Don't Just Change a Light Bulb, Change the System

Forty years ago today the MIT Limits to Growth study was first publicly presented. To honor this prophetic work, the non-profit GrowthBusters project is launching a campaign to raise awareness that human population and industrial economies have outgrown the planet."Think small: Don't just change a light bulb, change your life, change the system." The campaign, led by Dave Gardner, the filmmaker behind the recent documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, encourages citizens to pledge to have smaller families, get out of debt, scale down consumption and unplug from a culture obsessed with the false paradigm of endless growth as the key to prosperity. The campaign culminates on Earth Day weekend, April 20-22, with house parties and community screenings of GrowthBusters around the world.
The Limits to Growth study ran scenarios to determine what might happen to population, economies and resources if the trends of the time continued or were intentionally altered in order to achieve a sustainable equilibrium. In the film, Dennis Meadows, who headed the study, recalls, "Our computer-generated scenarios all showed this growth stopping in the early decades of the 21st century, and, I must say, looking back now, it seems that we're right on schedule."The film and campaign encourage all nations and peoples to embrace the end of growth and the beginning of true sustainability. Most world leaders are focused today on restoring economic growth. Many experts believe such efforts are a waste of time, and by further eroding the planet's ecosystems hamper the world's ability to achieve a sustainable population/economy equilibrium. "The sooner we stop trying to relive the binge of the 20th century - powered by easy access to fossil fuels and other resources - the sooner we can get on with the business of adopting a sustainable model for the 21st century," says Gardner.
GrowthBusters is making the rounds of film festivals, community centers, church basements and living rooms. The film features interviews and commentary from such experts as Bill McKibben, Jane Goodall, William Rees, Gus Speth, Raj Patel, Robert Engelman, Herman Daly, and Juliet Schor.Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, declared, "This could be the most important film ever made." The film has been nominated for Best Feature Film and Best Science Communication Film by the Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival in New Zealand. It will screen at the Soho International Film Festival in New York City, the Cosmic Cine Filmfestival in Germany, and the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado.