Tuula Helne: Wellbeing in the time of ecological annihilation. Presentation at Kela Conference on Social Security 2019 – Equality and wellbeing through sustainable social security system, 10.12.2019.

1. Wellbeing in the time of
ecological annihilation
Tuula Helne
Kela Conference on Social Security 2019 –
Equality and wellbeing through a sustainable
social security system
10 December 2019

2. Storyline
The idea of progress
Evolution
The state of the world
The changing conceptions of wellbeing
The relationship between wellbeing and
economic growth
Different economies of wellbeing
Relationality
The stories we tell each other

3. The abbreviated version of "The Road to Homo Sapiens",
Rudolf Zallinger (Early Man, 1965)

4. John Gast,
1872:
American
Progress
Progress moves from the light-skied east to the dark west, leading white
settlers, laying a telegraph wire. As she moves ahead, bison and
indigenous people flee, unable to adjust to her tide.

5. Homo sapiens, the wise man –
or an ecological serial killer?
Shutterstock
The number of bison
dropped from nearly 30
million to just a few hundred
in less than 100 years.

6. Years before
the present
4.5 billion Formation of planet Earth.
2.5 million Evolution of the genus Homo in Africa.
200 000 Homo sapiens evolves in East Africa.
70 000 The cognitive revolution.
- Emergence of fictive language.
12 000 The agricultural revolution.
500 The scientific revolution, the rise of capitalism.
200 The industrial revolution.
- Massive extinction of plants and animals.
Timeline of history (Yuval Noah Harari)

7. Just a few stark facts:
Human actions threaten more species with
extinction now than ever before.
Around 1 million animal and plant species face
extinction, many within decades.
The rate of global change in nature during the
past 50 years is unprecedented in human history.
The Intergovernmental
Science-Policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services
The global assessment
report on biodiversity and
ecosystem services
2019, IPBES:

10. Exposes a huge gap, with fossil fuel production in 2030
heading for 50% more than is consistent the goal of the Paris
agreement to keep the global heating well below 2°C, and
120% more than the aim to keep it below 1.5°C.
The
Production
Gap report

11. 28 November: The European parliament
declared a global “climate and
environmental emergency” as it urged all
EU countries to commit to net zero
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

12. ”Humanity has never been moving faster
nor further from sustainability than now.”
Paul Ehrlich, Peter Kareva & Gretchen Daily,
Nature 486, 2012
Getty images

13. There is absolutely no
proof that human well-
being improves as
history rolls along.

16. All we wanted was the good
life
Aristotle: the good life,
eudaimonia (wellbeing) =
virtuous activity

17. Sir William Beveridge:
economist,
the father or the welfare state
Discusses five points that leaders of churches in Britain laid
down in 1940 as standards by which economic institutions
may be tested.
The Pillars of Security and other
war-time essays and addresses
(1943):

18. 4. The sense of a divine vocation must be restored
to a man’s daily work.
= In the daily life of each of us there should be
something done more and more consciously,
without thought of rewards, whether it is part of
paid work or not.
5. The resources of the Earth should be used as
God’s gifts to the whole human race and used with
due consideration to the needs of the present and
future generations.
The most important propositions that underlie all
the rest:

19. Economic growth
Wellbeing as the satisfaction
of wants (mainstream
economics), increasing
consumption and economic
prosperity
”The accumulation imperative”
(Daniel Hausknost, 2019)
Current welfare states

20. We have not invested in the wellbeing and
inclusion of people solely because we have had
the financial resources to do so; instead, we have
also wanted to become a prosperous nation.
Programme of Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s Government, 6 June 20
Wellbeing is also connected to the wealth of
nations

21. Wellbeing has been coupled with
economic growth
Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the
European Union wants EU decision-makers to
recognise that wellbeing of people is a prerequisite
for economic growth and social and economic
stability.
Wellbeing means that people are healthier, more
innovative and productive, and they work and pay
taxes.
Economy of wellbeing in the EU: people’s wellbeing fosters
economic growth
https://eu2019.fi/en/backgrounders/economy-of-wellbeing

