THE CARBON THEORY OF VALUE

This article attempts to highlight the comprehensive capabilities of a new ecological measuring system, the Carbon theory of value.

i) The Geophysiological Facts of Life.

There are five main geophysiological facts of life. Firstly the Earth’s climate is a unitary entity .. “the atmosphere is a single coherent system, and to understand the weather in any one place you have to take the whole world into account.” [1]

A second geophysiological fact is that no life form on Earth could survive without the Earth. Without the Earth, life is nothing, humans are nothing.

Thirdly, Micro-organisms, Plants and Animals created the Earth’s habitability and Wildlife continue to protect the Earth’s life support system.

Fourthly, astronomic factors are currently pushing the Earth’s climate towards a new ice age. However, since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the over-industrialized nations have dumped increasing quantities of pollution into the atmosphere and deforested an increasing proportion of their lands. This destruction has become so significant it is overwhelming global cooling and is boosting global warming.

The final geophysiological fact is the centrality of one element on Earth. The history of the Earth is the way in which Carbon has been removed from the atmosphere and transformed into a fabulous array of different life-forms from the smallest of organisms to humans and the charismatic mega-fauna. This transformation started when Micro-organisms and Plants somehow acquired the ability to carry out Photosynthesis. These early life forms spread over the Earth and as they extracted more and more Carbon from the atmosphere they provided a food supply which fuelled the evolution of life on Earth. Through their death and decay, they not only laid down vast quantities of fossilized minerals (calcium carbonate [chalk and limestone], dolomite, graphite, diamonds, fossil fuels) and created some of the Earth’s major landscapes, e.g. the white cliffs of dover, they created a layer of Soil over the land which boosted the Earth’s fertility. The amount of Carbon extracted from the atmosphere has been prodigous - one estimate puts it at 10,000,000,000,000,000 tons.[2]

Carbon is the most important element on Earth. Its unique atomic structure is capable of multiple linkages with other elements. This enables it to create a huge number of chemical compounds. Without Carbon, evolution on Earth would have to take place within such a small range of chemicals it is likely that only a few life forms would have evolved. In many ways the rich diversity of life on Earth is merely a reflection of Carbon’s promiscuous atomic and molecular structures. Without Carbon, evolution would be so primitive as to be non-existent.

ii) The Philosophical Implications.

A number of philosophical implications can be derived from these geophysiological facts.

The unitary nature of the Earth’s life support system means that all creatures have an impact not merely on their local ecology but on the Earth’s geophysiology. In turn, all creatures are affected by the Earth’s geophysiological processes. The main difference between humans and Animals is that only humans know they have an impact on the entire Planet and that they are capable of changing/ruining the Planet’s geophysiological processes. In other words, only humans are Planetary beings. The unitary nature of the Earth’s geophysiologyalso means that only Planetary policies can protect the Earth’s life support system. National/local green policies have no ecological legitimacy unless they are derived from geophysiological policies.

Since terrestrial life forms cannot survive without the Earth then all value must derive from the Earth. The contribution which species make to the maintenance of the Earth’s habitability could be deemed to be their Earth value. The more that a species helps to maintain the Earth’s habitability, the greater its Earth value. Conversely, the more a species destroys the Earth’s habitability, the greater its negative value. Bacteria, Ants and Worms currently contribute more to the Planet’s life sustaining processes than humans.

It was not god but Micro-organisms, Plants and Wildlife who created the Earth. It was not god but Wildlife who created humans. Humans owe a huge ecological debt to Wildlife because Wildlife created the Earth’s habitability, and they owe an existential debt to Wildlife because Wildlife created humans. Humans should repay these debts by creating Wilderness zones for the exclusive use of Wildlife. Wildlife created a home for humans on this Planet so humans should ensure it remains a home for Wildlfe. Unless humans recognize the immense value of Wildlife they will wreck this paradise and destroy themselves.

If humans did not exist, the Earth might already be in the early stages of an ice age. However, since the industrial revolution humans have been boosting global warming. There is little choice about the matter. Humans must regulate the climate to avoid either of these extremes. If humans act like Planetary beings and ensure climatic stability they can increase their Earth value.

iii) A Geophysiological Analysis.

A geophysiological analysis is needed to determine a wide range of issues concerning humans’ relationship with the Earth:-

* which human activity poses the biggest threat to the Earth’s life support system;

* which country/multi-national corporation/species/individual is causing the most geophysiological damage;

* the scale of the damage being inflicted on the Earth’s life support system;

* the rate of ecological destruction;

* species’ Earth value;

* national and global geophysiological limitations;

* the proximity of the Earth’s life support system to a collapse and,

* the global policies to protect the Earth’s life support system.

