Is it possible for us to use less, earn less and pollute less and still have a reasonable standard of living?
An economy to save the planet? Can we change the way we do business?
Its certainly possible, and could be achieved by means of a gradual movement from our current neoclassical economic model to a model based on non-neoclassical %26quot;Green%26quot; economics.
A change to Green economics would be a revolution in itself, since in its purest form the model rejects the idea of %26quot;exchange value%26quot;, i.e. money, in favour of %26quot;use value%26quot; and %26quot;quality rather than quantity%26quot;. It would, therefore, take some getting used to in our current consumerism and growth based society. So if it were to be introduced it would have to be done in incremental stages. The following quote from the website cited below explains this better than I could -
%26quot;Green economic conversion must be radical, but it must also be incremental and organic. How is this possible? Rodale cites the need for a kind of economic succession which mimics ecological landscape change. We need %26quot;pioneer enterprises%26quot; which can thrive in today's hostile economic landscape, but also prepare the ground for more ecological and egalitarian enterprises to come. A vision of what each sector of the economy would look like in an ecological economy--based on the specifics of each place--is a starting point. This vision must be coupled with practical action in each of these sectors, gradually moving toward this vision. Enough practical activity can eventually generate the impetus for state action to level the playing field for ecological alternatives.%26quot;
It is also worth having a read of the %26quot;ten interrelated principles that cover key dimensions of a green economy%26quot; on the cited website. In fact its altogether a good starting point from which to understand how we can develop a sustainable economic model not based on growth, but based on the life support capacity of the natural ecosystem.
An economy to save the planet? Can we change the way we do business?
I think its possible for us to use more, earn more and pollute less if we only started putting a little effort in.
The business I run with my wife has just started a %26quot;Green Promise%26quot; where we promise to do lots of things:
-We package anything we send out in used packets (some people have moaned about this).
-We turn off all equipment at night - nothing on standby.
-Use energy saving lightbulbs.
-Recycle everything we can.
-Use recycled paper in our printers.
Now if EVERY business did this it would make a difference.
%26lt;rant%26gt;
The main reason that we are polluting is down to lazyness. We like fruit %26amp; veg packaged and not looose %26amp; dirty. We like cucumbers %26amp; tomatoes in December. We like big tank-cars. We don't walk anywhere.
The Human race is fat and lazy and this = pollution.
%26lt;/rant%26gt;
We cycle everywhere we can and the other week only used the car 3 times in 7 days.
Oh and someone has got to tell 4x4 owners that they really don't need it to take to kids to school.....unless the school is at the top of Snowdon :)
One way or another people will adapt, they always do. However i think you make a strong point.
We do need to move to more renewable fuels, and resources. If you look at most economic models you will be happy to no that growth forever dosen't look possible. But this is only if you hold your labor force constant, and if technology stays at the same level.
As technology improves so does efficiency, and then we can make more out of less. There isnt alot anyone person can do about this its a global problem that needs to be worked on globally. One thing to think about though is that the earths population will probably not grow like this forever. As countries become industrialized, and life expectancies increase family sizes decrease, so im sure the population strain will not go on increasing forever either.
I dont think i addressed the whole question but perhaps shed a little insight on it.
Brilliant question I have thought of this a lot my self, unfortunately we are past the sustainable point now and with countries like china growing so fast it鈥檚 getting worst exponentially!
we can all still have a reasonable standard of living but we have to be more mature in how we use our resources, primarily stop abusing energie (oil manly) since energie is the main fuel for economic growth, but this is a long conversation by it self. To ensure a good standard of living going and stop the collapse of the economy ALL countries have to take the step at once , if they don鈥檛 then any countries that change by themselves will fall, this has been shown recently with Germany, a few years ago (cant remember from the top of my head) their equivalent of the green party were in power and they tried to push for a more greener economy, the countries suffered with increased unemployment, and was noticeable around Europe with Germans selling their foreign holiday homes, since then the more status quo party鈥檚 are back in power and the country has recovered, and all they did was push harder for renewable energies and capping carbon emissions, not much but tremors were felt.
To your question about the economic model of growth, as I said earlier energie is the fuel of growth best shown by America and china, in America their GNP is directly liked to enegie consumption, but not in a straight line model its more a curve so as GNP doubles energy consumption triples. Which is similar to most western countries (most of Europe and Japan are now deviating a way), but countries are now capping emissions, this is causing economies to be more efficient with their resources, cutting back on emissions, so the economic model of these countries is moving to a lest wasteful model where goods are still produced but less recourses are used and less waste is created, which is good, but when oil runs out the energie and other resources that are used will be finite/fixed so the only way for growth will be the efficiency in using those resources , so people and companies will have to be careful in how they use their resources. But remember this does not mean a decline in standards of living just a more careful standard of living. Can I point out this is why Mr. Blair has given the go ahead of numerous new nuclear fission power stations to be built too ensure ongoing but dangerous energy to us.
To cut things short if your question is answered properly it would look an encyclopedia I my self wrote a paper on Chinas movement too its modern economy.
P.S. a good book I found on fuel was ' The End of Oil' by Paul Roberts, but it鈥檚 more fun to work out your own view on the economy side
