Old Growth Economics
What can we learn from old-growth forests to shift the paradigm of extractive economics?
Ecology and Economics — The two words have the same root, “eco” coming from Greek oikos meaning “home, abode, dwelling”. Deepening our understanding of economics (from Greek oikonomia “household management, thrift,” from oikonomos “manager, steward,”) and ecology is really about trying to better understand how to better take care of our household, our home, this planet Earth.
Have you ever walked in an old-growth forest? If you’re not sure, you probably haven’t. The definition of “old-growth” is still up for debate according to the US Forest Service and Yale Climate Connections.
“In the 1970s, researchers started using the term “old growth” to describe complex, biodiverse forests at least 150 years old. Environmentalists prefer using the term to describe forests with large, old trees undisturbed by human impact. Under the environmentalist’s characterization, much more forest would qualify as old growth. The tension between these two definitions remains unresolved.”
When you walk among a large stand of trees who have lived hundreds or thousands of years, the air tastes a little sweeter, the quietude sinks a little deeper, the ground rebounds like a healthy sponge when you walk across the forest floor. Often, there isn’t much light because the giant trees have grown into a closed canopy. The mere diameter of the trunks lets you know you are amidst the elders.
Because there is so little light in the understory of an old-growth forest, saplings aren’t able to photosynthesize much. So, in order to survive they will depend on root connections to their “Mother tree” to receive nutrients and resources. Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard’s book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, describes these relationships at length.
“This Mother Tree was the central hub that the saplings and seedlings nested around, with threads of different fungal species, of different colors and weights, linking them, layer upon layer, in a strong, complex web”
Considering the economy through the lens of ecology, there are what I consider to be “old-growth” businesses — old money, family money, passed down from generations of monarchs and nobles — ensuring the success of their offspring.
How many corporations are bailed out by their respective “Mother tree”? How many businesses would have likely failed if it wasn’t for their social capital and “root” connections? Or without government bailouts?
This conversation would be incomplete with addressing the gorilla in the room, the dominant culture of colonial capitalism. Nick Estes’s work is a great resource to learn more on this topic. Nick Estes is a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He is an Assistant Professor in the American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico. In 2014, he co-founded The Red Nation, an Indigenous resistance organization. For 2017–2018, Estes was the American Democracy Fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University.
“Under capitalism, neither Democrat nor Republican can save Indigenous lands or Black and Indigenous lives. The continuation of state-sanctioned racial terror against Black and Native people, from police violence to energy development, from one administration to the next demonstrates only radical change in the form of decolonization, the repatriation of stolen lands and stolen lives, can undo centuries of settler colonialism.”
-Nick Estes
What if capitalism is just another form of competition and succession dynamics at its most ruthless? Are we so different than the plants or animals of the forests, parasitizing our host for short-term gain? Opportunistic species are ruthless and violent when it comes to the survival of their kin.
The Boomer generation has acquired unfathomable amounts of capital. They are the old-growth trees of our time. Giant banks of resources and nutrients. As the boomer generation ages, what plans of succession are in place to support the next evolution of business? The structures and organizations (the forest canopy) they have created is stunting the growth of the younger generation just waiting to see some light, grow, and evolve. Just look at the average age of anyone in congress…
“Old growth forests are like a giant bank account of carbon — they store an enormous amount of carbon in their trunks, and allow even more to be stored in forest soil.” — Yale Climate Connections
What I imagine is already at work, either in broad daylight or behind the scenes, are wealthy families, organizations, and corporations preparing to support the growth of their saplings. But will the next generation of powerful businesses lead us out of the Anthropocene and this reality of environmental catastrophe?
In ecology, we study what are called keystone species, which earn that title because they benefit the entirety of the ecosystem they inhabit. According to National Geographic,
“In any arrangement or community, the “keystone” is considered one of the most vital parts. In a marine ecosystem, or any type of ecosystem, a keystone species is an organism that helps hold the system together. Without its keystone species, ecosystems would look very different. Some ecosystems might not be able to adapt to environmental changes if their keystone species disappeared. That could spell the end of the ecosystem, or it could allow an invasive species to take over and dramatically shift the ecosystem in a new direction.”
Beavers are the classic North American example of a keystone species. Beavers build dams → the water slows and spreads creating wetlands → willows, reeds and cottonwoods grow along the river banks → deer and elk come to eat the willow → mice come to nest in the grasses → foxes come to eat the mice… etc.. you get the picture. Beavers create opportunities for everyone else in the community to thrive.
What we need are the boomers to invest in Keystone businesses. Organizations that create opportunities for everyone else in the community to thrive — that means the more than human community, too.
Does Amazon do that? They certainly create jobs… but are they improving the capacity of the ecosystem to support all life? How are their warehouses built? Where does the runoff/sewage flow to downstream? What is the ecosystem map of the many relationships of carbon exchange formed in one Amazon warehouse?
The International Living Future Institute has the best framework for sustainable building I have found. And Carol Sanford’s work for Regenerative business structures and processes.
Yet, the most wholistic examples are found in indigenous cultures — grown from the bioregional resources and managed at a scale appropriate to the endemic species needs.
What would a keystone business even look like? Every individual or group must operate within a system — sometimes economic, and always ecological. To become a keystone business or species though, you need to be improving the whole ecosystem’s capacities and capabilities. There is great opportunity to improve economic opportunity while at the same time enhancing ecological systems.
How will we create systems that will create more accountability and transparency and map out our ecological relationships?
Here are a couple ideas I’ve been playing with… Inspired from our Credit score which has no tangible foundation in how we impact ecological health.
1. GECS Platform (Global Ecological Citizenship Score)
A social innovation program and platform that rewards users for accountability, transparency, and integrity in consumerism.
Pilot/Prototype: Foodshed APP development
Concept: Take a picture of your receipts and generate a story map of who produces your food, where it comes from, how it’s produced, and get a score for your purchases based on complex system dynamics.
· A “global ecological citizen” accountability score for each trip to the supermarket
· Incentives for producers with more value chain transparency and higher margins
· Consumer incentive for cash back rewards reducing carbon footprint of foodshed
*GECS Future Categories: Clothing, Technology, Travel, Energy, Entertainment, Medicine, Misc..
2. REGEN Centers
Co-working space for digital nomads who want to invest in global regeneration and preserving biodiversity.
Become a “Global Ecological Citizen” instead of a “digital nomad”,
Leveraging income from travelers to fund well-paid land stewards, educators, and conservation infrastructure.
- A global travel network for fostering “global ecological citizenship”
- Each site is dedicated to bioregional and regenerative land stewardship
- Equipped with conservation nurseries with endemic species and experimental regenerative agriculture
What systems are in place for us to co-evolve healthy, deeply connected relationships with our land and other species that live here over the next seven generations? What venture capitalists are thinking in terms of living systems and like a watershed?
