most intriguing subset of this possible growth is the additional and new power from existing infrastructure including conduits, locks, non-electrical producing dams, and milldams.47-49 While the environmental tradeoffs of each of these existing sites must be evaluated, not only in the context of the individual project, but in the more regional context of surrounding watersheds,50 we offer here a case study of the revitalization of an old milldam that illustrates the possible multifaceted benefits of such an endeavor. Small hydropower, of course, started with the wooden waterwheel, and prior to the Industrial Revolution, waterwheels of various types were used throughout Europe, Asia, and North America for centuries, mostly for milling grain. Towards the end of the 19th century, many mills were replacing their waterwheels with highly efficient turbines for largerscale supply of electricity,51 and as a result, in some countries there is a significant pool of refurbishable infrastructure.52,53 For example, there are thousands of small hydroelectric plants throughout Europe and the United States.54 Similar to other regions of the United States, small dams were critical to industrial production in New York State during the 1800s and early 1900s, but use of these dams was curtailed in the mid-20th century when most utilities refused to buy power from private sources. Those utilities that did purchase power paid such low rates that it did not benefit private owners to stay in business.55 More recently, however, there have been several changes that have helped to revitalize the small-scale, distributed energy

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 49

Map created on Google Maps by Caroline Hobbs

Location of the Chittenden Falls small hydropower facility in relation to Skidmore College.

market, and two major legislative changes stand out as making innovative, small hydroelectric partnerships possible and productive. The first is the National Energy Act (NEA) of 1978, which was essentially a legislative response to the 1973 energy crisis. NEA included a variety of energy efficiency programs, tax incentives, tax disincentives, energy conservation programs, alternative fuel programs, and regulatory and market-based initiatives aimed at reducing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. A subdivision of the NEA, the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), was aimed specifically at promoting energy conservation and greater use of domestic and renewable energy. Essentially PURPA once again created a market for small-scale producers by compelling regional utilities to purchase this power at favorable rates.56 While the usefulness of PURPA has arguably come to a close,57 it played a critical role, as you will see, in keeping potentially useful infrastructure at least partially intact. The second piece of legislative change came in June 2011 at the state level, when New York expanded net

metering (when a customer-sited renewable energy system is connected to the regional grid through the customer’s utility meter) and established remote (or virtual) net metering (meaning that electricity can be generated in one location and credited toward consumption at another location). When originally passed, remote net metering in New York was focused on wind, solar, and farm waste, but in August 2012, New York enacted legislation expanding remote net metering to include non-residential small hydro systems.58 Skidmore College is a small liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York, that began exploring small hydro opportunities about three years ago as part of a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a diversified renewable energy portfolio. The school’s portfolio already included significant geothermal, solar thermal, and solar photovoltaic installations, and the redevelopment of small hydro facilities in the region sparked further interest. The College partnered with Gravity Renewables on the project because of the comprehensive service they could provide (Gravity is an investor-backed owner, operator,

50 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

and developer of small hydroelectric power plants in the United States) and because of their emphasis on education and the restoration of historical sites. After looking at several small, low impact dams, the school’s focus quickly became a run-of-river weir, originally built in the early 1800s, that sat on an existing fault line and waterfall called Chittenden Falls on the Kinderhook Creek in Stockport, New York (Figures 1 and 2). Years of inadequate funding threatened the future of the historical dam, and the facility had the potential to soon become both an environmental and social liability for the surrounding area. Gravity Renewables purchased and revitalized the facility, with Skidmore minimizing the risk for the company by signing an Operating Agreement to purchase the power produced by the facility for twenty years. This project was the first remote net metered hydroelectric project in the nation, and it is expected that the Chittenden Falls facility will ultimately produce close to 4 MWh per year, enough to meet approximately 18 percent of Skidmore’s electricity demand.

Reprint provided by the Columbia County Historical Society

A Columbia County map showing the location of Stockport relative to the Hudson River. This image originally appeared in Ellis et al., 1878.

Exploring the long history of the dam at Chittenden Falls became a fascinating industrial archeological research project that revealed the deep connections between the facility and the surrounding community. The region where the dam is located, the Hudson River Valley, was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in America, and 19th century waterways in the Valley were dotted with the

sluiceways, penstocks, waterwheels, weirs, minor dams, and turbines that helped power this transformation. Stockport’s available waterpower from Kinderhook, Claverack, and Stockport creeks, and its close proximity to a major transportation artery, the Hudson River, gave the town a natural advantage over more inland locations, especially prior to the development of rail transportation (Figure 3). Three

major manufacturing entities were organized in Stockport by 1809, and the Kinderhook Creek was cited as “one of the best streams for mills in the United States” in 1824.59 From 1809 through the mid-1900s, the Chittenden Falls powered an economic base for the region, including the production of high-quality paper (Figure 4), nails (Figure 5), straw wrapping paper, textiles, wire fencing, and paper board.60 A fire swept through the mill in 1962, and it sat in ruins until, prompted by PURPA legislation, it was purchased by Paul and Adelaide Eckhoff and their five daughters. In the summer of 1979, Paul and his family founded Chittenden Falls Hydro Power, Incorporated, and began the costly and time-consuming work of restoring the facility.61 The family continued their restoration work, even renovating one of the older structures to accommodate microresin manufacturing, until Paul’s passing in 2006. The facility then passed briefly through several hands prior to the partnership between Skidmore College and Gravity Renewables.62 This small hydro project is a rich case study in sustainability in that it simultaneously addresses environmental, economic, and social concerns. From an environmental perspective, the dam at Chittenden Falls sits on a nearly thirty-foot natural abutment and waterfall. The dam is classified as a small, low impact dam by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which means that this structure poses little threat to the surrounding natural and built environments. And, as discussed above, run-of- river small hydro projects such as this outperform essentially all other forms of electricity production in terms of life cycle GHG emissions and most other environmental impacts correlate tightly with GHG emissions.63,64 Economically, this facility provides important benefits to the Stockport

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 51

community by contributing to the town’s tax base (both school and property taxes), local employment, and other local spending, and can lead to more predictable electricity pricing for Skidmore. From a social perspective, revitalizing these facilities contributes to both the aesthetic and vigor of the local community. Too often, old industrial sites, such as this, fall into ruin and become targets for vandalism and potential community safety issues. The Chittenden Falls dam is part of the architectural history of the Hudson Valley, and we discovered, somewhat unexpectedly, a deep intergenerational pride in this facility, not unlike what we see with the family dairy farms that dot the Upstate New York landscape. The restoration of this cultural icon has already been met with much encouragement and gratitude. The work related to the dam has also forged a new community of collaborators including people from Skidmore, Gravity Renewables, and Columbia County. As is the case with the school’s other sustainability projects, this small hydro project is a pedagogical tool that has and will be used in a variety of courses across Skidmore’s campus, hence tapping the exponential power inherent in educational institutions. This case study also represents a segment of small hydropower that has the potential to develop relatively quickly. Although recent laws (e.g., the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act, the Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act) have helped alleviate barriers to small hydropower development, the licensing process remains lengthy and costly for most projects.65 The FERC licenses for facilities like Chittenden Falls have already been established, and many of these licensed facilities could, with reinvestment, see a boost in power production. Other licensed facilities

are essentially sitting idle and are at risk of being taken offline completely. And while it is true that these licensed facilities will require relicensing at some point in the future, the relicensing process tends to be shorter and less costly. In addition, if a facility is operational, there is a steady revenue stream throughout the process. State-level regulations on remote net metering are also evolving fairly quickly. The number of states with remote net metering policies jumped from 10 to 16 in the past two years, and many of these states (e.g., those in New England) have a high proportion of historic milldams.66 These federal and state regulatory changes, combined with more ubiquitous renewable portfolio standards and goals, are opening the door for more innovative operational partnerships around restoration projects like Chittenden Falls, and small hydropower in general.67,68 While there are some milldams that are beyond cost-effective refurbishment and/or may need to be removed for particular environmental or social reasons, the sheer number of facilities and the possible multi-faceted benefits of restoration make small, historic hydropower facilities ripe for further exploration. To learn more about the small hydro project at Skidmore College, please see https://academics.skidmore. edu/blogs/microhydro/. Acknowledgements: We’d like to thank the following people for their dedication in bringing the Chittenden Falls small hydro project to fruition and/or their help with the research related to this project: Omay Elphick, Director of Business Development for Gravity Renewables and alum of Skidmore College; Connie Frisbee Houde, History Collections Technician at the New York State Museum; Mike Hall, former Director of Financial Planning & Budgeting at Skidmore

52 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

College; Paul MacCormack, Gravity Renewables Operator of the Chittenden Falls micro-hydro facility; Diane Shewchuk, Executive Director and Curator at the Columbia County Historical Society; all the staff associated with the Skidmore Sustainability Office; and Colby Kellogg-Youndt. References: 1. Summary for Policymakers in Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds. Stocker, T.F. et al) (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, 2013). 2. Biermann, F. and I. Boas. Preparing for a warmer world: Towards a global governance system to protect climate refugees. Global Environmental Politics 10(1), 60-88 (2010). 3. Key World Energy Statistics 2013 [online] (2013) http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/ publication/KeyWorld2013_FINAL_WEB.pdf. 4. Sutter, J.D. Hooray for the Paris climate agreement! Now what? CNN [online] (2015) http://www.cnn. com/2015/12/14/opinions/sutter-cop21-climate-5things/. 5. Raadal, H.L., L. Gagnon, I.S. Modahl, and O.J. Hanssen. Life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the generation of wind and hydro power. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 15, 3417–3422 (2011). 6. Key World Energy Statistics 2013 [online] (2013) http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/ publication/KeyWorld2013_FINAL_WEB.pdf. 7. World Energy Outlook 2014 [online] (2014) http:// www.iea.org/textbase/npsum/weo2014sum.pdf. 8. World Energy Outlook 2014 [online] (2014) http:// www.iea.org/textbase/npsum/weo2014sum.pdf. 9. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 10. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 11. Ardizzon, G., G. Cavazzini, and G. Pavesi. A new generation of small hydro and pumped-hydro power plants: Advances and future challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31, 746– 761 (2014). 12. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org.

