About a species living out of balance with its world

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I have said in another posting, that I do not use this blog very often.  Well, I intend to do something about it, and write some more stuff.

Firstly, we have a real problem! Four areas of our current society, its systems and institutions, our thinking and the values we hold dear, have brought us to where we are today – a species living out of balance with the world in which it lives.

It seems reasonable to surmise that, since the world we have created is in trouble on many fronts, logic would lead us to make the observation there is something in all or some of them that is flawed.

We might say therefore:

It seems reasonable to state we are in a invidious position, one of increasing known risk.  It could only have been brought about by the current systems, processes, thinking and values we currently hold.  Therefore can we expect them to be part of any solution?

So where to next?

If it is correct they are flawed, they will not get us to where we now need to go without being modified or replaced. We need to be questioning every aspect of their origin, reasons for existence and how and why we use we use them.

Where does climate change sit in all this?

While global warming and the ensuing climate change are clearly very important, they are not the core problem we should be dealing with. Global warming and climate change are symptoms only of a problem.

The real problem is a society locked into an ideal of economic growth at all costs. This is the accepted operating system for the first world, and one being rapidly adopted by the developing countries.

I have two books that hold pride of place on my ‘bookshelf’ at home. One is very large, the other considerably slimmer - in fact very slim. The large one is full of questions – the smaller of answers.

This is a small start.  Over coming weeks I shall add to this article.

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The three domains of our lives.

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NB I have some graphics to add but they do seem to want to go up.

We may describe our existence on the planet using three domains: Society, the economy, and the environment.

Today, the economy has become the dominant dimension of our lives – everything we do must ensure it is not compromised. We are told this daily, either directly or by inference. The operations of all aspects of our society must bow at the altar of the economy. Since you and I are part of society, you and I are its servants too – and we are encouraged to go into debt to keep it afloat and growing all the time.

A thought in passing. I recall a moment at school, when we discussing the economy of countries. We were told by the teacher that an economy had to grow by 4% in order to keep afloat. Well, this muggins writer here asked the inevitable, “But Sir, nothing can go on growing at 4% for ever?” I was told that was the way it is, and to shut up.

Where does the environment stand in this? Well, it is seen to be there to service ours needs – seemingly at all costs. As long as the economic needs are met, it seems not to matter what damage we do to the environment. This is the world in which you and I live! I believe this should change.

Let’s look at a different paradigm.

Here is a suggested model to move toward. In this one, the environment must become the dominant paradigm, or at least understood to be the limiting factor in our existence.

The environment existed long before we came into existence. It evolved over the millennia, into the world we know today. One that supplies us with all we need to live by – and it all comes for free. In this environment are the abundant and numerous species existing alongside us, that we call biodiversity. The variety of life that provides a reasonably stable, healthy ecosystem for us to live in. One that we compromise at our peril.

Our society is therefore something that evolved within the environment, and is hence dependent upon it. Without a healthy, alive, clean and vibrant one, we will continually live at risk for our future.

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The economy is a human construct. It should be our servant, not something we are driven to support at all costs. In a new world, the economy should operate in such a way as to ensure, irrespective of its own needs, a healthy, clean and sustainable environment. Anything less will be unacceptable.

This is about finding a new balance between the three dimensions of your lives, the environment, society and the economy.

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Some further thoughts in a similar vein.

In a long gone past all living things existed in harmony and balance, and ‘nature’ was the controlling force. The environment was here long before the human race came along. Without a healthy, balanced working environment, there would be no life as we know it on the planet.

As we humans evolved, we created and developed what we know today as ‘society’. For most of the time we were in harmony with our environment. It is now theorised that around 40 000 years ago there were perhaps only 9 or 10 thousand Homo erectus left in Africa. Some of them left Africa and moved northward, spreading throughout the planet, ultimately to live on every piece of land except Antarctica.

Over the millennia, we developed increasingly complex societies, learning how to use the environment and its free services for benefit. Initially this caused no known problems. However as various civilisations appeared, they matured, expanded, and in the end collapsed. As far as we know or can understand, they did so generally because there was some failure in some aspect of the environment that supported them. During this period, these civilisations were largely separate from one another. There was no overall global negative effect brought about by the growth and subsequent collapse.

We are the first species that we know of with some unique and important capabilities relevant to this discussion.

  • We know we exist.
  • We can ‘see’ the planet as a whole for the first time.
  • We understand our capabilities for goodness and harm.
  • We can make conscious decisions for good or bad.

 Money.

Money has no moral or ethical framework guiding its behaviour. It owes nothing to anything except itself.

So when it is invested in a project, it must produce a return otherwise the investment is considered inappropriate and the money will be withdrawn and placed elsewhere, where it can make an appropriate return.

We need to tame and get control of this beast.  We need to clearly define a new set of rules – ones where there is a defined expectation that whatever and wherever money is invested, no aspect of the project, mine or business causes any damage to the environment.

Until and unless this is done, we will have this as a continual unmanageable risk at our sides.

Again I re-iterate, we need a new balance between money, the expectation we give it, and how the environment is constantly compromised by inappropriate investment and management.