Sunday, November 25, 2012

Capitalism and Our Endangered Earth

In nature there is an amazing process called succession. It is the evolution of a community. I know you have seen it yourself. A field is plowed and left fallow, pioneer species adapted to disturbed soils and full sun move in. They change the conditions in the field, and soon small shrubs appear. As they grow they produce shade, which gives other plants who like shade a place to grow. And so it goes until eventually we end up with a forest of large trees.

In nature there are cycles that replenish things critical for life on earth - water, air, gasses, compost, to name a few. Interrupting these processes causes a tremble in the web of life, one that can be fatal to our planet over time.

In nature, there are a finite number of minerals, trees, land, freshwater, oceans, coal, oil, shale, iron ore, metals - everything we use to create the "things" that feed our addiction to consumption. The operating word here is finite.

In nature there is a concept called "carrying capacity". It is the maximum level at which a habitat can indefinitely sustain a species. A sustainable state, if you will.  If a species exceeds its carrying capacity, there are food shortages, increased aggression for the limited resources, high rates of disease and epidemics, poor health, social upheaval, and death. Does this sound familiar? Turn on the news.

The past few years I have come to believe that capitalism is failing. I have observed the divide growing between the rich and and everyone else. The driver of capitalism and the globalization of the economy is simple. Greed. Make more money so you can make more money. No matter what the cost to society or the Earth. Buy the cheapest parts to get the biggest profit margin, regardless of whether someone in a country across the sea was paid three dollars a week and an entire community's water supply was polluted by the waste coming from the factory. As long as the profits keep growing.

It is no wonder that the Democrats and the Republicans can't find a solution to our economic woes. There isn't one for our current system. It is doomed to fail, it is already failing. We need a new one.

We humans continue to separate ourselves from the living Earth we are a part of. We think there is an infinite supply of natural resources. There isn't. We have separated ourselves from our fellow creatures and most people don't possess an even basic understanding of how things interact or work together in the natural world. This is an extreme departure from the way we lived for thousands of years.

Our love affair with technology isn't helping either. It is taking us even further from our place in the world as one of millions of species of animals. Few take the time anymore to learn about the Earth. It is much more intoxicating to spend hours on Facebook or hooked up to an iPod. Do you know who lives in your backyard, sharing their home with you? Do you know the names of the birds that sing to you every morning? Or where they go in the winter? Or whether their lives are being threatened by development down the street?

Black Friday is a good name for the craziness that the marketing experts have created in our society. It is a capitalistic feeding frenzy. And now, let's open the stores on Thanksgiving so we can lure shoppers away from their families to get a deal and increase our profits for the year.  Who cares if our employees want to be home with their families on one of the most traditional American holidays? It is all about profits.

When will we wake up and say enough is enough?

One of my favorite people in the world is Jerry Mander (yes that is his real name). He has contributed several important books that give wake up calls to society. His latest is called "The Capitalism Papers". It is brilliant. I would encourage all of you to get a copy and read it with an open mind. This is not about pushing socialism or communism, this book is about why capitalism has outlived its usefulness through economic succession. It is also about the Earth and her carrying capacity for the seven billion humans occupying the planet. And we are fast approaching eight billion. When I was a child, there were only three. What are we doing?

When cost is the most important consideration in the decision making process, society has failed and its decay imminent. It is already happening. The human population is in a constant state of war. Our climate has changed. We are experiencing an increase in natural disasters. We are permitting the destruction of wild land set designated as wilderness and national parks, lands protected for future generations, all at the pleasure of the oil and gas companies. Drill baby drill. This is the rape of Mother Earth.

We live in a state of threat, real or imagined. Increased security. ID tags that you must wear around your neck at all times when on the job. More passwords than holidays. Drones flying in the skies. More people carrying concealed weapons. More laws letting you shoot and kill someone simply because you felt threatened. Maybe you were, and maybe you weren't. We'll never know.

I don't like writing blogs like this. But we have to look at what is happening. Not one piece at a time, but at the whole picture. A social ecological perspective, if you will.

There is hope, there is always hope. It begins with honesty.

"Hello, my name is Barb and I am a recovering capitalist".

I believe if we all rediscover our part in the web of life, there is a chance we can turn this thing around.  We have to learn to care about others again, instead of living in fear and paranoia that someone is out to screw us. We have to ask ourselves about what is truly important to us. And we have to educate ourselves about our environment and the affects we are having on our Mother, the Earth.

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