13. Bakken T.H., H. Sundt, A. Ruud, and A. Harby. Development of small versus large hydropower in Norway – comparison of environmental impacts. Energy Procedia 20, 185–199 (2012). 14. Sachdev, H.S., A.K. Akella, and N. Kumar. Analysis and evaluation of small hydropower plants: A bibliographical survey. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 51, 1013–1022 (2015). 15. Armstrong, A. and H. Bulkeley. Micro-hydro politics: Producing and contesting community energy in the North of England. Geoforum 56, 66–76 (2014). 16. Bakken T.H., H. Sundt, A. Ruud, and A. Harby. Development of small versus large hydropower in Norway – comparison of environmental impacts. Energy Procedia 20, 185–199 (2012). 17. Abbasi, T. and S.A. Abbasi. Small hydro and the environmental implications of its extensive utilization. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 1, 2134–2143 (2011). 18. Weissner, D. A guide to life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric supply technologies. Energy 32, 1543–1559 (2007). 19. Varun, R. Prakash, and I.K. Bhat. Energy, economics and environmental impacts of renewable energy systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, 2716–2721 (2009). 20. Raadal, H.L., L. Gagnon, I.S. Modahl, and O.J. Hanssen. Life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the generation of wind and hydro power. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 15, 3417–3422 (2011). 21. Varun, R. Prakash, and I.K. Bhat. Energy, economics and environmental impacts of renewable energy systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, 2716-2721 (2009). 22. Raadal, H.L., L. Gagnon, I.S. Modahl, and O.J. Hanssen. Life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the generation of wind and hydro power. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 15, 3417–3422 (2011). 23. Kouloumpis, V., L. Stamford, and A. Azapagic. Decarbonizing electricity supply: Is climate change mitigation going to be carried out at the expense of other environmental impacts? Sustainable Production and Consumption 1, 1–21 (2015). 24. Poff, N.L. and D.D. Hart. How dams vary and why it

Reprint provided by the Columbia County Historical Society

A wrapper for a ream of paper made by George Chittenden’s paper manufacturer, circa 1824–45.

matters for the emerging science of dam removal. Bioscience 52(8), 659–668 (2002). 25. Copeman V.A. The impact of micro-hydropower

28. Varun, R. Prakash, and I.K. Bhat. Energy, economics

on the aquatic environment. Journal of the Chartered

and environmental impacts of renewable energy

Institution of Water and Environmental Management

systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

11, 431–436 (1997).

13, 2716–2721 (2009).

26. Kumar, D. and S.S. Katoch. Sustainability assessment and ranking of run of river (RoR) hydropower projects using analytical hierarchy approach (AHP):

29. Kosnik, L. The Potential for Small Scale Hydropower Development in the US. Energy Policy 38, 5512–5519 (2010).

Journal of Mountain Science 12(5), 1315–1333 (2015).

and environmental impacts of renewable energy

power plants: Advances and future challenges.

(2010). California, Davis Law Review 48, 1043–1109 (2015). 34. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United

30. Varun, R. Prakash, and I.K. Bhat. Energy, economics

generation of small hydro and pumped-hydro

Development in the US. Energy Policy 38, 5512–5519 33. Owen, D. and J. Apse. Trading Dams. University of

A study from the Western Himalayan region of India. 27. Ardizzon, G., G. Cavazzini, and G. Pavesi. A new

32. Kosnik, L. The Potential for Small Scale Hydropower

systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, 2716–2721 (2009).

Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 35. Sachdev, H.S., A.K. Akella, and N. Kumar. Analysis

31. Kosnik, L. The Potential for Small Scale Hydropower

and evaluation of small hydropower plants: A

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31, 746–

Development in the US. Energy Policy 38, 5512–5519

bibliographical survey. Renewable and Sustainable

761 (2014).

(2010).

Energy Reviews 51, 1013–1022 (2015).

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 53

36. Kumar, D. and S.S. Katoch. Sustainability assessment and ranking of run of river (RoR) hydropower projects using analytical hierarchy approach (AHP): A study from the Western Himalayan region of India. Journal of Mountain Science 12(5), 1315–1333 (2015). 37. Armstrong, A. and H. Bulkeley. Micro-hydro politics: Producing and contesting community energy in the North of England. Geoforum 56, 66-76 (2014). 38. Owen, D. and J. Apse. Trading Dams. University of California, Davis Law Review 48, 1043–1109 (2015). 39. Bozek, C. Removing dams: Benefits for people and nature. Solutions 5(6), 79–84 (2015). 40. Owen, D. and J. Apse. Trading Dams. University of California, Davis Law Review 48, 1043–1109 (2015). 41. Making hydropower safe for rivers [online] (2015) http://www.americanrivers.org/initiatives/dams/ hydropower/. 42. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 43. Warren, G.S. Hydropower: Time for a Small Makeover. Indiana International and Comparative Law Review 24, 249–268 (2014). 44. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 45. Hall, D.G. et al. Feasibility Assessment of the Water Energy Resources of the United States for New Low Power and Small Hydro Classes of Hydroelectric Plants. Idaho National Laboratory,

Reprint provided by the Columbia County Historical Society

An advertisement for Reuben Folger and Son’s nail manufacturer that appeared in Stott, 2007.

United States Department of Energy [online] (2006) http://www1.eere.energy.gov/water/pdfs/ doewater-11263.pdf. 46. Warren, G.S. Hydropower: Time for a Small Makeover. Indiana International and Comparative Law Review 24, 249–268 (2014). 47. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 48. Owen, D. and J. Apse. Trading Dams. University of California, Davis Law Review 48, 1043–1109 (2015).

power plants: Advances and future challenges.

Hanssen. Life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG)

761 (2014).

emissions from the generation of wind and hydro

54. Jia, J., P. Punys, and J. Ma in Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation (eds. Chen, W. et al.), Ch. 36, 1355–1401 (Springer, United States, 2012). 55. McPhee, J. A report at large: Minihydro. The New Yorker (February 1981). 56. Richardson, J. and R. Nordhaus. The National Energy Act of 1978. Natural Resources & Environment 10(1), 62–68 (1995).

49. Warren, G.S. Hydropower: It’s a Small World After

57. Warren, G.S. Hydropower: It’s a Small World After

All. Nebraska Law Review 91(4), 925–978 (2013).

50. Owen, D. and J. Apse. Trading Dams. University of California, Davis Law Review 48, 1043–1109 (2015). 51. Paisch, O. Small hydro power: Technology and current status. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 6, 537–556 (2002). 52. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Center on Small Hydro Power [online] (2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 53. Ardizzon, G., G. Cavazzini, and G. Pavesi. A new generation of small hydro and pumped-hydro

63. Raadal, H.L., L. Gagnon, I.S. Modahl, and O.J.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31, 746–

58. New York Public Service Law (Amd §§66-j & 66-l, Pub Serv L) [online] http://codes.findlaw.com/ny/ public-service-law/pbs-sect-66-j.html. 59. Stott, P.H. Looking for Work: Industrial Archeology in

power. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 15, 3417–3422 (2011). 64. Kouloumpis, V., L. Stamford, and A. Azapagic. Decarbonizing electricity supply: Is climate change mitigation going to be carried out at the expense of other environmental impacts? Sustainable Production and Consumption 1, 1–21 (2015). 65. Warren, G.S. Hydropower: Time for a Small Makeover. Indiana International and Comparative Law Review 24, 249–268 (2014). 66. Farrell, J. States Supporting Virtual Net Metering. [online] (2016) https://ilsr.org/virtual-net-metering/. 67. World Small Hydropower Development Report 2013 (eds. Liu, H., D. Masera, and L. Esser) (United

Columbia County, New York 1–359 (Columbia County

Nations Industrial Development Organization;

Historical Society, New York, 2007).

International Center on Small Hydro Power [online]

60. McPhee, J. A report at large: Minihydro. The New Yorker (February 1981). 61. Stott, P.H. Looking for Work: Industrial Archeology in

(2013) www.smallhydroworld.org. 68. Jianda, Z. and Z. Xiaozhang, Z. Private Participation in Small Hydropower Development in China:

Columbia County, New York 1–359 (Columbia County

Comparison with International Communities.

Historical Society, New York, 2007).

[online] (2004) http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/

62. MacCormack, P. Personal communication, 2015.

54 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

sdissues/energy/op/hydro_zhao_english.pdf.

Smyer, M. (2016). Is There a Secret to Aging Well? Solutions 7(1): 55–61. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/how-shall-we-age

Feature

Is There a Secret to Aging Well? by Michael A. Smyer

In Brief

Sari Dennise

An elderly man in Zozocolco de Hidalgo, Mexico. Today’s older adults, pioneers of the longevity bonus, hold the secrets to aging well.

As the Baby Boomers reach and move beyond traditional retirement ages, they are increasingly concerned about issues of aging. The demographics are compelling. By 2050, the older portion of the population will increase from 7 to 16 percent of the world’s population, with the developed world leading the way with even higher percentages. Today’s older adults are pioneers of a landscape historically unprecedented. With possibly thirty years of a “longevity bonus,” many older adults are asking how best to use their years. While there are many social policy and political issues involved in managing an aging society, there are also many things that individuals can do throughout their lives to prepare for aging. Lifestyle choices reflecting aging accelerators or decelerators will impact the pace and outcomes of aging processes. This essay draws lessons from several books in the fields of gerontology (the study of the normal processes of aging) and geriatrics (the study of diseases that often accompany aging) to answer a simple question: How shall we age?

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 55

s the Baby Boomers reach and move beyond traditional retirement ages, they are increasingly concerned about issues of aging. Although there are major social policy and political issues involved in an aging society,1,2 this essay focuses on individuals and what they can do to prepare for aging. Focusing on the individual runs the risk of overlooking the direct and indirect impacts of the ecology of aging—the interactive social, political, and cultural contexts of older adults’ lives. However, the broader social policy dimensions of an aging society are beyond the scope of this article. Boomers are increasingly asking the questions posed more than three decades ago by French philosopher Michel Philibert: “Of aging, what can we know? About aging, what may we hope? With aging, what must we do?”3 But before we turn to the concerns of Boomers and those who are worried about them (i.e. Gen Xers and Millenials), there is a logically prior issue to sort out: How old is old?

How Old is Old? Age, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder according to recent research by the Pew Research center. When asked “at what age does the average person become old?,” the answer depended upon the age of the respondent: those 18–29 said age 60; those 30–49, 69; those 50–64, 72; and those 65 and above said 74. A majority of the sample agreed that you are old somewhere between 65 and 75. From a policy perspective, old also depends on the eye of the beholder. In the United States, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) defines the protected class of “older workers” as starting at age 40. Medicare eligibility is 65 and Social Security eligibility is currently 66 and a half, edging up toward 70. Many of the resources reviewed here, however, cover the age of 65 and older.