The development of a geophysiological analysis, however, seems to present insurmountable problems. The Planet’s life support system consists of dozens of Planetary cycles so trying to measure the damage to each one would be a complex, difficult, and highly time consuming, endeavour. It might be possible, however, to obtain a good approximation to the Earth’s geophysiology by focussing on the most dominant Planetary cycle.

iv) Using One Planetary Cycle as an Approximation to a Geophysiological Analysis.

The four most important Planetary cycles are the Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, cycles. Although Carbon is not the commonest element on Earth it is the genetic basis of life on Earth, and could therefore be regarded as the dominant element where life is concerned.[3] Given that Carbon has more connections with other elements than any other element, and that it creates more compounds than all the other elements combined[4], it would seem the Carbon cycle is the most ubiquitous of the Earth’s Planetary processes.[5]

Hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are more abundant on Earth than Carbon and all are indispensable to life. In the form of water, both oxygen and hydrogen are far more pervasive on Earth than Carbon. However, hydrogen cannot be used as the basis of a geophysiological analysis because, unlike Carbon and oxygen, it is not a constant quantity on Earth.[6] Thus whilst an oxygen or Carbon theory of value is possible, a hydrogen or water theory of value is not.

Given that global warming is one of the major threats to the Earth’s life sustaining processes, it is necessary that the Planetary cycle used as a geophysiological measure should have a close connection with this ecological phenomena. For example, there is no point in using the sulphur, or nitrogen cycles as an ecological measure because they have only a miniscule role in global warming. Oxygen has a major role in global warming through water, the fact that two of the main greenhouse gases are oxides of Carbon, and ozone. Carbon is also a major component of global warming not merely through the supply side of the Carbon cycle, (Carbon emissions) but the demand side of the Carbon cycle (Photosynthesis). Overall, however, taking into consideration all of the above factors, the best approximation to a geophysiological analysis seems to be the Earth’s Carbon cycle.

In order to use the global Carbon cycle as a geophysiological measure it would necessary to formulate an audit of the Earth’s stocks and flows of Carbon. A global Carbon audit would include the amounts of Carbon in the atmosphere, the Soil and the oceans as well as in Plants and Animals. It would also incorporate the various ways in which humans are interfering with the Carbon cycle e.g. the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and the suffocation of the Earth’s life sustaining processes.

v) The Political Conclusions derived from a Global Carbon Methodology

The global Carbon cycle methodology could be used to determine species’ Earth value. Earth value could be determined by a species’ Carbon pollution and its maintenance of the Earth’s Photosynthetic capacity. To the extent that a species helps to absorb more Carbon than it releases into the atmosphere it would have a positive Earth value.[7] The determination of Earth value is imperative because the only way to create a sustainable Planet, and ensure climatic stability, is by allocating land to each species according to their Earth value - the greater the Earth value, the greater the allocation of land. Morally, humans should repay their ecological and existential debts to Wildlife by allowing at least one-third of the Earth’s land surface to revert to Wilderness. Geophysiologically, even more land may have to be returned to Wilderness.[8]

The global Carbon cycle analysis shows that most ecological damage is caused by the exponential growth in the numbers of cars, kids, cattle, capital and carnage, and that the Animal exploitation industry is the most ecologically destructive industry on Earth.

A Carbon methodology can also determine which countries/multinational corporations/individuals are causing the most ecological damage. It can determine not only species’ Earth value but individual’s Earth value. A Carbon cycle methodology would reveal that most people living in disintegrating/industrializing countries are far less ecologically destructive than most consumers in the over-industrialized nations.

A Carbon cycle methodology would reveal that the five main causes of ecological destruction are growing at an exponential rate, and that the Earth’s life support system is being destroyed at an exponential rate. In effect, the overindustrialized nations are engaged in a war against the Earth.

It is not yet possible to determine the Earth’s proximity to an ecological collapse. It is believed that an ecosystem will collapse if destruction exceeds 65%. It is possible that this critical point also applies to the Earth’s life support system. Given that humans have reduced the Earth’s Forest cover by one-third since the end of the last ice age and have reduced terrestrial Phyotosynthesis by 13% since the second world war; and given the exponential growth in ecological destruction, then humans could end up destroying 65% of terrestrial Phyotosynthesis within the next fifty years. Humans are entering the final doubling phase of their cancerous expansion around the world.

The Carbon cycle methodology could be used to stabilize the climate. Once the concentration of atmospheric Carbon and the scale of the Earth’s Forest cover needed to stabilize the climate had been determined it would be possible to formulate a global Carbon budget to bring about these objectives. A global Carbon budget would determine national Carbon budgets for each country around the world and, in turn, each government would formulate local Carbon budgets.

