How is it possible to lift all 7 billion boats without using the whole biosphere up? Economic activity brings the possibility of survival to the poorest and financial security to the middle class,but will it further devestate nature?

I would say that an emphasis on quality of life, with the wealthier citizens of spaceship earth sacrififcing meaningless consumption and quantitiy of possesions, could be a way to lift everyone together on a different wave. Would financial security and reproductive (and all other) rights for women tend to reduce population? I think so.

Quality over quantity, a whole new cultural aesthetic, could counter the crass weltanschuung of eternal growth.

If the booming economic activty humans pursue is to recycle and remanufacture our techno-civilization into a symbiotic one, that sees us all as part of the living planet, then i say let the (solar, wind powered) solar panel and electric car factories hum. And maybe cancel the full parking lot? Bike trails and electric buses would be much better.

So can we have job and manufacturing (exponential) growth and financial security and a more secure life for even the poorest and still become carbon negative as a civilization over the next couple of decades? Dean Kamen's water purification device for drought and famine stricken regions is an example of the current attempts to use technology on a small local scale, using mass production efficiency.

This area of development is huge, it has billions of potential customers. Composting toilets, water recycling systems, biogas cooking setups, all kinds of low tech inovative production can be targeted to solve survival hurdles. But even wealthier people can voluntarily adopt a high quality lifestyle using this simple technology too. It would allow sacrifice to help out in this transition, just as people grew victory gardens and collected rubber and metal for recycling for WW II war production.

I would not mind being hooked up to a solar panel and batteries and coast once in awhile if the smart grid needed to put me on emergency power. Or drive an electric car that would only have a top speed of 50. A lot of us would be willing to live on a par with our fellow humans around the globe, if we could all come to a higher quality lower consumption symbiotic life together.

I'm thinking 10% worldwide would volunteer to do this if they knew it would work and how to get there. That just might start a trend in time to turn the climate disaster around.

As with the lowly (who are we to judge?) microorganism on a petri plate, quality trumps quantity in terms of survival.  Choosing better genetics is the tool that these tiny creatures use, they just have to get those decisions by sacrificing most of their number in a rapid turnover of evolutionary acrobatics.

We try to choose a better conscious course for our civilization through a better quality and length of life for individuals, but without mass production that road won't be taken by the bulk of humanity that really needs to change course.

With life you can't just shoot for idealism, you need pragmatism too.  Pragmatic idealism, human industry and productivity driven by our better angels.

We are going to need to work our way out of this carbon disaster.  It is right to question an increase in human manufacturing activity as a way to get there. 

It's not more organisms, more humans consuming more of the biosphere that signals success, it is an exponential wave of recycling, reuse, and conservation powered by renewable energy that will allow the reduction of each human carbon footprint enough to get a collective elimination of the global human carbon burden on the biosphere. 

Zero times 7 billion is still zero, 7 billion times a negative number, with each human managing to do their part to increase carbon sequestration from say organic farming based on waste biomass recycling, could build to a huge climate cure over time.

How I would envision this sort of sacrifice for the climate, is that people in wealthy nations would choose to live simply in solar powered, insulasted, comfortable, and efficient tent-like shelters. A portion of the rent or mortgage payment and utility expenses avoided could help pay to manufacture systems to export the simple technology to people who really need it to survive.

Composting toilets, solar battery electric power, solar water recycling and water heating, ultra water conserving compressed air/water spray washing/cleaning, biogas cooking gas and energy systems, a community wind power system, could all be sent to friends in countries where these items can't be afforded.

A former Grist contributor wrote an article about an eco-tourism trip to Coasta Rica where she helped local people build a pig powered biogas cooking system and install solar/battery electric power.

This sort of action could be expanded so that as 10% of americans decide to become houseless in this way, through donations and eco-tourism and student exchange programs and the like, the effort could expand to cover a similar proportion of all of humanity, starting with those in the most desperate conditions.

A lifesaving effort funded by sacrifice, give up your mcmansion and live in a (green-tech) tent, and donate what you saved to supply friends in need with clean water, heat, sanitation, and so forth.

I bet people like Gates and Branson would even kick in some cash. So houseless green revolutionaries, especially baby boomer (ex?) hippy campers could mainly donate their time and energy, maybe even traveling to other countries and helping install these devices. Then hosting visitors and students from those countries in beautiful tent living here.

Houselessness made voluntary and patriotic, you betcha! Intentional communities, campgrounds, wilderness conservation land, could all host campers. It would be a hoot. Probably a hootenany or two too, eeeww earplugs kids! Hehehey.

I'm looking for wilderness property to start a resort like this now. That way people can come and experience zero carbon impact comfortable tent (houseless) living and see how they like the idea.

All the water conservation/recycling, solar electric/water heating, composting toilet, local organic food, wind powered, biogas cooking/electric backup, silent sports trail running, biking,skiing,swimming, paddling zen...ing out with yoga and sweat lodge (icehole jumping), high quality of life/low consumption lifestyle vacation they can handle.

So far everyone I tell about it out on the trail loves the idea. Experiencing is believing, if they feel the sacrifice is worth it and that this zero carbon life is real, it might just spread. Then there's youtube too. Some people will believe video evidence made by vistors. All we need is 10% to retire, go to school, or just live and work from this sort of camping venue.

Then help spread that lifestyle to the poorest nations first.

Think about it, 20% of humanity is wealthy enough to live this way and donate part of their savings in bills (due to their low impact/low cost tenting) to pay for one setup like this to be shipped out to a family in need per year.

At that admittedly optimal (idealistic) rate in only 5 years the other 80% of humans would be able to live this way too. Mass production could make that goal practical, how long did it take to ramp up WW II war production?

Pragmatic idealism in action! 20% who are rich (relatively) sacrifice (greatly enhance the quality of their existence) and donate to lift everyone's boats all over the planet, starting with the most at risk people first.

If karma, heaven, or the magical effect of mirror neuron empathy are real, this kind of total commitment to spaceship earth and our fellow travelors should come as close as possible in this dimension.  Hehey.

Bucky Fuller would love it, people going on vacation to use his "fog gun" water conserving Dymaxion shower.