A post with a view...
Did you ever wonder why there's such a huge disparity between the developed and developing (nice way of saying impoverished) worlds? Dr. David Suzuki has been speaking out about this notion and the fact that the developed world is consuming resources at an ever increasing pace. What can be done? Not much within the current "establishment" but Dr. Suzuki has it figured out - he's going after the hearts and souls of the youth... Recently in Calgary he spent some time with high school student and urged them passionately and convincingly to put the environment first - something they already appear to be predisposed to do.. The only question is whether or not the youth will be co-opted by the establishment when they come to realize that baby food and heating bills are the ulitmate priorities for a provider...
David Suzuki Foundation: Home
posted by toddomundo @ 3:27 p.m.
1 comments
1 Comments:
Trip, it's true that government needs to change the way they either subsidize or tax in order to achieve balance. However, the market will not do this on it's own. The market is not a long term visionary - people are... the market always seeks to maximize short term profits. The rationale is that in so doing the long term good of the economy is supported. This is patently false when the real costs of the consumption of resources are not immediately appreciated. If the effect of consuming the fossil fuels of the planet is global warming that wipes out 30% of the population (just a wag on my part here) but that effect won't be felt for 150 years do you think the market will realize this and back off on profits in the short term? I don't. Clearly the market struggles to direct us here and the reason is plain: markets deal with today, not the distant future.
Aren't we beyond this notion that in order to develop we have to consume? Learning is what got us here not consumption per se. The fact that we have learned enough to be wary of our level of consumption is a tribute to our intelligence. The desire to ignore it is a clear demonstration of individual and market ignorance (which means lack of knowledge or learning)...
Finally, Suzuki is the last person you should think is looking back. The Suzuki Foundation has done a great deal of forward thinking and have put in place proposal to help redefine the Canadian economy and tax regimes to boost our economic indicators at the same time as we dramatically improve our environmental performance. If you think of the earth as a womb, then what Suzuki is suggesting is really that we avoid drinking too much alcohol during pregnancy.
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