Older Adults: A Growing Resource? Apart from the Baby Boomers, policy makers and family members are paying more attention to aging issues because they have to. The demographics are compelling. Under modest assumptions, the world’s population is estimated to grow by 50 percent in the first half of this century from 6 billion people in 2000 to 9 billion in 2050. During this time, the older portion of the population will increase from

Key Concepts • The “longevity bonus” is the years of life expectancy after age 65 that have been added during the last century. • Older adults achieve optimal aging when they test the limits of physical and mental abilities for their age range. • Stereotype threat is being at risk of confirming, as a self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about your own group (e.g. about older adults). • Aging accelerators and aging decelerators are lifestyle choices that affect the pace and outcomes of aging processes. • Present bias is the tendency to overvalue immediate rewards at the expense of our long-term intentions.

7 percent to 16 percent of the world’s population, with the developed world leading the way with even higher percentages. Older adults are increasingly viewed as a resource, with time and talent available for investing in their communities. According to the Administration on Aging, those reaching age 65 in 2013 had an average life expectancy of an additional 19.3 years (20.5 years for females and 17.9 years for males). Public and private sector programs are increasingly reaching out to older adults to engage them in

56 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

service and entrepreneurship. From Senior Corps Foster Grandparents and the Senior Companion programs to AARP’s Experience Corps to Encore. org’s efforts, many are encouraging today’s older adults to make the most of their “longevity bonus” through some kind of continuing productive engagement in their families and communities.

Lessons from the Field: Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Beyond For more than 60 years, scientists from a variety of fields have tried to understand the processes of normal aging; the field of gerontology. At the same time, specialists in medicine and allied health fields (nursing, social work, and psychology) have focused on understanding effective assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that often accompany aging; the field of geriatrics. A recent special issue of Science focused on the cellular mechanisms underlying mammalian aging. Biologist Matt Kaeberlein highlighted the emerging field of geroscience: basic research on the biology of aging, an important subfield of gerontology.4 One summary of the field of gerontology in the United States over the last 60 years or more is that it progressed across the normal distribution of functioning: early studies focused on older adults in institutional settings, conflating disease with the processes of aging. These were followed by longitudinal studies (following people over time) of community-dwelling elderly, notably in Baltimore, Kansas City, Durham, and Los Angeles. Eventually, attention turned to “optimal” aging, or “testing the limits” of physical and mental capacity, focusing on older adults who are outstanding in their abilities. Fortunately, several books have drawn from both gerontology and geriatrics to distill lessons on the processes of aging.

Martin

Older women socialize outside of a café in San Damiano d’Asti, Italy.

Advice for and from Pioneers of the Longevity Bonus As Dame Penelope Lively put it: “Our experience is one unknown to most of humanity over time. We are the pioneers.” Today’s older adults are pioneers and explorers of a historically unprecedented landscape. With possibly 30 years of a “longevity bonus,” many older adults are asking how best to use these years. Cornell University sociologist Karl Pillemer has focused on getting advice directly from the pioneers in 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans.5 Using both surveys and individual interviews, Pillemer has distilled advice from today’s older adults into a very readable book. One question, of course, is how their advice lines up with lessons drawn from the fields of gerontology and geriatrics.

Like Pillemer, Dan Buettner used a select group of older adults as key informants for his book The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer.6 Buettner’s target was a little different: he sought out “blue zones,” areas of the world with an unusually high rate of centenarians. He visited centenarians in five locations (Sardinia, Okinawa, California, Costa Rica, and Greece). In the end, Buettner boiled down their experiences and advice into nine rules for longevity. He complemented these with interviews with prominent geriatricians and gerontologists to confirm and provide context for the experience of the individual sites. Laura Carstensen, Director of Stanford’s Center on Longevity, has compiled her advice in A Long, Bright Future: An Action Plan for a Lifetime

of Happiness, Health, and Financial Security.7 Drawing from both geriatrics and gerontology, Carstensen advises that we should be preparing ourselves to live to be 100, getting ready to take full advantage of the longevity bonus. Carstensen’s book is among the most recent in a series of books that have translated findings from the fields of gerontology and geriatrics into lessons for living. One of the most influential was Successful Aging by Jack Rowe, a geriatrician, and Robert Kahn, a psychologist. 8 Their work epitomized focusing on optimal aging, or older adults at the peak of their powers. Building upon an earlier article and adding information from a MacArthur Foundation-sponsored study of the determinants of successful aging,9 Rowe and Kahn’s work

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 57

Garry Knight

An elderly couple strolls down East Street in Brighton, England.

influenced generations of research and practice. A recent review of the research and practice spurred by Rowe and Kahn’s work suggested that their view was both influential but limited because of its lack of attention to cultural contexts, its marginalization of older adults who are not “successful” and its relative emphasis on individuals, without taking into account their social surroundings.10 Another contribution to the translational literature is George Valliant’s Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life. Valliant, a psychiatrist by training, led a longitudinal study of Harvard men that began when they were in college and followed them into late life. Vaillant’s research team combined expertise from geriatrics and gerontology as they followed their informants for several decades.11

The Power of Stereotypes of Aging In the 1990s, Carstensen’s colleague in psychology at Stanford, Claude Steele, explored the impact of stereotype threat on children. Gerontologists have extended this work to older adults and their functioning.12 The title of a recent Wall Street Journal article summarized the importance of how we frame and anticipate our own aging: “To Age Well: Change How You Feel About Aging.” Anne Tergesen’s article documents the impact of stereotypes on the physical and mental well-being of older adults.13 Even when you don’t agree with them, stereotypes can have a pernicious effect. That is why societal attitudes, especially myths, are powerful and worth attending to. For example, Yale psychologist Becca Levy and her colleagues have

58 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

focused on the impact of negative stereotypes of aging on cardiovascular health and brain structures in a series of studies.14,15 Levy and her colleagues drew on data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study that followed individuals over decades of their lives. They found that negative views of aging were associated with higher rates of cardiovascular incidents, even decades after the initial view was taken. Similarly, negative stereotypes of aging were associated with brain changes often associated with Alzheimer’s disease (reduced hippocampal volume and neurofibrillary plaques and tangles)—25 years after the stereotypes were assessed. Becca Levy suggests a two-step mechanism for the impact of stereotypes: stereotypes contribute to stress and chronic stress contributes to pathological changes in the brain.

Five Myths of Aging Carstensen frames her book around five powerful myths of aging, providing data to dispel each. When combined with the observations of Pillemer’s informants, lessons from Bueetner’s blue zones, and Vaillant’s longitudinal studies, a consistent picture emerges. So what are these five myths?

70, four of these elements reduce mortality by 60 percent: exercise; not smoking; moderate alcohol consumption; and a Mediterranean diet (fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats like olive oil) to maintain weight. Pillemer’s pioneers summarized it well: “Act now like you’ll need your body for 100 years.” Work hard, retire harder. In visiting cen-

Older people are miserable. As

Carstensen points out, a repeated finding is that happiness peaks later in life (in the 70s). For example, a recent Pew Research Center found that 81 percent of Americans 65 and older reported being very happy or pretty happy. What do Pillemer’s pioneers say? Their consensus: “Being old is much better than you think.”

tenarians, Buettner did not find a bright line between work and retirement, nor did Carstensen. Most older adults don’t go from full-time work to full-time retirement abruptly (except in the case of physical disability). Most engage in what economists call “bridge jobs”—either a reduction in duties or responsibilities or a shift in activities. They continue to work for a variety of reasons: health

Older adults are increasingly viewed as a resource, with time and talent available for investing in their communities. DNA is destiny. You may think that

the secret to longevity is to pick your grandparents well. As Dan Buettner points out, however, only about 25 percent of longevity is determined by our genes. Our own behaviors and lifestyle choices determine the other 75 percent. George Vaillant’s advice is helpful here. He suggests seven rules: don’t smoke, don’t abuse alcohol, exercise regularly, maintain your weight, have a stable marriage, get an education, and control your stress. Vaillant’s advice focuses on aging accelerators (smoking, alcohol abuse, stress) and aging decelerators (exercise, social support, education, stress management). (The only one of these that Buettner didn’t highlight was education—but then he wasn’t following Harvard alums!) Carstensen points out that, after age

adults are providing a variety of support for their family members. In part, this is a result of the changing family dynamics of an aging society: parents and children will now spend 50 years together, and the majority of the parent/child bond will happen with both sides in adulthood. Grandchildren can expect to know their grandparents for 20 or more years. For most of those years, the grandparents will be providing support to the family, not the other way around. Pillemer’s pioneers understand these dynamics and advise us to “take a life-long view of parenting.” The second variation of this myth is that older adults are too productive: when will they ever leave the work force? Boston College economist Joe Quinn calls this the “still” age of work: Are you still working? The fear behind this myth is that older adults won’t leave room for successive generations. (This is closely tied to the notion that there is a hard line between work and retirement for older adults.) We age alone. There is a stereotype

benefits (in the U.S.), income, and/or social connectedness. Economist Alicia Munnell warns that many older adults may have to work longer because they have not been able to save for their “longevity bonus.”16 Pillemer’s pioneers give advice to those at the outsets of their careers or looking for bridge jobs: Pick something that makes you want to “tap dance to work,” and “choose a job for its intrinsic rewards.” Older people are a drain on our resources. This myth has two

variations. In the scarcity myth, older adults are taking up scarce resources. Again, the Pew Research Center data refutes the myth. Most middle-aged adults are more likely to be providing assistance to young adult children than they are to older parents. It is more likely that older

of the abandoned older person at the end of life; however, the reality is very different. Psychologists Toni Antonucci and Robert Kahn suggest that we develop “convoys of support” across the lifespan, developing friendship and kinship networks that will support us on our journey in late life. These social ties are important for our mental and physical health as we age; in fact, they can be age accelerators or age modulators. Carstensen points out that having fewer than three people we feel emotionally close to is a risk factor for psychological and physical problems. In fact, feeling socially isolated is as great a risk factor for poor health and death in late life as cigarette smoking. Carstensen notes that there is a natural “pruning” of our social ties as we age, a process she has labeled “socioemotional selectivity.” In part, we become more aware of time—shifting to a metric of time

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 59

left to live, savoring our time and our connections. Buettner’s blue zone residents know the value of being surrounded by the “right tribe”—those who share your values and outlook on life. Pillemer’s pioneers sum it up well: “friendship is as important as love” in later life.

