THE problem
The news is full of doom and gloom about recessions, oil prices, housing slump, immigration and a whole host of other problems laid squarely at government policies. The real issue is that nobody can talk about what the real problem is. Nobody can talk about it because it brings up so many uncomfortable conversations and emotive and (in many peoples opinion) unethical practices. Sadly NOT talking about it blurs the real issues.
But before I get to the nub of it all and please feel free to disagree with me, I am going to make a statement that will be the essence of all truths I present:
"Saving the planet will be very important to everyone provided it doesn't get in the way of making a profit"
Greed is what makes the world go round. That's as simple as it gets. Without greed you and I would not have the luxury of the things we take for granted. Getting rich is where it's at and hang who we hurt in the process. You see the problem with getting rich is that someone has to become poor.
So what is the problem? Population. It's simple really. There are just way too many humans on the planet. We have increased the world population in the last 40 years by over 50% from 4 billion to 6.2 billion and thanks to our own cleverness we are not dying away as fast as we did before. Add to that our medicine is so good that our survival rate of diseases and disabilities has also increased the population where normal attrition would have taken place. At the same time the attrition rate of our environment has increased exponentially with more species of plant and animal becoming extinct or endangered and many biospheres damaged beyond repair. The population growth is expected to add another 2 billion people in the next 20 years which will ensure we cover a vast swathe of the planet, pushing the biosphere even harder. Our consumption of resources will increase tenfold as we bring previously technologically backward nations forward and as their economies develop so will their demand for goods that need resources to create. We are like a virus on the planet, destructive to everything including our own existence where previously we enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the world. Don't get the impression that I am on some tree-hugger hippy trip, all I want is for my son and his children to get the chance to enjoy the world before it's a lifeless desert so I am saying this for a purely selfish reason. I am just as guilty of conspicuous consumption and looking to increase my earnings as I go. The difference is I am now able to make informed choices
Think of this. We are all being asked to reduce our carbon footprint, to reduce emissions by 40% and recycle. So if we increase the population by 40% over the same period, how does that help? Also think about how the governments are starting to tax us on the rubbish we produce when the same government won't tackle manufacturers who over-pack the same goods we are responsible for disposing of. You may find other examples of consumers paying the taxes that should be levelled at the originators if you look carefully.
So this brings it back to economics and greed. Why do we allow this to happen? Think about why governments incentivise creation of children, regardless of circumstance? Simple. Corporations need new consumers and governments need more taxpayers. Manufacturing can only reduce costs to a certain level and past that you need to increase quantity in order to maintain profit. In order to sell quantity you have to do one of two things, increase your market or market share or make your product one that needs to be renewed frequently. So we have 'emerging markets' and 'built-in obsolescence'.
Do you remember when your car would last between 10 to 15 years and a washing machine about the same? Nowadays the projected life for each of them is effectively between 5 and 7 years. Manufacturers reply that this is due to the complexity of the product and the number of moving parts. Have you seen how fast new models of products are now released? Most televisions are redundant a year after they are released. So where does all the raw material come from to produce these new models? And how come a TV that costs £1000 on release can cost £500 within a year? Fabrication plants have been running at roughly the same costs for some years in terms of raw materials. Yet foodstuffs have been steadily increasing in costs over the same period.
Now the problem you have with cost reduction is that you increasingly rely on automation which removes humans from employment. More unemployed people still want to buy products and corporations can hardly afford to lose markets so governments have to fill the gaps in order to provide the wherewithall to fund the consumption. This is done by raising taxes and sadly if you have an increasing population then the demand for money increases accordingly. Add to that inflation (an arbitrary increase in costs of goods - usually to do with speculation [read greed]). So in order to ensure you have money you must have more people adding money to the government coffers.
Maybe this is a little simplistic and I am sure the economists among you will disagree with me. Distribution of wealth is always an emotive subjective as well as the idea of population reduction. Whenever I espouse the subject of population control I am harangued by those that point out the rights of people to procreate. I am not a fan of Eugenics either but that is something also levelled at me when I suggest we need a way of reducing population. The usual argument is "who is to decide to lives or dies?" and yes it's an emotive subject but I can guarantee you this. If it ever comes to a decision by someone, you can be sure it will be someone with enough money!
It is sad to say but what the world needs is an enema to flush the virus away. A global pandemic to kill 60% of the population is what some scientists reckon would restore the world to some kind of balance. It probably won't reverse the damage already done. As it is we're consuming the world away and will continue to incentivise the destruction of even more of our essential natural resources simply because nobody can control the companies.
