(no subject)
Growth (plural growths)
1. an increase in size, number, value, or strength
2. (biology) the act of growing, getting bigger or higher
3. (biology) something that grows or has grown
4. (pathology) an abnormal mass such as a tumor
Sustainability
1. the ability to sustain something
2. (ecology) a means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, planning and acting for the ability to maintain these ideals in the very long term
We have an issue, as a society. The demands for greater and greater profits from stockholders, have driven corporate managers to constantly seek to grow the business.
It is the hallmark of American capitalism, and in many ways has provided each and every person likely to read this blog with a standard of living that is the envy of the whole wide world.
It is a standard of living that any beneficiary of capitalism would wish to see everyone, everywhere enjoy.
There is a cost to this, unfortunately, in a finite world. Each person reading this has gone through dozens of pairs of shoes, hundreds of articles of clothing, thousands of rolls of toiletpaper, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water.
The rubber and fabric and leather and twine in the shoes.
The textiles grown or synthesized and the dyes and the thread of the clothes.
The trees, oh my GOD! the trees that went into that toilet paper and the little cardboard rolls.
The Water, that's the craziest of them all, pumped out of the ground, from hundreds of feet below by Diesel driven pumps, piped across thousands of miles, possibly forced by high pressure through a reverse osmosis system and right there at the turn of a knob into your damn drain.
It boggles the mind, how many acres of agricultural land is necessary, how many machines large and small, how many resources consumed, gallons of fuel and lubricants (wink wink), all go into maintaining each and every one of our lifestyles.
Am I asking you to feel guilty? No, not at all. In fact exult in your capacity for crapulence, but remember there is always a price to pay. The question of
growth vs. sustainability is at the heart of this price.
At some point, in the indeterminable future, society will have changed to a degree where the conduct of successful business will be based in exactly how sustainable it is.
That it will take drastic reductions of available resources before the titans of business make any changes is a sad commentary on the short-sighted nature of the human race. Sadly our Earth's greatest strength, its size, is also its greatest weakness. It's so damn huge we never have to see the miles and miles of filthy crap our daily existence creates. The guys who have all the power to do something about it, won't until it walks up and bends them over a recycle bin.
We can try this unfettered growth thing for a little while longer, but soon sustainability will be the new catchphrase in the halls of Harvard Business School.
A Couple of little tidbits to support my point:
Tehran Pollution Kills 3,600 In A Month
Tehran (AFP) Jan 09, 2007
Air pollution has killed 3,600 people in just a month in the Iranian capital Tehran, an official said Tuesday, describing the city's environmental situation as a "collective suicide". "Pollution has directly or indirectly caused the deaths of 3,600 people in the month of Aban (October 23 to November 23)," said Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh, director of Tehran's clean air committee, quoted by Kargozaran newspaper.
A parade of trucks piled with worn-out computers and electronic equipment pulls away from container ships docked at the port of Taizhou in the Zhejiang Province of southeastern China. A short distance inland, the trucks dump their loads in what looks like an enormous parking lot. Pools of dark oily liquid seep from under the mounds of junked machinery. The equipment comes mostly from the United States, Europe and Japan.
Our oceans are turning into plastic...are we?
By Susan Casey, Photographs by Gregg Segal
Feb 20, 2007 - 12:03:05 PM
A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of a plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility...and worse.
Whew almost lost this post when firefox unexpectedly closed, I damn near had a heart attack. Thanks to the version upgrade they have this restore session feature that apparently also saves text, SCORE!
Alright I'm done.