Paul Gilding is an Australian

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

, consultant, and author, known for ''The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World'' (2011).

Career

Gilding started his career as an activist in his early teens, focusing on South African

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

and

Indigenous land rights in Australia In Australia, Indigenous land rights or Aboriginal land rights are the rights and interests in land of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people; the term may also include the struggle for those rights. Connection to the land and ...

. While serving in the Australian Air Force, he also became involved in the

nuclear disarmament Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons. Its end state can also be a nuclear-weapons-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated. The term ''denuclearization'' is also used to describe the pro ...

movement. According to an interview on ''

AlterNet AlterNet is a left-leaning news website based in the United States. It was launched by the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of '' Raw Story''. Coverage Coverage is divided into several special sections re ...

'', Gilding's experience in

anti-nuclear The Anti-nuclear war movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, n ...

politics led to a greater awareness of environmental issues and led him to join

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

in the 1980s, becoming involved in

direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

s against corporate polluters. Between 1989 and 1994, Gilding served as the executive director of

Greenpeace Australia Greenpeace Australia Pacific (GPAP) is the regional office of the global environmental organisation Greenpeace. Greenpeace Australia Pacific is one of Australia's largest environmental organisations. Origins and formation Greenpeace Australia ...

and, later,

Greenpeace International Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity" and focuses its ...

. He has served in the Australian military, and was a global CEO of

. In 2012, Gilding delivered a presentation on the thesis of his book at the 2012

TED conference TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

titled ''The Earth is Full''. Gilding served on the advisory board of

The Climate Mobilization The Climate Mobilization (TCM) is a grassroots environmental advocacy group working toward large-scale political action against global warming. It believes that the crisis of climate change requires a national economic effort on the scale of the ...

, a grassroots advocacy group calling for a global economic mobilisation against

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

on the scale of the American

home front during World War II The term "home front" covers the activities of the civilians in a nation at war. World War II was a total war; homeland Military production during World War II, military production became vital to both the Allies of World War II, Allied and Axis ...

, with the goal of 100% clean energy and

net zero Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. He is a fellow of the

Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), formerly the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and the Cambridge Programme for Industry, is part of the University of Cambridge. The institute works with leaders to ...

, and has led residential seminars convened by its The Prince of Wales's Business & Sustainability Programme in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

''The Great Disruption''

In ''The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World'' (2011), Gilding posits that the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

was a symptom of human civilization growing beyond Earth's ability to support it, and is tied to the threat posed by

and other forms of

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

. Because of this, Gilding calls for an end to the whole concept of exponential

economic growth In economics, economic growth is an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and Service (economics), services that a society Production (economics), produces. It can be measured as the increase in the inflation-adjusted Outp ...

, which he blames for the consumption and waste that has led to both the economic and ecological crises facing mankind and modern civilisation. Contrary to many environmental writers (including

James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating syst ...

Clive Hamilton Clive Charles Hamilton Order of Australia, AM FRSA (born 12 March 1953) is an Australian public intellectual currently serving as Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and the Vice-Chancellor' ...

Richard Heinberg Richard William Heinberg (b. October 21, 1950) is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 14 books, and presently serves as the senio ...

, and

James Howard Kunstler James Howard Kunstler is an American writer, social critic, public speaker, and blogger known for his analysis of urban development, suburbanization, and energy issues. Born in New York City to Jewish parents, he gained prominence through his no ...

) Gilding argues that people will work together through the climate crisis and that humanity as a whole will eventually act in time to save civilisation, albeit too late to prevent catastrophic consequences. He bases this argument on the ingenuity of past generations in the midst of crisis, particularly

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Gilding also believes that the global economy will fully embrace

sustainable energy Energy system, Energy is sustainability, sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the e ...

when societies fully accept the reality of climate change and abandon

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...

resources.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilding, Paul Living people Australian climate activists Australian corporate directors Australian environmentalists Australian non-fiction writers Australian soldiers Non-fiction environmental writers People associated with Greenpeace Sustainability advocates Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)

Career

''The Great Disruption''

See also

References

External links