Much discussion of energy, with never a word about power, leads to the fallacy of a low-impact, green capitalism somehow put at the service of environmentalism. In reality, power concentrates around wealth. Private ownership of trade and industry means that the decisive political force in the world is private power. The corporation will outflank every puny law and regulation that seeks to constrain its profitability. It therefore stands in the way of the functioning democracy needed to tackle climate change. Only by breaking up corporate power and bringing it under social control will we be able to overcome the global environmental crisis.
On these pages we have been called on to admire capital's ability to take robust action while governments dither. All hail Wal-Mart for imposing a 20% reduction in its own carbon emissions. But the point is that supermarkets are over. We cannot have such long supply lines between us and our food. Not any more. The very model of the supermarket is unsustainable, what with the packaging, food miles and destruction of British farming. Small, independent suppliers, processors and retailers or community-owned shops selling locally produced food provide a social glue and reduce carbon emissions. The same is true of food co-ops such as Manchester's bulk-distribution scheme serving former "food deserts".
All hail BP and Shell for having got beyond petroleum to become non-profit eco-networks supplying green energy. But fail to cheer the Fortune 500 corporations that will save us all and ecologists are denounced as anti-business. Many career environmentalists fear that an anti-capitalist position is what's alienating the mainstream from their irresistible arguments. But is it not more likely that people are stunned into inaction by the bizarre discrepancy between how extreme the crisis described and how insipid the solutions proposed? Go on a march to the House of Commons. Write a letter to your MP. And what system does your MP hold with? Name one that isn't pro-capitalist. Oh, all right then, smartarse. But name five.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0202-29.htm
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on February 3, 2006]
Note: http://www.commondreams...
It's Capitalism Or A Habitable Planet, You Can't Have Both
Posted on Friday, February 03 at 09:31 by 4CanadaContributed By
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We need to refuse the crap that Wal-Mart and most other large surface stores are selling. They said they are reducing their emissions by 20%, but to produce all the low quality goods they are selling, a consumer has to buy more than one because those goods don't last very long. It takes more energy to produce all those goods than producing ONE of good quality and robust. At the end, it produces more pollution and cost more to the (stupid) consumer that thinks it is cheap to buy at Wal-Mart. Get smart people, don't buy that crap.
On a personal note, my family and myself are boycotting Wal-Mart because of all-of-the-above and because they destroy the local economy and our environment (i.e. low quality goods and over-packaging practices).
Our economic system is unsustainable by its very nature. The only response to climate chaos and peak oil is major social change"<br />
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ok, lets bounce off of the last bit, shall?we ""major social change""<br />
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<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-49,GGLG:en&q=alternative+economies&spell=1">http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-49,GGLG:en&q=alternative+economies&spell=1</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.spruceroots.org/December98/Money.html">http://www.spruceroots.org/December98/Money.html</a><br />
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any social change must come from the bottom up<br />
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Which means a massive re-ucation programme inordertoget beyond our and THEIR boundries <br />
Wayne Coady keeps demanding "What is YOUR solution?"<br />
thwe preceeding sentenceis the" solution?" <br />
I can not educateany but me, and have been for years!<br />
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Some of us will survive.<br />
Some will not.<br />
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<p>---<br>Nothing in this World makes People so Afraid as the Influence of an Independant Minded Individual.<br />
Attrib. Al Einstien
We've tried them all, and in my opinion, a managed capitalistic system seems to be the only one that's decent to live in.
I wonder what the author had in mind as a realistic replacement for capitalism, or have they even thought that far ahead yet?
The first step is for them to bang the drums of revolution. Once they have enough willing foot soldiers for the next dismal failure in social engineering then they make thier move.
What they don't tell you is that citizens of capitalist societies are also the ones with the greatest concern for the environment and the ones with the most measures in place to protect it. Be it regulations, technology or intellectual capital. In the failed organized states, people don't give a rip about the environment because thier belly is empty. The former Soviet Union was and still is an environmental disaster. You want to see what they are proposing, go anywhere in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa or South America.
But you won't hear that for now. Now it is time to call for massive change - later comes the state "re-distribution" schemes. Which ineveitbaly lead to dictatorship. All around the mulberry bush...
Seriously, all these people who "beat the drums of revolution" as you nicely put it, don't seem to have a better alternative.
If someone does, please come forth.
Sadly, old rich white men control the vestiges of power and they like things just the way they are. Until peak oil, massive deaths attributed to our toxic environment, increased species die-off and/or environmental catastrophes occur to shake the people from their slumber, this all will continue on until it is probably too late to do anything anyways. Look at Canada, look at who is in charge now, they want to do away with Kyoto and put the polluters in charge of cleaning up their own acts. It's like rationalizing putting the fox in charge of the hen house on the premise that the fox will not kill them all as he wants to always eat at a later date. The corporations will push the envelope of pollution as far as they can; even more than they are now.
Greed is a deadly sin for a reason.
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If there was ever a time for Canadians to become pushy - now is the time - for time is running out on this nation called Canada.
As a collective, people must ignore others like the poster whom Im replying to who has nothing contructive to say and if given the choice, would destroy all rights for people because he believes we are inherently bad, and hand those rights to those in power, believing that they know whats best,.. since all of the problems in the world today are the fault of the weak poor...
Anything is possible, all it takes is for people to put the effort in and be willing to accept and work for change.
It may be a destructive battle, but maybe not. All it takes is for people to refuse the capitalist system. Socialism is an 'ism' which scares some people, but the premesis of this system are a part of human nature, and are familiar with all of humanity. It is only a matter of time before change occurs.
Sustainability is NOT possible in a capitalist system.. It is not nor will it ever work with capitalism...
Change begins with me and you/.
So Roy, how do you figure that a truly green economy and envirnonmentalism can exist togeather? These 'old rich men' control the economy, and control what happens in the world.. There will be no change as the consequence would be a huge change in power in our world, reducing the wealth and power of these 'men'. It would never happen and would require revolution. By the time revolution was complete, there would be no need for capitalism to return as the lies which it is based on would become so obvious to the mass population. These men you speak up have continuously prevented political ideaologies from taking place around the world which would prevent them from gaining wealth and thus loosing power.
Well, if we are to be at all optimistic perhaps we could hope that the answer to both these questions is "he/she/it - wouldn't".... and therefor it is articles such as this one and the thoughtful responses of readers that are the base on which society now needs to build. Is socialism the answer to capitalism? Is capitalism even the question?
To survive, it is now the responsibility of societies to take advantage of the very essence of capitalism. That is to say that our fate is in our own hands, just as it has always been. If we want quick, easy, cheap, and plenty of it business will gladly supply it. However we know that this is not sustainable. If we want business to change we must recognize that it is profitability that will cause it to do so. This is no easy task, especially if cheap fits your budget, quick fits your hectic lifestyle, and easy is just so much more convenient. Capitalism is not the enemy, but rather a product of supply and demand. The fruit of our own loins if you will. How do we save the earth? -Sacrifice. How do we convince society at large to do this? - Educate. Who is responsible for education? - Society. Who is responsible for implimenting the will of society? - Government.
We don't need to manage capitalism, we need to manipulate it.
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Dave Ruston
Civilizations have come and gone, many people believe that capitalism is the is the last stage in human evolution. I believe that if drastic change does not occur, it will be the end of civilization as we know it. A shift to socialism will preserve our culture, health and general well-being.
Its up to us to put in place a system which is truly democratic.
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Vera Gottlieb