What Could Go Wrong? Carstensen warns of several pitfalls, highlighting three in particular: lacking a vision of how to use the longevity bonus, spending money like there’s no tomorrow, and failing to address health threats. Dan Buettner’s Blue Zone centenarians have a good sense of the “big picture” and their role in it. Whether through a faith community or close neighbors, these older adults know how to stay engaged, even as their abilities change over time. Psychologists Paul and Margret Baltes called this “selective optimization with compensation”—consciously or unconsciously setting priorities and accommodating the gains and losses of aging. For example, a great gardener may tend beautiful flower beds throughout her yard until her late 70s. When arthritis limits her, she may turn to growing orchids in window boxes. When she moves into a nursing home (in her early 90s), she tends a houseplant on her bedside table. Her self-definition as a gardener is important to her and she maintains it despite her frailty in advanced old age. Carstensen warns of the financial perils of spending like there’s no tomorrow. She joins economists (e.g. Alicia Munnell) and others in urging us to plan our finances as if they have to last to 100. Here the work of Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert is helpful. He points out that seeing across time is similar to seeing across space: we are good at things close by but have difficulty in far-off vision. There is a present-time bias that requires that we develop disciplines to “force” ourselves to set aside funds.

American Advisors Group

A crucial component of aging well is planning personal finances in anticipation of living to 100 years old.

(The field of behavioral economics has many suggestions on this front.17) Maintaining health in later life takes work. Most older adults have one or more chronic diseases that require managing. In the 2014 Current Population Survey, roughly 10 percent of “leading edge” Baby Boomers described their health as “fair” or “poor.” At the same time, almost one in five reported having a work-limiting health difficulty. In addition, there are three specific elements that today’s older adults and those in the future will have to contend with: the obesity epidemic, contagious diseases, and climaterelated health challenges. Projections are that by 2030, 86 percent of American adults and 30 percent of children and teenagers will be overweight. Carstensen points out that

60 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

America passed a milestone in 2000, with more Americans overweight than underweight. This obesity epidemic may shorten lifespans and add chronic disease burden to later years. At the same time, contagious diseases pose a real threat to older adults with compromised immune systems. Finally, as the Center for Disease Control, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the Australian Academy of Sciences have noted, older adults are vulnerable to the effects of severe weather events (droughts, heat waves, etc.). However, recent data from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication indicate that most people—even those who are most concerned about climate change—are unaware of the health risks that climate change presents, especially for older adults.18

References 1. Hudson, R.B. (ed). The New Politics of Old Age Policy (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2014). 2. Fond, M., A. Haydon, N. Kendall-Taylor, and E. Lindland. Gauging aging: mapping the gaps between expert and public understandings of aging in America. FrameWorks Institute [online] (2015) http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/ aging_mtg.pdf. 3. Philibert, M. in Dimensions of Aging: Readings (eds Hendricks, J. and C.D. Hendricks) 379–394 (Winthrop Publishers, Cambridge, 1979). 4. Kaeberlein, M., P.S. Rabinovitch, and G.M.Martin. Healthy aging: the ultimate preventative medicine. Science 350(6265), 1191–1193 (2015). 5. Pillemer, K. 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans (Penguin Group, New York, 2011). 6. Buettner, D. The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer (National Geographic, Washington DC, 2008, 2012). 7. Carstensen, L. A Long, Bright Future: An Action Plan for a Lifetime of Happiness, Health, and Financial Security (Broadway Books, New York, 2009). 8. Rowe, J. and R. Kahn. Successful Aging (Pantheon Books, New York, 1998). 9. Rowe, J. and R. Kahn. Science 237(4811), 143-149 (1987). 10. Pruchno, R. Successful aging: Contentious past,

Andrew Aliferis

An elderly woman sells oranges at a farmers’ market in Kalamata, Greece. A Mediterranean diet high in fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats helps to reduce mortality.

productive future. The Gerontologist, Special Issue: Successful Aging, 55(1), 1-4 (2015). 11. Valiant, G. Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life (Hachette Books Group, New York, 2002).

Encore Adulthood? For many of us, the years between 65 and 80 are similar to our 20s. We are faced with similar issues: How can we support ourselves? Where shall we live? Where will our family and friends be? In a forthcoming book, sociologist Phyllis Moen has labeled this period “Encore Adulthood.”19 A friend of mine, Fr. Michael Himes, suggests that students who are facing their 20s need to answer three questions: What gives me deep pleasure? What am I good at? And finally, who cares? The first question focuses on what really engages you, what leads you to lose track of time. The second question focuses on being realistic about what you have to offer. The third question brings in the ecology of aging: what are the structures available for being engaged and engaging?

Each of us has to answer these questions as we face the transitions of aging. What do I want to prioritize (selectively optimize in Paul and Margret Baltes’ phrase) and how do I assure that I continue to be engaged? For some, the challenge is simpler: how can I afford to live out my years? As an aging world, we all have a stake in answering these questions.

12. Westerhof, G.J. et al. The influence of subjective aging on health and longevity: a meta-analysis of longitudinal data. Psychology and Aging 29(4), 793–802 (2014). 13. Tergesen, A. To age well: change how you feel about aging. Wall Street Journal (October 19, 2015). 14. Levy, B.R. et al. Age stereotypes held earlier in life predict cardiovascular events in later life. Psychological Science 20, 296–298 (2009). 15. Levy, B.R. et al. A culture-brain link: negative age stereotypes predict Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. Psychology and Aging, 31(1), 82-8. (2016). 16. Ellis, C.D., A.H. Munnell, and A.D. Eschtruth. Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What To Do About It (Oxford University Press, New York,

Our Pioneers Have the Last Word

2014). 17. Thaler, R.H. and C.R. Sunstein. Nudge (Penguin

Karl Pillemer focuses on the take away messages, what he calls the refrigerator magnet messages, gleaned from the wisest Americans. One key lesson from them: “Time is of the essence.” Live as though life is short, because it is—even if you live to 100.

Books, New York, 2009). 18. Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Global Warming’s Six Americas, October 2014 (2015) http://environment.yale.edu/climatecommunication/article/global-warmings-sixamericas-perceptions-of-the-health-risks/. 19. Moen, P. Encore Adulthood: Boomers on The Edge of Risk, Renewal, and Purpose (Oxford University Press, New York, In Press).

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 61

Chichakly, K.J. (2016). Practical Systems Thinking: Guidance to Effect Change. Solutions 7(1): 62–64. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/how-do-we-get-from-here-to-there

Reviews Book Review

Practical Systems Thinking: Guidance to Effect Change by Karim J. Chichakly REVIEWING Systems Thinking for Social Change by David Peter Stroh

s readers of Solutions, we are well aware of the large social, economic, and environmental challenges that face us. Einstein told us we will need to use new ways of thinking to solve these problems. One of those ways comes from system dynamics.1 At its heart is a new way of thinking, dubbed “Systems Thinking” by Barry Richmond.2 To many, systems thinking may not seem like a new way of thinking, as most people have been exposed to the basic concepts. However, knowing about it is very different from integrating it into your thinking and behavior every day—what Barry Richmond dubbed being a “Systems Citizen.”3 The latter takes commitment, guidance, and a lot of practice. At its heart, systems thinking has four basic elements: • Look at the whole rather than its parts • The state of any system is determined by its accumulations • Cause and effect relationships are circular, not linear (known as feedback) • Time delays are inherent and lead to counterintuitive results Feedback itself comes in two basic types: (i) reinforcing, which can generate either virtuous or vicious cycles, and (ii) balancing, which stabilizes a system, making it resistant to change.

Most successful systems have strong balancing feedbacks that push back when you try to change the system, often after a time delay, so a remediation may seem to be effective, but its effectiveness turns out to be short lived. Or, you may successfully change the system by pushing it, so you try to push it again. However, each successive time you push it, the change is less effective. A simple example of the latter would be using credit card debt to live beyond your means. Assuming a rational credit universe, each successive credit card you procure will have a lower and lower limit until you are cut off completely. These ideas make it clear that social change, while necessary, is a difficult enterprise. Maybe if we focus on the issues through a systems thinking lens, we can make it easier. David Peter Stroh does exactly this in his excellent book, Systems Thinking for Social Change. I was pleasantly surprised by both the practicality and applicability of his method. Stroh does not assume you are familiar with systems thinking, and carefully introduces you to the concepts in his well-written introduction. If you have heard of “systems archetypes,” introduced in The Fifth Discipline,4 but have not yet worked out what they are or how to use them, this book is for you. Stroh carefully describes eight of them, giving them the more accessible name “systems

62 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

Chelsea Green Publishing

stories,” including clear examples of how they arise, how to recognize them, and what we can learn from them. The eight stories covered are reinforcing feedback, balancing feedback, fixes that backfire (or fail), shifting the burden, limits to growth, success to the successful, accidental adversaries, and the bathtub analogy. He also briefly describes the other five commonly occurring systems stories. Throughout the rest of the book, he refers to these eight, detailing how they apply to real social change initiatives, as well as ways to escape them when they are working against you. In this section, Stroh also introduces us to the dangers of looking only at our immediate responsibilities and trying to improve our performance without consideration of the whole. He makes the point a number of times that organizations that work in the social sphere have limited budgets and resources, so they need to work together to find the best way to meet the overall objective. In my opinion,

Reviews Book Review

Glen Forde / Creative Sustainability

An exhibition on systems thinking literature in Espoo, Finland.

the methods in this book are not limited to these organizations, as most businesses have these same budgetary and resource restrictions. The meat of this book is in chapters five through ten, where Stroh describes the change management framework that he co-created with Michael Goodman. Several cases were introduced earlier to help explain the systems stories. In this section, Stroh not only explains the process and the rationale behind it, but walks us through what it was like for participants involved in these social change case studies. The framework has four stages. The first stage, called “building a foundation for change,” starts by identifying

all of the key stakeholders and getting them involved in the process. Stroh is clear that you need to be as inclusive as possible so you do not miss an important constituent. It is then necessary to establish common ground in terms of what everyone hopes to achieve and where they think they are now. The facilitator then helps them build capacity for systems thinking with a focus on collaboration. This stage is consistent with other participatory modeling frameworks. The second stage, named “facing current reality,” is where people start to feel uncomfortable, as it is necessary to look at the system as a whole to both understand why it behaves the way it does and what each person’s

role is in its behavior. This stage is consistent with both participatory modeling and traditional systems analysis. The third stage, called “making an explicit choice,” does not just mean making a choice between many different options (which would be the next stage of traditional systems analysis). Instead, it is necessary to build a case for the current system, including the payoffs of the current system and the cost to change. This is then compared to the case for the changed system, including its benefits and the costs of not changing. Solutions (and strategies) are then generated that, as much as possible, meet both short-term and long-term goals (with an emphasis on the long

