Doctor said:
one of the main points of sustainability is to balance athrivingeconomy with social and environmental needs.
A thriving economy does NOT have to be based on growth. Capitalism has never, does not, and will never meet environmental and certainly not social needs (which are linked, by the way). The whole point of it is that some are richer than others; there are those at the top with more money than they know what to do with, who can simply buy their way out of being environmentally friendly, and those at the bottom who will (and already do, in some cases) feel the effects of environmental disaster first and hardest. Money is a cotton wool padding that prevents us "rich" people (I use the term loosely - I am surviving on pasta and not much else this week) from the human suffering that results from climate change and us messing up the planet generally.
Doctor said:
The economy may need to change significantly and not by moving away from oil.
? Right, because oil doesn't contribute to carbon dioxide emissions at all...
Doctor said:
It will need to calculate it's own effectiveness in a different way - tripple bottom line, carbon emmissions, social premiums, etc but non of that should limit growth.
Why are we so obsessed with growth anyway? Why do we need it? Surely, all we need is equal distribution of wealth and enough food, water, shelter, etc... to go around - haven't we already got that, if people stopped being so greedy and wasteful? Then people could concentrate on Self-Actualisation (
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) and fulfilling their potential instead of where their next meal is coming from...
Doctor said:
Moving away from a carbon based economy is , perhaps, the big worry for people
I can honestly say that it is not the big worry for me right now.
Doctor said:
but each previous revolution such as this has brought a whole new impetous for growth. There is massive potential for growth...
Growth, growth growth... I'm only 5'2 1/2", maybe I could do with some of that! (In other words, why do we need growth if we are grateful for what we've already got?! I'm not against progress - but I believe that it is defined by achievements rather than size (quality over quantity) and I actually like being short - my head comfortably misses all the door frames, lampshades and other things that taller people have to dodge!)
Doctor said:
Given any problem we (humans) are rather good at finding lots of way of making money out of teh solutions.
Maybe if we didn't have to have lots of money just to survive, we wouldn't need to make money. I can think of quite a few good ideas that (with my limited knowledge of business and economics) would need a hell of a lot of extra hard work to gain a sizable profit. Making money is not motivating factor me (except maybe when it is for a good cause). (Having enough money to survive is another matter!)
Doctor said:
There may well be a period of economic realignment when power shifts to those who pick up on these industries first - those who cling to the old ways will be left behind.
Maybe we could leave behind the class system while we're at it?