So what can be done about it? Pretty little really. There is no way that you can stop capitalism as it forms the basis for every transaction in the world. We can change the way we shop and hope that consumer choice will change the way that corporations view the world. The damage is done and there is NO sign that any global company wants to reverse it, just slowly reduce it while they work out another way of recouping their profits. By then it will probably be too late
But before I get to the nub of it all and please feel free to disagree with me, I am going to make a statement that will be the essence of all truths I present:
"Saving the planet will be very important to everyone provided it doesn't get in the way of making a profit"
Greed is what makes the world go round. That's as simple as it gets. Without greed you and I would not have the luxury of the things we take for granted. Getting rich is where it's at and hang who we hurt in the process. You see the problem with getting rich is that someone has to become poor.
So what is the problem? Population. It's simple really. There are just way too many humans on the planet. We have increased the world population in the last 40 years by over 50% from 4 billion to 6.2 billion and thanks to our own cleverness we are not dying away as fast as we did before. Add to that our medicine is so good that our survival rate of diseases and disabilities has also increased the population where normal attrition would have taken place. At the same time the attrition rate of our environment has increased exponentially with more species of plant and animal becoming extinct or endangered and many biospheres damaged beyond repair. The population growth is expected to add another 2 billion people in the next 20 years which will ensure we cover a vast swathe of the planet, pushing the biosphere even harder. Our consumption of resources will increase tenfold as we bring previously technologically backward nations forward and as their economies develop so will their demand for goods that need resources to create. We are like a virus on the planet, destructive to everything including our own existence where previously we enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the world. Don't get the impression that I am on some tree-hugger hippy trip, all I want is for my son and his children to get the chance to enjoy the world before it's a lifeless desert so I am saying this for a purely selfish reason. I am just as guilty of conspicuous consumption and looking to increase my earnings as I go. The difference is I am now able to make informed choices
Think of this. We are all being asked to reduce our carbon footprint, to reduce emissions by 40% and recycle. So if we increase the population by 40% over the same period, how does that help? Also think about how the governments are starting to tax us on the rubbish we produce when the same government won't tackle manufacturers who over-pack the same goods we are responsible for disposing of. You may find other examples of consumers paying the taxes that should be levelled at the originators if you look carefully.
So this brings it back to economics and greed. Why do we allow this to happen? Think about why governments incentivise creation of children, regardless of circumstance? Simple. Corporations need new consumers and governments need more taxpayers. Manufacturing can only reduce costs to a certain level and past that you need to increase quantity in order to maintain profit. In order to sell quantity you have to do one of two things, increase your market or market share or make your product one that needs to be renewed frequently. So we have 'emerging markets' and 'built-in obsolescence'.
Do you remember when your car would last between 10 to 15 years and a washing machine about the same? Nowadays the projected life for each of them is effectively between 5 and 7 years. Manufacturers reply that this is due to the complexity of the product and the number of moving parts. Have you seen how fast new models of products are now released? Most televisions are redundant a year after they are released. So where does all the raw material come from to produce these new models? And how come a TV that costs £1000 on release can cost £500 within a year? Fabrication plants have been running at roughly the same costs for some years in terms of raw materials. Yet foodstuffs have been steadily increasing in costs over the same period.
Now the problem you have with cost reduction is that you increasingly rely on automation which removes humans from employment. More unemployed people still want to buy products and corporations can hardly afford to lose markets so governments have to fill the gaps in order to provide the wherewithall to fund the consumption. This is done by raising taxes and sadly if you have an increasing population then the demand for money increases accordingly. Add to that inflation (an arbitrary increase in costs of goods - usually to do with speculation [read greed]). So in order to ensure you have money you must have more people adding money to the government coffers.
Maybe this is a little simplistic and I am sure the economists among you will disagree with me. Distribution of wealth is always an emotive subjective as well as the idea of population reduction. Whenever I espouse the subject of population control I am harangued by those that point out the rights of people to procreate. I am not a fan of Eugenics either but that is something also levelled at me when I suggest we need a way of reducing population. The usual argument is "who is to decide to lives or dies?" and yes it's an emotive subject but I can guarantee you this. If it ever comes to a decision by someone, you can be sure it will be someone with enough money!
It is sad to say but what the world needs is an enema to flush the virus away. A global pandemic to kill 60% of the population is what some scientists reckon would restore the world to some kind of balance. It probably won't reverse the damage already done. As it is we're consuming the world away and will continue to incentivise the destruction of even more of our essential natural resources simply because nobody can control the companies.
So what can be done about it? Pretty little really. There is no way that you can stop capitalism as it forms the basis for every transaction in the world. We can change the way we shop and hope that consumer choice will change the way that corporations view the world. The damage is done and there is NO sign that any global company wants to reverse it, just slowly reduce it while they work out another way of recouping their profits. By then it will probably be too late