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 63

Reviews Book Review term). As Stroh explains, the goal is to bring the explicit choice “to life through a vision that illuminates what people feel called to or deeply wish to create.” The final stage, named “bridging the gap,” is all about getting from here to there successfully. As a systems thinker, one of the most important parts is to change the casual relationships in the system to support the new goals. This also requires helping people change their mental models, keeping people informed, and continuous monitoring and learning throughout the change (and afterwards). The last part of the book contains more detailed information on this process. A strong message throughout this book is the idea that we are the ones who unintentionally perpetuate the very systems we wish to change. When viewed through the lens of systems thinking, it is easier to see how our actions, while seeming to have positive and direct consequences in the short term, either undermine our efforts to change or create other consequences in the longer term that work against us. The classic example of this is fixes that backfire (or fail). In this story, we take immediate action that alleviates the symptom of the problem in the short run. In doing so, we undermine our ability to solve the fundamental problem so must keep resorting to fixing the symptom, further undermining our ability to solve the problem. A common example would be to borrow money to pay the interest on another debt. While this solves your short-term need of servicing the original debt, you now have a larger debt and two interest payments, making it harder for you to pay off the original debt. Stroh points to the pressure to use incarceration more frequently for criminal behavior,

thus taking criminals off the streets (relieving a symptom). However, these increased populations in prison will eventually be released (delay). They are typically unprepared to productively reenter society, so they turn to crime again. This leads to more pressure to use incarceration as a means to reduce crime. The fundamental solution presented by Stroh is to invest in building strong communities that are not breeding grounds for despair and criminal behavior. Another example is accidental adversaries. In this story, Party A does everything possible to meet their objectives, and Party B does the same. However, Party A’s actions undermine Party B’s success and vice-versa—both unintentionally. Stroh provides an example from the Iowa public education system where the actions of the Department of Education and the regional education agencies worked against their common goal of delivering quality education. In this situation, the Department of Education would independently roll out new programs, which felt like progress to them. However, the regional agencies did not have the resources for the number of new programs created, so would customize them to fit their current program, or ignore them altogether. While this undermined the state’s initiatives, it allowed them to feel they were still succeeding. The solution is straightforward: sit the two parties down, and help them see that they are both unintentionally perpetuating the problem, and that they can work together to better achieve their common goal. Stroh is candid about both the positive and negative responses from participants. In particular, there is often pushback against the scope of the process, “My encouragements to slow down and reflect more deeply

64 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

and to consider their own roles, however unintentional, in perpetuating the current system, were confusing to design members who viewed their charter solely in terms of rapidly producing recommendations about how others should change. A few chose to leave the project at this point…” Note that this book is about the process that begins once you have an organization interested in creating change. It does not address, nor does it purport to address, the difficult task of engaging someone in this process. If you want to end world hunger, who do you approach to start this process and how do you engage them? The examples in this book all come from communities, regions, and states. I recommend starting with the sound advice: “Think globally, act locally.” It is also not always possible to engage all key stakeholders in the process. Without giving suggestions or examples, Stroh points out that in this case you must find a way to work around those who will not participate. I am impressed by the level of success this method has achieved in several social change initiatives. If you are involved in a social change initiative or you wish to effect social change, Stroh’s book is an excellent place to start. References 1. Forrester, JW. Industrial dynamics: a major breakthrough for decision makers. Harvard Business Review, 36(4), 37-66 (1958). 2. Richmond, B. Systems Thinking: Four Key Questions. High Performance Systems Inc. (1987). 3. Richmond, B. In Search of a Clear Picture For Unifying our Community of Practice. Keynote Presentation, Systems Thinking and Dynamic Modeling Conference, July 1, 2002, Durham, NH [online] http://www.clexchange.org/news/ conference/2002conference.asp. 4. Senge, PM. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. (Currency Doubleday, New York City, 1990).

Reviews Media Reviews Dreamcatcher Documentary Features Zealous Work of Former Prostitute Turned Activist by Zafirah Zein “See you didn’t know about this, you didn’t know that there were some women like that here did you? You didn’t know that there was somebody to reach out and hold your hand until you can learn how to walk. And that’s what we do.” Brenda Myers Powell and Stephanie Daniels Wilson, founders

of The Dreamcatcher Foundation, are in the van they use to carry out nightly rounds on Chicago’s most dangerous streets. In the vehicle with them is a 19-year-old girl. Her story is heartbreakingly familiar to the others who are approached by The Dreamcatcher Foundation—peppered with abuse, sex, and drugs. Most have lived on the streets since they were as young as four years old, existing in the vicious world of sex trafficking that has swallowed far too many girls in the city’s impoverished West Side.

Brenda and Stephanie spot these young women on street corners and invite them into the Dreamcatcher van, offering clothes, condoms, and a listening ear. These gentle interventions are void of judgment and pressure, the lasting impression on these girls being that they could seek help if and when they wanted to. Their stories are shared in a silently powerful documentary film called Dreamcatcher, directed by British filmmaker Kim Longinotto. The film focuses on Brenda, whose zesty and warm personality makes the film as

Mark Hendricks

Lisa Stevens, Brenda Myers-Powell, and Stephanie Daniels-Wilson present their film, Dreamcatcher at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 65

Reviews Media Reviews intriguing and heartening as it is harrowingly grim. While her irresistible demeanor was exactly what convinced Longinotto to take on the film, it was also the survivor-driven agency that Brenda advocated for which makes Dreamcatcher stand out in the mainstream narrative on prostitution and human trafficking. In an interview with Women in the World, Brenda said, “I saw a lot of TV shows, movies, different stuff about human trafficking and the girls and all of that. And I hated it. I hated the storyline…I wanted [people] to know that [prostitution] came from a lot of pain. It came from a lot of pain before they got there.” Brenda is not a stranger to pain. Growing up with an alcoholic grandmother as her sole parental figure, she was molested by her grandmother’s friends since she was a toddler, entering into prostitution at age 14. She was raped and tortured by pimps and customers during her 25 years as a prostitute, adding in the film that she had been a victimizer to other girls as well. “You cannot survive out there and only be the victim,” she said in a conversation with Homer, an ex-pimp and friend who she now works with to spread awareness on sex trafficking. Her life took a turn when her last customer threw her out of his car. Her dress got caught in the door and she was dragged on the road for six blocks, losing all of the skin off one side of her face. After receiving help from a safe house and volunteering with sex workers, Brenda started the nonprofit Dreamcatcher Foundation with her best friend Stephanie, who is the mother of a former Chicago gang leader. Aside from the women they meet on their routine street rounds, the foundation works with prostitutes in jail and runs an after-school club

for at-risk girls. The experiences of the high school girls are tragic—most of them reveal that they have undergone sexual harassment and abuse. According to Brenda, the foundation has gotten in touch with 2500 young women in the span of their work, and 87 girls have been saved. Her outreach under the foundation is currently unpaid and she is now raising money to set up the Dream Center, a space that helps women move out of prostitution. Dreamcatcher is a compelling film that digs into the heart of the many struggles faced by women caught up in the damaging web of sex trafficking. In an industry that offers almost no chance of escape, Brenda encompasses a glimmer of hope as a woman who has been through it all and gotten out alive. Dreamcatcher is her way of making sure other women are able to come along with her.

Violence in Turkey: A New Film Champions Women Activists by Zafirah Zein YOZGAT, TURKEY – One of the last things that Arzu Boztas’s husband said to her before he shot her was, “I won’t kill you. I’ll just make you crawl.” He then shot his wife and the mother of his children six times in the arms and legs. When he went to trial, he argued that she had provoked him. For many men in Turkey, that is enough of a winning argument. For years now, women’s rights groups have been battling judges who, despite Turkey’s strong laws, still have discretion in sentencing and let male abusers off lightly. Many in the country’s more patriarchal and conservative regions are swayed by arguments that a woman tarnished her honor or disrespected her husband.

66 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

“Judges are finding ridiculous and unbelievable reasons to reduce the punishments for murderers,” says Gulsum Kav of We Will Stop Women Murders, an activist group that has been working to pass bills in Turkey’s parliament that will serve to protect and seek justice for women. And now, these women’s groups have another obstacle in their way. In early November, the conservative ruling party won re-election, lowering women’s presence in parliament to only 15 percent and fomenting worry about the future of women’s rights in Turkey. The political party has increasingly been garnering voters on the back of misogynistic and patriarchal rhetoric that includes forbidding women to laugh in public and shaming women who go out while pregnant. Advocates say this absurdly sexist mentality has fueled a steady increase in violence against women. This story, and others, are part of a documentary film in the works by 30-year-old, BAFTA-nominated British filmmaker Chloe Fairweather and The Fuller Project for International Reporting, which follows the lives of two Turkish women beaten within an inch of their lives by their husbands, and their battle for justice with the help of Gulsum Kav and her team. The film joins a growing movement of efforts, by journalists and activists, to expose violence against women in Turkey and the government’s inaction in these cases. In the last year, protests led by women’s groups have brought tens of thousands of men and women to the streets across the country. The activists stand in front of courthouses, visit with victims in hospital, and travel by busloads to the Turkish capital of Ankara to support female lawmakers in defending women.

Reviews Media Reviews

Maltepe Municipality / UN Women

On November 25, 2014, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 27 buildings across Istanbul were illuminated in orange to launch the 16 Days of Activism campaign to stop violence against women in the country. Here, activists hold a special ceremony to light the historic Maiden Tower.

Turkish women journalists are also calling attention to the problem, with articles and columns in national publications. “What kind of precedent is set when a woman—soon to become a murder victim—seeks help, fearing for her life and government officials joke, ‘Do not worry, the worst is you will die.’?” asked Turkish journalist Pinar Tremblay in a recent column for Al-Monitor. From January to November, 2015, 212 women were murdered in Turkey. In 2014, the total count stood at almost 300, which was a 30 percent increase from the female homicides reported in 2013.

Presently, a bill is sitting with the Turkish Ministry of Justice while activists like Gulsum Kav continue to battle tirelessly to change both the law and a culture in which women are often marginalized. Drafted by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the bill revises a disturbing law in the Turkish penal code that supports mild sentences for men who have harmed, raped, or murdered women. If passed, it will abolish sentence reductions based on “good behavior” during trial or “unjust provocation” by their partners. “These women are killed because their perpetrators know that they

are not going to get that long imprisonment,” said Ipek Bozkurt, an Istanbul-based lawyer who has worked on dozens of domestic violence cases. Equally important to changing the law is changing the culture, and that is where activists hope media can play a persuasive role. The laissez faire attitude by many in Turkey towards violence against women was on display in 2014, when a popular Turkish dating show included a 62-year-old “bachelor” who had served time for killing two women in the past, including his wife. Only after an outcry from women’s groups did the show issue an apology.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 67

Hurd, W. (2016). Surviving the Second Conquest: Emperor Menelik and Industrial Plantations in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. Solutions 7(1): 68–73. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/surviving-the-second-conquest

Solutions in History

Surviving the Second Conquest: Emperor Menelik and Industrial Plantations in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley by Will Hurd

Susan Hurd

A Mursi girl and young man, photographed in 2008.

he many times I arrived at Bole airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, there was always a sign that said “Welcome Home.” Its meaning never registered until an official from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said it reminds all visitors that their ancestors were originally Ethiopian. Not only have fossils of our pre-human ancestors Lucy, Australopithecus

afarensis, and Ardi, Ardipithecus ramidus, been found in Ethiopia, but so have the oldest known fossils of Homo sapiens. These come from an area near the Omo River, now home to a small indigenous group, the Mursi. This area was designated the ‘Lower Valley of the Omo World Heritage Site’ in 1980 because of “its fundamental importance to the study of human

68 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

evolution.”1 One theory has it that humans may have first settled on the shoreline of Lake Turkana 200,000 years ago when the lake was about 60 miles north of where it is today.2,3 Lake Turkana was once so large that it connected to the Nile River, with which it still shares the same species of fish. Turkana is the world’s largest desert lake. It has no outlet and

Solutions in History counter-balances the inflow of the Omo River, from where it receives 90 percent of its water, by evaporation.4 The Omo Valley is currently home to a great diversity of ethnic groups: the Bodi, Mursi, Kwegu, Nyangatom, Kara, and Dassanech, who still live along the Omo River today, and the Suri, Hamar, Dime, and Dizi, who live in the higher, mountainous regions surrounding the valley. Lake Turkana is home to about 300,000 people,5 including the Turkana, Dassanech, Samburu, El Molo, Gabra, and Rendille groups. The Omo Valley and Lake Turkana have long been an arena of conquest. In 1896, the Italians tried to seize Ethiopia, but were swiftly defeated by Emperor Menelik’s armies at Adwa.6 Shortly afterwards, Menelik sent a party of 30,000 Ethiopian warriors to take control of Southwest Ethiopia—which was formerly an area of independent groups and small states—to keep it out of the hands of European powers. Taking a page out of the Berlin Conference rulebook on how Europeans were to colonize Africa, Menelik occupied the southwest and planted flags at the north end of Lake Turkana.7 Colonizing forces set off waves of ecological consequences. The Italians unwittingly imported rinderpest via Indian cattle brought through the port of Massawa, Eritrea in 1887. Rinderpest subsequently spread through Ethiopia and all of Africa, killing 90 percent of its cattle. A third of Ethiopia’s population died from the resulting hunger, forcing many pastoralists to turn to agriculture. In stories the Mursi tell of their distant past, they used to nonchalantly plant sorghum seeds in the dung build-up of old cattle kraals and come back months later to harvest the grain. In the meantime, they looked after their first love, cattle.8 It seems likely that the

rinderpest epidemic was instrumental in the Mursi becoming dependent, as they are today, on agriculture. Although many groups in the lower Omo have cattle-based cultures, they rely mostly on agriculture for their daily sustenance. The Tishana-Me’en, for example, have very few cattle, but still have a cattle-based culture. They use cattle in weddings, funerals, and in every other important ritual.9 Because of the loss of cattle and the reduction in grazing, the rinderpest epidemic likely led to the growth of woody thickets and a greater infestation of tsetse flies. Tsetse flies caused the epidemics of sleeping sickness that hit the area, killing humans and even more cattle. We know this scenario played out in nearby Uganda.10 Menelik’s troops, along with sleeping sickness and rinderpest, exterminated some ethnic groups, such as the Murtu and Gumba.11 Around this time, a British Consul was established on a cold mountain, in a tiny town, on the Ethiopian frontier. Its job was to stop Ethiopians from slave raiding in the British colonies of Kenya and Sudan.12 Slaves went to the Arab peninsula or domestic Ethiopian markets, and the incursion of the Amhara highlanders into the region dramatically increased slave-taking. Between 50,000 and 100,000 Dizi people in the mountains around the Omo Valley were reduced to 20,000.13 The worst hit were settled farmers in mountainous areas. Pastoralists gathered up their cattle and ran, sometimes into the Sudan,14 or they hid in the malarial lowlands around the Omo River, which highland Amhara were afraid of on account of “the fever.”15 Slave-taking led to a curious phenomenon where peripheral pastoralists gained territory from settled farmers. As Italy again attempted to colonize the area in 1936, Amhara highlanders were forced to retreat.16

The Italians poured chemical weapons from airplanes onto Ethiopians on horseback, in contravention of international agreements.17 The Ethiopian defeat ended the slave trade, and with the Amhara gone, pastoralists took over lands denuded of farmers. The old Dizi terraces I saw while trekking in the pastoral Suri highlands were an eerie reminder of the slave trade. For the next half century, the people of the Omo Valley were once again left mostly to their own devices. But in 1996, the Ethiopian government secretively commissioned the Omo-Gibe Basin Masterplan. The plan recommended that a large dam be built on the Omo River, accompanied by irrigated agriculture downstream.18 In 2006, rafters reported seeing major construction on the Omo.19 This was the first the world knew of the dam, which now reaches nearly 800 feet in height. As a result, the annual floods of the Omo have stopped, and so has much of its flow. Irrigated sugarcane plantations have been established in the northern areas of the Lower Omo Valley and are moving southward, carving large chunks out of the territories of local people, as well as the Omo and Mago National Parks.20 As of now, there seems little hope of the local ethnic groups recovering from this second conquest of the Omo Valley, as they did from Menelik’s conquest of 100 years ago. The government’s plan is to force cattle-herders to give up their cattle and settle parcels of land too small for self-sufficient food production. This will exacerbate food insecurity in the area. Already, extreme hunger is being reported in the Omo Valley as the Gibe III reservoir holds back the Omo River’s annual flood.21 Abstraction of Omo water for plantations is projected to cause Lake Turkana’s water level to drop up to 65 feet.22 Fish stocks will plummet, and the lake’s already

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 69

Solutions in History brackish water will become too salty to drink. Violence is inevitable, both around Lake Turkana and in the Omo Valley, as people will fight over everdwindling resources.23 The conflicts between irrigation and herding go well beyond the Omo Valley. For example, Karrayyu and Afar pastoralists were never compensated for the loss of land resulting from sugarcane plantations created in Ethiopia’s Awash Valley in the 1950s. They were denied access to the Awash River and were forced to drink from ponds of factory waste with high pesticide and fertilizer content. In 2010, food insecurity affected 93 percent of Karrayyu households.24,25 In the Malkaa Dakaa irrigation scheme in Kenya, destitute pastoralists were settled by a donorsupported, government project. When the donors left, the farm equipment fell into disrepair, production was much lower than expected, and the pastoralist that remained subsisted mainly from food aid.26 Solutions to the Omo problem are not going to be easy. According to the anthropologist David Turton, who has more than 45 years’ experience in the area, the resettlement project is woefully inadequate in following good development practice. Additional investigations suggested by independent reviewers need to be completed. The impact assessment of the Kuraz Sugar Development Project should be made public. The “three Cs: communication, consultation and compensation” have not been up to standard or have simply been ignored. Instituting “transparent communication,” “meaningful consultation with those to be displaced,” and “detailed and adequately-funded compensation and benefit-sharing strategies,” would go a long way to ensuring this becomes a true development opportunity for local people. A well-funded

program of “livelihood reconstruction” needs to be put in place. This should focus on integrating existing livestock herding with the irrigated agricultural land the people have been promised.27 The peoples of the Omo Valley must be allowed to keep their cattle, a current point of contention. The vital protein that the milk provides wards off stunting that affects 40 percent of Ethiopia’s children.28 Cattle are also sold in markets to buy grain in times of hunger, thereby constituting a kind of famine insurance. The size of the irrigated plots given to the people should be increased.

Thankfully, groundwork towards these recommendations has already been laid. Local people have been developing a Community Conservation Area (CCA) and tourism project since 2008. It started when the Mursi visited CCAs in Kenya and Namibia. Kenya’s Il Ngwesi is run by the Maasai. They graze their cattle on the CCA and tourist revenue goes to send Maasai children to school and to other development projects. In Namibia, an impressive 17 percent of the country’s land area is now CCAs. After seeing these, the Mursi decided to form their own CCA and convinced

A well-funded program of “livelihood reconstruction” needs to be put in place. The land area to be devoted to plantations needs to be scaled-back drastically from current plans. This would lessen the threat to Lake Turkana and leave more vital land for local people, while scaling back the number of highland migrant workers to the area, now estimated at 500,000.29 Migrants threaten to take large sections of local land and increase HIV rates. A global glut in the sugar market makes the idea of exporting sugar less feasible, and scaled-back plantations would fill domestic need. The technical demands of sugarcane cultivation in this remote region presents challenges to profitability. Dr. Turton also rightly points out the need for local people to lead in the development process: “Above all, and given the knowledge, experience, and expertise of the affected people, they should be the ones to take the lead in arriving at the most effective solutions, and in planning specific strategies, with the government and NGOs playing a supportive and facilitating role.”30

70 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

the Bodi to join them. They instituted a community-wide hunting ban. Local scouts were hired through their Indigenous Community Association. Records showed a rise in wildlife populations. By managing the already high tourist volume, the Mursi raised USD$10,000 in the first six weeks—a large amount for Ethiopia at that time.31 Despite its promise, however, the CCA could not get government recognition and was stopped. This remains an exciting possibility that can fulfill some of the good development practice guidelines of livelihood reconstruction, communitydriven development, and integration of cattle-herding. A lodge and campsites, owned and run by the people with managerial assistance from NGOs and the government, could boost the local people’s revenue. Tourism to the area is criticized by the government and draws the ire of anthropologists (it is not a pretty sight in its current form). However, the Mursi and other local

Solutions in History

Will Hurd

The Tama Plains, found between the Omo River and the Mago Park, in the land of the Bodi and Mursi.

groups like it for one reason: it brings in money. At high season, droves of Landrovers flock to the Mursi, who currently only get a few dollars posing for photographs. Giving the Mursi more control over tourism would enable them to increase their income by, for example, offering wildlife tours and accommodation. The CCA would work in conjunction with the Mago and Omo Parks for a greater combined area of wildlife protection. When the warden of Mago Park heard Mursi guards were guarding local game he exclaimed: “Half of our problem of wildlife protection is solved!” A long corridor left free of plantations on the Omo River would

allow the Mursi and their cattle access to the Omo River, while wildlife would have a corridor to move between the Omo and Mago Parks. The Mursi-Bodi CCA plan is already supported, in some form, by the southern regional Culture and Tourism Bureau. Of particular interest is the Tama Plains between the Omo River and the Mago Park, which is the land of the Bodi and Mursi. It is of little value to the plantations, as it is too elevated to irrigate, but is suited to grazing cattle alongside wildlife. Local cattle raising can feed the demand for meat that will come with an influx of workers. This project holds promise, if only it could get government approval.

Hundreds of negative articles decrying the treatment of the ethnic groups and worrying about their future have appeared in the press, and local officials complain that this has affected the image of their region. After 50 years of literature on the adverse impacts of development projects,32 Ethiopia could be lauded as one of the countries to finally do development well—a feather in their cap to add to their impressive economic growth. But, if they continue on the path toward the disaster looming on the horizon, they will instead be known for committing one of the world’s worst environmental and developmental disasters.

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 71

Solutions in History

Will Hurd

Mursi Community Conservancy scouts look at satellite imagery of their territory in 2009.

References 1. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Lower Valley of

Lawrenceville NJ, 2000).

the Omo. UNESCO World Heritage Centre [online]

8. David Turton, personal communication.

(2015) http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/17.

9. Abbink, J. Funeral as ritual: an analysis of Me’en

2. David Tuton, personal communication. 3. Butzer, K. Recent History of an Ethiopian Delta (The University of Chicago Printing Department, Chicago, 1971). 4. Avery, ST. Lake Turkana and the Lower Omo: Hydrological Impacts of the Gibe III & Lower Omo

mortuary rites (southwest Ethiopia). Africa 47, no.2 (1992). 10. Connah, G. African Civilizations an Archaeology Perspective (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001). 11. Tornay, S. The Omo Murle Enigma in Peoples and

Irrigation Development, Vol. 1 (University of Oxford,

Cultures of the Ethio-Sudan Borderlands (ed. Bender,

Oxford, 2012).

ML) (Michigan State University, East Lansing,

5. Lake Turkana Under Threat. International Rivers [online] (2015) https://www.internationalrivers.org/

Michigan, 1981). 12. Salvadori, C. Slaves and Ivory Continued: Letters of

Studies, University of London 46, no. 2 (1983). 14. Abbink, J. Email correspondence with author, October 21, 2014. 15. Hodson, AW. Where Lion Reign; an Account of Lion Hunting & Exploration in S.W. Abyssinia (Skeffington & Son, London, 1929). 16. Todd, D. War and Peace between the Bodi and Dime of Southwestern Ethiopia in Warfare among East African Herders (eds. Fukui, K & Turton, D) (National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, 1979). 17. Shillington, K. History of Africa, 3rd ed. (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2012). 18. Avery, ST. Lake Turkana and the Lower Omo:

resources/lake-turkana-under-threat-7411.

R.C.R. Whalley, British Consul, Maji, SW Ethiopia

Hydrological Impacts of the Gibe III & Lower Omo

6. Pankhurst, R. The Ethiopians (Blackwell, Oxford,

1930–1935 (Shama Books, Addis Ababa, 2010).

Irrigation Development, Vol. 1 (University of Oxford,

1998). 7. Bulatovich, A. Ethiopia through Russian Eyes: Country in Transition 1896–1898 (The Red Sea Press,

13. Haberland, E. An Amharic Manuscript on the Mythical History of the Adi Kyaz (Dizi, South-West Ethiopia). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African

72 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

Oxford, 2012). 19. Terri Hathaway, formerly of International Rivers, phone call.

Solutions in History

Will Hurd

A Mursi wearing the peritoneum of a sacrificed ox that declared the beginning of the Mursi-Bodi CCA in 2009

20. Avery, ST. Lake Turkana and the Lower Omo:

25. Kloos, H. et al. Problems for Pastoralists in the

29. Vidal, J. EU diplomats reveal devastating impact

Hydrological Impacts of the Gibe III & Lower Omo

Lowlands: River Basin Development in the Awash

of Ethiopia dam project on remote tribes. The

Irrigation Development, Vol. 1 (University of Oxford,

and Omo Valleys in Water Resource Management in

Guardian [online] (September 3, 2015) http://www.

Oxford, 2012).

Ethiopia: Implications for the Nile Basin (eds. Kloos, H

theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/03/eu-

& Legesse, W) (Cambria Press, New York, 2010).

diplomats-reveal-devastating-impact-of-ethiopia-

21. Postel, S. Dam on Ethiopia’s Omo River Causing Hunger and Conflict. National Geographic [online] (December 2, 2015) http://voices. nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/02/dam-on-

26. Hogg, R. Irrigation agriculture and pastoral development: a lesson from Kenya. Development and Change 14, no. 4 (1983).

in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley: Development for Whom?

ethiopias-omo-river-causing-hunger-and-conflict/.

27. Turton, D. Hydro-power and irrigation development

22. Avery, S. What Future for Lake Turkana? (University

in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley: Development for Whom?

of Oxford, African Studies Centre, Oxford, 2013). 23. Carr, C. Humanitarian Catastrophe and Regional Armed Conflict Brewing in the Transborder Region of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan: The Proposed Gibe III

dam-project-on-remote-tribes. 30. Turton, D. Hydro-power and irrigation development

Draft of speech given to Anglo-Ethiopian Society School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, September 17, 2014.

Transcript of speech given at the International Conference on Ethiopian Studies, Warsaw, August 24–28, 2015. 31. Hurd, W., O. Olibui, and G. Bennett. Proposed Management Plan for Mursi Community

28. African Union Commission, World Food

Conservation Area. Unpublished document, 2010.

Dam in Ethiopia (Africa Resources Working Group,

Programme, United Nations Economic

Berkeley, CA, 2012).

Commission for Africa. The Cost of Hunger

in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley: Development for Whom?

in Ethiopia [online] (2013) http://documents.

Transcript of speech given at the International

policy agenda: Land alienation in southern Ethiopia

wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/

Conference on Ethiopian Studies, Warsaw, August

(Gatekeeper Series, IIED, 2010).

communications/wfp258076.pdf.

24–28, 2015.

24. Elias, E. and F. Abdi. Putting pastoralists on the

32. Turton, D. Hydro-power and irrigation development

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 73

Thornett, R.C. (2016). In Argentina, an Innovative Traditional and Natural Medicine Initiative Sprouts from Urban Agriculture. Solutions 7(1): 74–79. thesolutionsjournal.com/2016/1/in-argentina-an-innovative-traditional-and-natural-medicine-initiative

On The Ground

In Argentina, an Innovative Traditional and Natural Medicine Initiative Sprouts from Urban Agriculture by Robert C. Thornett

Rodrigo Oleaga

Antonio Latucca, director and co-founder of Rosario’s Urban Agriculture Program, helps residents of the Medical Student House create their community garden in May 2015.

rading jokes with his housemates as the sun sets over downtown Rosario, Argentina, nursing student Miguel Suarez drags a hose across the courtyard of the Medical Student House to water a leafy burrito plant (Aloysia polystachia). Leaning from a lawn chair to pick small leaves, agronomist Custodio “Lucho” Lemos explains that burrito herbal infusions are popular remedies for digestive and

liver disorders in traditional Guaraní folk medicine in northern Argentina and Paraguay. A 2012 Brazilian study in the Journal of Medicinal Plants Research found burrito’s oil more effective against E. coli, Candida, and Trichophyton bacteria than first-line commercial drugs Gentomycin, Amphotericin B, and Terbinafine, respectively.1 A block from the historic central avenue Boulevard Oroño, the Medical

74 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

Student House is part of the Medical School at the National University of Rosario, a city of 1.3 million best known as the hometown of Leonel Messi and Che Guevara. But on Tuesday evenings like this one, the dozen residents have been putting textbooks aside and becoming urban farmers in the new community garden which opened in their courtyard last May.

On The Ground

City of Rosario

At the headquarters of Rosario’s new Traditional and Natural Medicine Program inside Hospital Carrasco, students take a three month course which will certify them to prescribe medicinal plants in city health clinics.

“It’s called kenaf,” says a female speech therapy student in the Medical Student House garden. She holds out a long segment of pale green stalk, tugging at the fibers. “You know Ford uses it now inside car doors? It’s an acoustic insulator—and very light. I want to know if we can use it inside hearing aids?” she says, tapping on the back of her ear. Two Malaysian studies from 2014 and 2015 in the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine found that kenaf seed extract and oil killed human cancer cells in lab trials and had a cholesterol-lowering effect comparable to simvastatin, sold as Zocor, making it a potential inexpensive “alternative natural source to replace synthetic hypercholesterolemic drugs.”2,3 This garden—where medical students are learning about medicinal plants they grow with their own hands

and may later prescribe—is part of Rosario’s pioneering new Traditional and Alternative Medicine Program. The interdisciplinary initiative aims to promote the role of medicinal plants as well as Chinese, Ayurvedic, and indigenous medicine in public health. The project is a collaboration among Rosario’s Department of Health, Urban Agriculture Program, Subsecretariat for Non-Profit Economy, and the National Agricultural Technology Institute. As one of its core components, the program has established a complete farm-to-clinic system for medicinal plants. In 2014, Rosario’s Department of Health began purchasing medicinal and alimentary plants from the city’s globally recognized Urban Agriculture Program, which links over 500 growers across 700 community gardens. The diverse array of medicinal plants

comes from among the 687 seed varieties distributed by the Urban Agriculture Program’s Ñanderoga Seed Bank (Ñanderoga means “our house” in Guaraní). All of the plants are 100 percent chemical-free and organic, with safety and quality guaranteed by a “social certification” system co-managed by the city government, the national ProHuerta gardeners’ network, and the local Vida Verde (“Green Life”) Responsible Consumer Network. Once purchased by the Department of Health, the medicinal plants are cut and bagged in public health clinics citywide, where trained health professionals prescribe the plants to patients as herbal infusions, free of charge. Among the most common plants are carqueja for detoxification, liver issues, and dermatitis; matico, burrito, rue, plantain leaf, and lemon balm for digestive issues; yarrow for fever;

