How to temper capitalism for a more sustainable world
The human race is running out of time as climate change threatens to spiral out of control. Solutions are forthcoming at this year's Slow Life Symposium, but are they radical enough, asks Mark Footer
She is not here, but Naomi Klein's influence is being felt at this year's Slow Life Symposium.
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Founded by the owners of luxury resort operator Soneva Group, the annual meeting of environmental minds encompasses three days of discussion - and plenty of wining and dining - and alternates between the group's two eco-resorts: Soneva Kiri, in Thailand, and this one, Soneva Fushi, in the Maldives.
The "world's only barefoot symposium" plays host to scientists, filmmakers, activists, politicians and economists, as well as the occasional big name - entrepreneur Richard Branson and actress Daryl Hannah have attended, and Lily Cole would have been here this year as a representative of her social network impossible.com had the model not taken sick. Its aims are to foster partnerships and creative thought through a series of quick-fire presentations - "Slow Life" stands for "sustainable, local, organic, wellness, learning, inspiring, fun, experiences" rather than describing the pace adopted in its staging - small gatherings, snorkelling trips and tours of the resort's compost heaps. Given the generosity of Soneva founders Sonu and Eva Shivdasani - both of whom take an active role in the proceedings - it is perhaps no surprise that many participants are symposium regulars.
Naomi Klein's latest book
For this, the fifth symposium (which took place last month), the theme is "capitalism within planetary boundaries", looking at models of finance that can help to secure a sustainable world, and the meeting comes a couple of months after Klein published , a book that argues that only a complete reimagining of capitalism will save the human race from its own excesses. The Canadian author rubbishes the idea that salvation will come in the form of ingenious technologies and an incremental shift away from fossil fuels because it's simply too late to implement them before the planet heats to a point at which climate chaos will be utterly unpredictable - and devastating.
"Gentle tweaks to the status quo stopped being a climate option when we supersized the American Dream in the 1990s, and then proceeded to take it global," she writes.
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Another author, British comedian Russell Brand, puts the thinking succinctly in his new book, : "Today humanity faces a stark choice: save the planet and ditch capitalism, or save capitalism and ditch the planet."
Scientists such as Guy McPherson, a professor emeritus of natural resources and ecology and evolutionary biology with the University of Arizona, go even further, and suggest we are already a long way down our own road to extinction.