22. The welfare state as a growth machine
The heritage of Pekka Kuusi
(Social Policy for the
Sixties: a Plan for Finland):
the goal of public policies
is to increase the national
income
the good of the citizen is
best served by a rising
standard of living
social policy promotes
economic growth

23. The ”virtuous” circle
Hirvilammi: The Virtuous Circle of Sustainable Welfare as a Transformative
Policy Idea, Sustainability 2020 (submitted); Laatu, Hirvilammi & Helne 2011

24. The different economies of wellbeing/
wellbeing economies: 3 narratives
1. The Economy of Wellbeing: the official narrative;
OECD
 expands the opportunities to people for upward social
mobility and improves their lives along the dimensions that
matter most to them
 ensures that these opportunities translate into WB outcomes
for all, reducing inequalities
 ensures environmental and social sustainability
 seeks to establish and sustain a virtuous circle in which
sustainable economic growth and wellbeing work to the
benefit of people and society
OECD Background paper: The Economy of
Wellbeing. Creating opportunities for people’s
well-being and economic growthAn economy that

25. ”Policy makers are not only promoting well-
being as an intrinsic good, but also investing
in people’s potential as a key driver for long-
term economic growth.”
”The paper argues first of all that investing
in people’s well-being sets the foundations
for stronger and more sustainable economic
growth.”

26. The EWB is a policy orientation and governance
approach which aims to put people and their wellbeing
at the centre of policy and decision-making.
While people's wellbeing is a value in itself, the EWB
underlines the mutually reinforcing nature of wellbeing
and economic growth. Taking wellbeing into account
in all policies is vitally important to the Union’s
economic growth, productivity, long-term fiscal
sustainability and societal stability.
 At the same time, sustainable and inclusive economic
growth functions as an enabler for the wellbeing of
people, societies and the planet.
The official narrative:
Council of the European Union
The Economy of Wellbeing
Draft Council Conclusions
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/d
oc/document/ST-13171-2019-
INIT/en/pdf

27. The ecological unsustainability of economic growth

28. The main drivers of ecological destruction:
Production and consumption patterns;
increasing material throughput
Population growth

29. Panic about population
decline in Finland
Mounting pile of research indicating that the
quality and quantity of men’s sperm is on the
decline;
Sperm count in Western men has dropped over
50 percent since 1973
Finland is following the trend
Chemical residues in the environment.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3739152/
https://academic.oup.com/humupd/article/23/6/646/4035689
https://www.stat.fi/til/synt/2
017/synt_2017_2018-04-
27_tie_001_en.html
Total fertility rate at an all-time low

30. The social unsustainability of economic growth
OECD: ”The economic and social case for Going Beyond
GDP: numerous OECD publications have documented rising
inqualities in income, wealth and opportunity”.
• Across the OECD, disposable income of the richest
10 % has risen from 7 times of the poorest decile 25
years ago to 9.7 times today.
…not to mention
global disparities
• 10% of households hold
more than half of all wealth,
while the bottom 40 % barely
own 3 %.

31. More than one in six people across EU countries
had a mental health issue (2016)
Finland: mental disorders are the most common
ground for sickness allowance.
Health at a Glance: Europe 2018: State of Health in the EU
Kela Pocket Statistics
Are we happier than
the hunter-gatherers?
GDP/capita, Finland

32. The vicious circle of the virtuous circle
Hirvilammi: The Virtuous Circle of Sustainable Welfare as a
Transformative Policy Idea, Sustainability 2020 (submitted)

33. IPBES: Goals for achieving sustainability cannot be
met by current trajectories, and goals for 2030 and
beyond may only be achieved through
transformative changes across economic, social,
political and technological factors.
A key constituent of sustainable pathways is the
evolution of global financial and economic systems
to build a global sustainable economy, steering
away from the current limited paradigm of
economic growth.