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 75

On The Ground

City of Rosario

A few of the 687 seed species in Rosario’s Ñanderoga Seed Bank, on display at annual Seed Exchange Fair. “The only way to protect seeds is to share them,” says seed bank founder Custodio “Lucho” Lemos.

soapberry for arthritis and ulcers; loquat leaf for diabetes; and ambay for coughs and respiratory ailments. Additionally, since 2013, the program has trained and certified over 100 health professionals—including doctors, nurses, and psychologists—to prescribe plants in clinics and educate patients about their uses. Held at the program’s downtown headquarters in Hospital Carrasco, the three-month training modules cover government-established protocols for the cultivation and use of each plant. They also include opportunities for the exchange of experiences among health professionals, many of whom

have been using medicinal plants for over 20 years. The program currently operates community demonstration gardens in four hospitals and medical centers. Health workers and local school groups stop in regularly to learn and help tend the gardens. The second stage of Rosario’s initiative to promote medicinal plants, already underway, is to produce artisan-made creams, gels, oil, syrups, soaps, repellents, and herbal medicines, free of synthetic coloring and fragrances, for commercial sale. One example is a repellent for mosquitos, a common problem in this subtropical region. The repellent is made from

76 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

citronella leaf oil and is suitable for sensitive skin and babies, unlike industrial repellents. The city’s Urban Agriculture Program has established its own brand, Rosario Natural, sold both in stores and at weekly artisanal craft markets around the city. The program currently operates two facilities for artisanal production and is in the process of expanding to accommodate larger-scale production. Knowing many are skeptical of traditional medicine, program coordinator Dr. Marcelo Sauro contends that the initiative has strong foundations. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002–2005

On The Ground

City of Rosario

At a Seed Exchange Fair, Ñanderoga Seed Bank founder Lucho Lemos (left) works with one of Rosario’s urban farmers. Like many in Rosario, Lemos was originally a rural migrant and is of Guaraní ancestry.

led to an innovative ordinance passed in 2007 by the Rosario City Council, calling for the city to “guarantee access to traditional medicines, promote their rational use...and promote a greater contribution by traditional medicine to the public health system.”4 The ordinance cited numerous public health

policies in Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, and Peru, among other countries. It was originally drafted not by government officials, but by a group of citizens seeking greater public access to safe, high quality traditional and natural medicines.

In fact, “people in the community often know more about these plants than we do,” says Dr. Sauro. “It’s not hard for them to accept natural medicines, we don’t have to impose anything. Our goal is to complement conventional medicine, not to replace it.”

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 77

On The Ground In Rosario, traditional and natural medicine has deep roots. Thousands of Rosarinos are displaced migrants from rural regions of northern Argentina, steeped in Guaraní folk medicine and agriculture. “With migrants travels their knowledge of ‘forgotten plants,’ both how to grow them and their uses, “ says agroecologist Custodio “Lucho” Lemos, founder and coordinator of Ñanderoga Seed Bank. “This is buenissimo, it enriches our community knowledge.”

purple cassabanana. “It makes a juice that is low in sugar and good for diabetics,” he says. Another is an egg-shaped, bright red tamarillo (tree tomato), which has as much vitamin C as a small orange. Most Argentines have never seen either fruit, let alone eaten them. The use of medicinal plants became increasingly established in Rosario more out of necessity than environmental awareness during Argentina’s long years of economic crises, from

“These are the only urban farms in South America that are permanent, public spaces.” —Antonio Latucca Lemos is of Guaraní ancestry himself, originally a tobacco farmer from Corrientes province. He migrated to Rosario in the 1970s, as mechanization eliminated farming jobs. With just five seed varieties, Lemos created Ñanderoga Seed Bank in 1992 as a local civil association to counter the rapid loss of crop diversity brought by encroaching monoculture. The 687 varieties in the seed bank today represent over 20 years of work recovering plants used ancestrally for food, medicine, and other uses through seed exchanges and personal contributions. The 367 members of its Seed Godmothers and Godfathers Network reproduce and multiply the seeds they receive, trading them at Seed Exchange Fairs which draw hundreds from around Argentina. Together, their urban farms form a collective space in which the city constructs biodiversity. At a recent Ñanderoga Seed Exchange Fair, Lemos picks up several fruits native to northern Argentina. One is a heavy, foot-long

the late 1990s to its meltdown in 2002. At that time, food shortages led to two mass raids on Rosario’s supermarkets, poverty reached 48 percent,5 and there were shortages of certain drugs in health centers—some of which continue today. Some doctors began to walk with patients out of the office and into gardens to teach them about medicinal plants. For Rosarinos today, the new Traditional and Natural Medicine Program launches at a time of heightened consciousness of health risks from the genetically modified (GMO) agriculture that surrounds their city. Santa Fe Province, in which Rosario lies, is one of the most agrochemicalblanketed regions in the world. Local headlines frequently report new links between agrochemicals and cases of disease. Dr. Damian Verzeñassi of the National University of Rosario Medical School found a 90 percent increase in Argentina’s cancer rates since 1997, the year after the country legalized GMO seeds.

78 | Solutions | January-February 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org

His ongoing epidemiological study of 65,000 people has found cancer rates in Santa Fe Province two to four times higher than the national average, in addition to higher rates of thyroid disorders and chronic respiratory illness. In 2015, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer found that glyphosate, the most common herbicide in Argentina, sold by Monsanto as Roundup, is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”6 On January 8, Rosario joined other cities across Argentina in mass protests against Monsanto. Once famous for grass-fed beef, since adopting GMOs, Argentina has transformed into the world’s leading soybean exporter and fourth-largest corn exporter. Rosario is Argentina’s primary agricultural hub. On average, Argentine farmers spray 4.5 pounds of pesticide per hectare, twice that of US farmers. Spraying regulations often go ignored and/ or unenforced. Citizens and their property are frequently doused in chemicals. As these events have been publicized, Rosarinos have become especially aware of the connections between more natural approaches to agriculture and health. Like Rosario, hundreds of developing cities around the world—from Lagos to Karachi to Chongqing—are struggling to handle the mass influx of rural-to-urban migrants displaced by industrial agriculture. Urban systems are overloaded with demand for food security, medicine, and jobs, among other services. Urban farming is an important means of achieving food security in developing cities. However, many urban farmers are squatters who frequently battle landowners and governments to secure even small parcels of land. But in Rosario—a city of 250,000 squatters—the city provides secure land for them, from

On The Ground 175 acres in its five Garden Parks to gated community gardens bounded by train tracks and factories on the city outskirts.7 “These are the only urban farms in South America that are permanent, public spaces,” says Antonio Latucca, co-founder and coordinator of Rosario’s Urban Agriculture Program. Agricultural land use is now fully integrated into the city’s 2008–2018 Metropolitan Strategic Plan, including a 75-acre “green circuit” passing through and around the city. Few cities have been as successful as Rosario in building on migrants’ knowledge of traditional medicine, agriculture, and artisanal production. For its success in reducing poverty and promoting social inclusion during Argentina’s 2002 economic crisis, the Urban Farming Program won the 2004 UN Habitat Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment. Today, the program maintains a staff of 25 professional agroecologists advising city farmers. Its public farms include cultural and educational spaces for adults and youth, holding an extensive array of free farming, cooking, and artisanal craft classes, along with weekly farmers markets. Together, Rosario’s urban farms yield over 80,000 kilograms of produce per year, feeding 40,000 people. They produce five tons of medicinal and aromatic plants, which increasingly supply the new Traditional and Natural Medicine Program. Only time will tell what new ideas and innovative industries will sprout from urban agriculture in Rosario. By building on the strengths of its rural migrants and forging new connections between city farmers and local industries, including traditional and natural medicine, Rosario is solving key urban challenges from the ground up.

City of Rosario

In the courtyard of Rosario’s CEMAR Outpatient Health Center, health workers and schoolchildren tend medicinal plants in one of the four demonstration gardens now operated by Rosario’s new Traditional and Alternative Medicine Program.

References 1. Pina, E.S. et al. Antimicrobial activity and chemical composition of essential oils from Aloysia polystachya (Griseb.) Moldenke grown in Brazil. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research 6(41), 5412–5416 (2012).

the advisory committee for research and consulting in Traditional and Natural Medicines in health. 5. Almansi, F. Rosario’s development: Interview with Miguel Lifschitz, mayor of Rosario, Argentina.

2. Wong, Y. et al. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 4, S510–S515 (2014).

Environment & Urbanization 21(1), 19–35 (2009). 6. Guyton, K. et al. Carcinogenicity of

3. Kai, N. et al. Anti-hypercholesterolemic effect of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed on high-fat diet Sprague dawley rats. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 8(1), 6–13 (2015).

4. Municipality of Rosario. Ordinance #8155: Creation of

tetrachlorvinphos, parathion, malathion, diazinon, and glyphosate. The Lancet 16 (5), 490–491 (2015). 7. Douglas, I. Cities: An Environmental History (I.B. Tauris, New York, 2013).

www.thesolutionsjournal.org | January-February 2016 | Solutions | 79

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s make 2016 the year of Solutions. Solutions is the most comprehensive way of hearing about the latest solutions for tackling the local and global challenges we all face today. We invite you to Join the Solutions Team at www.thesolutionsjournal.org. For US$19.50, an annual subscription gives you not only 8 digital issues of Solutions, but also regular updates and invitations to conferences, workshops, and online events. Become a part of the rapidly growing global team developing and promoting solutions.

Join the Solutions Team today!

EARTHACTION

Gund Institute

for Ecological

Economics

University of Vermont

The Alliance for Appalachia

National Council for Science and the Environment Improving the scientific basis for environmental decisionmaking

Associated Socie<es International Society for Ecological Economics

Karl Tani / 1200 Posters / Creative Action Network

Connections: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are all creative beings. The more connected to various issues, ideas, opinions, people, events and our environment, the more we are able to solve and enhance our daily lives. The different colored geometric shapes represent all the situations and people we face daily, and through these connections we find creative solutions to better ourselves, the people around us and our surroundings.â&#x20AC;?