Compounding Longevity and Climate Crisis

As part of my research on the “Longevity Economy,” I’ve been reading the thought-provoking book Lifespan by David A. Sinclair A.O., Ph.D. Professor at Harvard Medical School. Two concepts he presents about longevity in the book are particularly profound and worth contemplating.

1. Compounding Longevity: Dr. Sinclair highlights that for every month you manage to stay alive, advancements in medical technology add another week to your life. I call this phenomenon “Compounding Longevity”.

Think about it. We often get excited about the impact of compounding on our investments. What Dr. Sinclair suggests is essentially the compounding of our lifespan due to breakthroughs in medical science. He further elaborates: “Forty years from now, it could be another two weeks. Eighty years from now, another three. Things could get really interesting by the end of the century if, for every month you are alive, you gain another four weeks.”

If we take his argument to heart, it means that investing in a healthy lifestyle now will have a significant payoff in the future. Unfortunately, discussions about the latest medical advancements are often overshadowed by trends like crypto and blockchain, which, while important, don’t contribute to our longevity.

Just as we have Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) for our financial future, I suggest we need a Systematic Healthy Investment Plan (SHIP) to ensure we live long enough to enjoy the fruits of those financial plans. The time to let this SHIP sail is now.

2. The Longevity Dilemma and Environmental Impact: Dr. Sinclair also points out that Jeanne Calment, who holds the record for the longest lifespan of any person, may soon lose her spot among the top ten oldest humans as medical technology continues to evolve. He Wrtie: “What if people who have lived beyond 110 had access to all the new technologies? Could they have made it to 120 or 130? Perhaps.”

But what if humans start living to 120 or 130 years? While it may seem like a remarkable achievement, it could have devastating consequences for our environment. As Sinclair writes: “The problem is not population, but its consumption. And it’s not consumption alone, it’s waste. In comes the food; out goes the effluent. In comes the fossil fuel; out goes the carbon emissions.”

With our current patterns of consumption and waste generation, increased longevity could become a curse for the planet. In a public policy class at Harvard, we explored counterfactuals, such as: What if the world adopted the consumption habits of Americans? The results would be catastrophic.

According to Sinclair: “On average, Americans consume more than three times the amount of food they need to survive and about 250 times as much water. In return, they produce 4.4 pounds of trash each day. The annual carbon dioxide emission of an average American is five times as high as the global average.”

He then poses a critical question: What if everyone in the world consumed as Americans do for just one year? According to the nonprofit Global Footprint Network, it would take the Earth four years to regenerate the resources consumed and absorb the waste produced in that single year. This is textbook unsustainability: We consume, consume, consume, and return very little of value to our natural world.

A Call to Action

Humans must recognize that medical advancements will extend life, though the exact extent remains uncertain. What we do know is that this longevity will be significant. At the same time, we must acknowledge that Earth is currently the only home we have. If we do not change our behavior around consumption and waste, as Dr. Sinclair warns, “as we live longer, these environmental crises will be exacerbated.” At some point, we may reach the point of no return.

The time to recognize and act is now.

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