34. A glass ceiling of
socio-ecological
transformation
The imperative of
sustaining economic
growth and material
affluence prevent a
transformation towards
sustainability.
Hausknost, D. 2019, Environmental Politics

35. Out of the desert?
= the possibility of wellbeing in the time of
ecological annihilation?
A deeply flawed
story
Moses leading Hebrew people out into a very barren
wilderness.
https://aspley-albanycreek.org.au/march-7-2019-sermon-extravagance/the-exodus/

36. Sustainability
transformation
Narratives
Knowledge
Actors: critical mass
How to get to
where we
need to be: a
better story

37. IPBES: Transformations towards sustainability are
more likely when efforts are directed at the
following key leverage points, where efforts yield
exceptionally large effects
1) visions of a good life that do not entail ever-
increasing material consumption
2) lowering total consumption and waste;
3) values and action; unleashing existing widely
held values of responsibility to effect new social
norms for sustainability

38. Stories are rooted in
world views/ ontologies
Atomistic ontology;
the human exemptionalism paradigm:
individuals are seen as separate from nature
Relational ontology:
interconnectedness and dependence
Catton & Dunlap, 1980
Narratives
Ontologies
Ontology: Being; what
entities exist and how
they are related

39. The idea of wellbeing has to be decoupled from
economic growth
A relational, inclusive and holistic conception of
wellbeing, in which
Changing the narrative of wellbeing
A conception of wellbeing that makes us happier.
• wellbeing is embedded in its ecosystemic
foundation,
• humans are seen as part of nature,
• the wellbeing of ecosystems and all living
beings is promoted

40. A relational conception of wellbeing:
The Having-Doing-Loving-Being approach
Ecosystems
Human wellbeing
Resources Environmental
impacts
Tuula Helne & Tuuli Hirvilammi
2014, 2015, 2017, 2019
Having Loving
Doing Being
Erik Allardt (1976, 1990, 1993):
Having, Loving, Being

41. Having: basic sustenance through material
resources provided by ecosystems.
Doing: ecologically and ethically sustainable activities
(“doing the right thing”); meaningful activities that
permit the maintenance of one’s integrity.
Loving: connective and compassionate relations with
other people, other species and nature.
Being: presence, wholeness, self-actualization, a
sense of interconnectedness, living in harmony with
nature.

42.  3 narratives
 ”the economy of wellbeing” vs. ”wellbeing economy”
Changing the narrative of
”the economy of wellbeing”
www.colinjamesmethod.com

43. 2. Wellbeing economy: Soste
(Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health)
Wellbeing and good life are the main goals of a
wellbeing economy. The other objectives such as
economic growth, expansion of welfare state or
deepening of democracy are considered subordinate
to it.
Wellbeing investments foster growth of productivity.
-- Wellbeing broadly understood is hence also capital
for economic growth.
Ahokas & Rouvinen-Wilenius 2019; https://www.soste.fi/future-of-
europe/wellbeing-economy-as-cornerstone-of-future-of-europe/

44. 3. Wellbeing economy:
Wellbeing Economy
Alliance
The current economic system is unfair,
unsustainable, unstable and unhappy.
A wellbeing economy has the fundamental goal of
achieving sustainable wellbeing with dignity and
fairness for humans and the rest of nature. This is in
stark contrast to current economies that are wedded
to a very narrow vision of development -
indiscriminate growth of GDP.
Costanza et al. Solutions 2/2018
A global collaboration of organisations,
alliances, movements and individuals for
changing the economic system to create a
wellbeing economy: one that delivers
human and ecological wellbeing.

45. A wellbeing economy
recognizes that the
economy is embedded in
society and nature. It
must be understood and
managed as an
integrated,
interdependent system.

46. What does the relational conception
of wellbeing imply for social security?
From national to global
concerns
From social security to
ecosocial security
From social policy to
ecosocial policy
From welfare states to eco-
social welfare states
There is no
such thing as
social security
Towards relational social security

47. How: a strong, growing concensus that this can
and should be done
The Guardian 16 Sep 2018
A robust literature on
ecosocial policies and
post-growth economies;
numerours policy
alternatives and
suggestions

48. “Only as men come to see themselves
as part of a larger whole -- can the
selfishness and the strife which lead to
self-destruction be banished from the
world.”
- William Beveridge
…and then they lived happily ever after…

49. The era of progress is yet to come.
Let us begin it now.
Casey Horner, unsplash.com