Since the start of the industrial revolution the over-industrialized nations have released far more Carbon into the atmosphere and have destroyed a far greater proportion of their Forests than the disintegrating/industrializing countries. The over-industrialized nations have made the biggest contribution to global warming and, correspondingly, must take primary responsibility for combating this ecological disaster. Disintegrating/industrializing countries will never agree to global policies to combat global warming unless these policies are formulated on a just and equitable basis i.e. in which the different contribution each country has made to global warming since the start of the industrial revolution is taken into account. The basis of global ecological equity, therefore, is that each country must balance its historical Carbon budget so that Carbon emissions equal the amount of Carbon absorbed through Photosynthesis. This means that most of the over-industrialized nations, which are Carbon debtors, would have to carry out wholesale Reforestation, whilst most disintegrating/industrializing countries, which are Carbon creditors, could continue releasing Carbon emissions whilst they developed and eradicated poverty. A transitional global Carbon budget would be set whilst countries are balancing their Carbon budgets so that the Earth suffers no further ecological damage. A global Carbon budget is the only means of establishing global justice in the fight to avert a global warming disaster.

vi) The Role of Carbon in a Sustainable Planet.

The creation of a sustainable Planet necessitates dramatic changes to humans’ occupation of the Earth. It would be necessary to create a tripartite geophysiological structure - Wilderness zones, Forest zones, and human zones. The global Carbon budget would determine the size of the Forest zone whilst Earth value would determine what proportion of the remaining land should be allocated to Wildlife, and humans. Wilderness areas would be for the sole use of Wildlife; Forest zones would regulate the climate, and human zones would be areas where humans could create regional Wood economies. Forest zones would not belong to either humans or Wildlife but would stabilize the climate for the benefit of both. Wilderness zones may have an impact on the climate whilst human zones would be climate neutral since humans the annual consumption of Wood would be replaced through Photosynthesis. The effect of Wilderness zones on the climate would have to be offset by adjusting the scale of the Forest zones. If humans refuse to regulate the climate, their Earth value would be so minimal that only a minimal amount could be reserved for their use. Efforts would then have to be made to drastically reduce the human population until numbers were small enough to live within their land allocation. The days when humans could roam wherever they want, expropriate whatever land takes their fancy, and do whatever they want to the land, is over.

vii) Wood Economies as the Basis of a Sustainable Planet.

If humans are to avoid a geophysiological disaster and create a sustainable Planet in order to survive in perpetuity on Earth, they must end their current dependence on non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels, and rely primarily upon renewable resources such as Trees. This necessitates the creation of regional Wood economies in which humans would derive the vast majority of their raw materials, clothes, energy, commodities, and food, from Trees. Regional Wood economies would be aproximately the size of brutish county councils so that everyone would be able to walk around their regional Forests to appreciate the limited scale of the resources they had available to them on an annual basis. This would force humans not only to start caring for the Earth but curb their incessant needs and wants.

viii) Carbon is the Earth’s Currency.

The vital importance of Forests in regulating the Planet’s climate and the vital importance of Wood economies as the basis of a sustainable Planet means that Carbon would be the sole currency of the future. The only currency of a sustainable Planet is not gold, the dollar, the yen nor any other monetary denomination but Carbon.

The proposal for global, national and local, Carbon cycle budgets may seem somewhat bizarre but, in a number of respects, it is merely a substitution for monetary-based budgets. The advantage of a Carbon budget is that whilst money is capable of astronomic growth which will lead eventually to the destruction of the Earth’s ecology, Carbon is rooted in, and thus limited by, the Earth’s life-sustaining processes. Whilst money is infinite, Carbon is finite - or as Edward Goldsmith argues, “money is not the currency of nature, nor does nature obey the laws of modern economics.”[9] . Whilst money knows no standards (whether gold, dollar, or yen), Carbon can be fixed by the concentration of atmospheric Carbon and the scale of Forest cover needed to maintain the Earth’s climatic stability.

In a sustainable green world, Carbon budgets would replace monetary budgets; a living economy (based primarily on Trees) would replace a dead economy (based on fossil fuels); and, sustainable Wood economies would replace an unsustainable capitalist economy. Carbon would be a green currency in comparison to ecocidal currencies such as petro-dollars, the yen or gold. There is no such thing as a steady state economy, only a steady state climate. A steady state climate can be built only on Carbon not cash. Just as economists meticulously measure the demand and supply sides of a monetary economy  to promote economic growth, so greens will have to do the same for the Earth’s Carbon cycle if they are to protect the Earth’s life support system.