Sufficiency

We inhabit a world of human-induced ecological overshoot. However, the ongoing ecological crisis has not been caused equally by all humans, due to the nature of the growth-driven world economy. Whereas the I=PAT equation can be considered a useful tool to assess the human-induced impacts on the environment, we argue that because of the prevailing socio-economic inequality, power imbalance, and differences in environmental footprints, primary attention should be given to the factors of affluence (A) and technology (T), as fundamental causes of the overshoot, and only after this, to population (P). In the search for a meaningful ethos to guide our inquiry in the world of growth and overshoot, we propose applying the humble concept of sufficiency: the idea of 'enoughness'. Accordingly, in this book, we explore what sufficiency could mean for affluence, technology, and population.

Contributors are: Karl Bonnedahl, Michel Bourban, Philip Cafaro, Pasi Heikkurinen, Mikko Jalas, Jessica Jungell-Michelsson, Lassi Linnanen, J. Mohorcich, Iana Nesterova, Tina Nyfors, Thomas Princen, Toni Ruuska, Joonas Uotinen, and Tere Vaden.