All human activity must become strongly sustainable, so that economic development leads to an increase in well being that can be sustained into the future indefinitely. Current activity must not diminish the capital that future generations can use for their development.

Currently most human activity is short term and natural capital is being depleted at a rate that is simply not sustainable. Natural capital is everything in nature that provides human beings with value. The destruction of natural capital is a sign of unenlightened human thinking as it cannot be fully substituted by man made capital and many cases its destruction is irreversible. Maintaining natural capital is desirable because it provides amenity value in the form of the air we breathe and the water we drink; we value its beauty and its existence has intrinsic value for us and our descendants. Rich biodiversity has the potential to provide new medicines. Undamaged or unpolluted natural capital is necessary for humans as a provider of non-renewable resources, an absorber of low level pollution and a climate stabiliser.

It is vital that we adapt our thinking to ensure that the natural capital we pass to our children is not depleted in a way that means their lives are limited. The way we are going currently means that their lives surely will be badly effected by the fact that currently economic development is clearly unsustainable. The framework within which economic activity currently happens does not adequately bring into economic process the full costs of all external effects and bi-products and does not incentivise decision making that has a long term outlook. This urgently needs to change.

EarthShipOne aims to highlight the issue of sustainability and how vital it is to shift the economic model to a strongly sustainable one if we are to hand on anything like the beautiful liveable world we grew up in.

The Voyage

EarthShipOne plans to begin a voyage around the world in 2011. The route will take in as many of the key cities in developed and developing countries as possible. The Voyage will start in the UK and head south towards Africa before going across the Mid-Atlantic to Brazil.