How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth

By Herve Kempf, Chelsea Green Publishing. Posted November 22, 2008.

There is an emergency. In less than a decade we will have to change course, but there are a few major obstacles blocking the way.



The following is reprinted from the new book How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth by Herve Kempf and published by Chelsea Green.


There is an emergency. In less than a decade we will have to change course -- assuming the collapse of the U.S. economy or the explosion of the Middle East does not impose a change through chaos. To confront the emergency, we must understand the objective: to achieve a sober society; to plot out the way there; to accomplish this transformation equitably, by first making those with the most carry the burden within and between societies; to take inspiration from collective values ascribed to here in France by our nation's motto: "Liberty, ecology, fraternity."

What are the main obstacles that block the way?

First of all, received wisdom -- prejudices really -- so loaded that they orient collective action without anyone really thinking about them. The most powerful of these preconceived ideas is the belief in growth as the sole means of resolving social problems. That position is powerfully defended even as it is contradicted by the facts. And it is always defended by putting ecology aside because the zealots know that growth is incapable of responding to the environmental issue.

The second of these ideas, less cocky although very broadly disseminated, proclaims that technological progress will resolve environmental problems. This idea is propagated because it allows people to hope we will be able to avoid any serious changes in our collective behaviors thanks to technological progress. The development of technology, or rather of certain technical channels to the detriment of others, reinforces the system and fosters solid profits.

The third piece of received wisdom is the inevitability of unemployment. This idea is closely linked to the two previous ideas. Unemployment has become a given, largely manufactured by capitalism to assure the docility of the populace and especially of the lowest level of workers. From a contrary position, the transfer of the oligarchy's wealth for the purpose of public services, a system of taxation that weighed more heavily on pollution and on capital than on employment, sustainable agricultural policies in the countries of the South, and research into energy efficiency are immense sources of employment. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/107988/how_the_rich_are_destroying_the_earth/

[glowing]

1. Its about placing value on real worths, rather than stuff. I know a crazy

concept, but it will have to happen.. 10yrs ago in my environmental science class we were discussing this.. with the Bush years, its more important now than ever to re-value our wealth.. NOT things and stuff.

[CrispyQ]

5. ...

"Life is about the things you do, not the things you have."

~Chris in the Morning, Northern Exposure

[phantom power]

2. For some reason, I'm reminded of the recent "I Robot" movie...

there's that brief scene where you see barren, dried out Great Lakes in the background. The implied assumptions are very interesting. Here we have a climate that went sufficiently haywire to evaporate the great lakes, but we have a thriving human civilization.

[terip64]

3. Watch this great video and pass it on!!!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

[CrispyQ]

4. The rich have used our ecosystem as a resource center

for their own personal profit. We have focused on our economy & growth, without any consideration for our ecosystem, which supports us.

If you liked the above article, you may also like this one. It is much longer, but well worth the time to read.

EXTRAORDINARY: CAPITALISM AT THE EXPENSE OF ALL LIFE, By Juan Santos
http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/851/1/

snip...

Notice where the $700 billion in "bailout" money is going. The black hole that some people feared would swallow the Earth when the CERN particle accelerator was launched in Europe didn't appear there. It appeared thousands of miles away - on Wall Street - and $700 billion in "bail out" money is going into that black hole, never to be seen again.

It's going to fix problems that have no real existence, that are tied to values that have no real existence. It's going down the rabbit hole, the black hole, into the land of illusion, the land of swindles, the land of lies, of the selling of the negation of values, of mirrors upon mirrors, into the unreal land of black magic, where it will impact nothing but the "faith" of capitalist financiers and wizards in their ability to live on - and to sustain themselves with - lies and illusion in a system that is fundamentally not sustainable. They call this psychic trick- this denial - "faith" in the markets, liquidity and credit (and to give credit, of course, means nothing but to put faith or belief in something or someone) - even as the credit markets are drying up. They are drying up because no one who is sane can any longer believe the lie. The whole thing is incredible, unbelievable. Unworthy of credit, trust, belief. One might say it this way. The system itself is "subprime."

Such faith- faith in the unsustainable - is nothing more or less than faith in a lie. The whole thing is based on what Ayn Rand - the late high priestess of capitalism, cruelty, arrogance, free markets and the "virtue" of selfishness, called, ironically enough, given the context, the "blank out."

[AllieB]

6. This book is on my list. The author spoke in Boston a few weeks back at the Alliance Francaise.

I missed him because I was phonebanking for Obama that evening. I can't wait to read the book.

[zeemike]

7. The earth has a cancer growing on it

We know it a unlimited growth
An economic system that is totally dependent on constant growth which means that we must constantly exploit the earths resources to keep it growing.
And that cancerous growth if not stooped and reversed will kill the host.