Scientists: Affluence Is Killing The Planet

Our Materialist And Neo-Darwinian Approach To Life Has Failed.

Affluent, powerful people and their governments have a vested interest in deliberately promoting high consumption and hampering sufficiency-oriented lifestyles. Since consumption decisions by individuals are strongly influenced by information and by others, this can lock in high-consumption lifestyles.

Those who have followed this blog for quite a while know that it is not really “affluence” that is killing the planet. Affluence is the mere consequence of several fallacies, the main one being the collusion of special interests for the sake of natural resources and profits.

The “growth model” depends on the ever-growing privatization of natural resources. The endless growth mantra is merely unworkable. The capitalists who designed theories on paper a century ago didn’t foresee the I'impasse we’re facing today, and it is about time to ponder the issues once and for all. The experts were wrong, and so were those who followed endorsing them.

If paying close attention, we can notice that the level of exploitation is what drives the pace of growth. As long as the markets roar, most do not care about the pillage of natural resources and human suffering. Paradoxically, when Wallstreet rated firms announce substantial layoffs for the sake of efficiency, their stocks go up and many think that it is how business is done.

If there is no growth, nobody can accumulate wealth, and wages cannot be paid. This means that the percentage of growth is also vital for structural hierarchy.

There lies the fundamental issue with monetarism and why we stance that the latter was never meant to enhance freedom but to ensure the control of society. Let’s not forget that the principles of capitalism have existed for over 5,000 years. We recommend our blog, The Religious History of Money.

Interestingly, that very market ideology will allow some opportunists to succeed in proving that (a lot of) money and individualism are needed to be free.

But how many achieve that realistically?

Only those who are very aware that leverage governs the market or can access insider trading tips have more chances to succeed. Leverage must be avoided like the plague.

But let’s think about this for a few moments.

Taking advantage of a profoundly flawed system does not mean that one has achieved freedom because one still depends on the same flawed system with the same winners-losers ratio.

But wait: what if all of a sudden 50% or more realized the market flaws and started acting accordingly, meaning that fewer people would lose their shirts, which would in turn decrease profits because the latter would have to be split between a bigger number of opportunists.

The more awareness of whatever economic misconceptions, the fewer profits can be made. Truth is an equalizer.

The only advantage is that economic hierarchy would be directly threatened, cease to collude efficiently, and eventually fall apart. The pool of opportunists would shrink, too, as they would increasingly become the new norm. The paradigm would collapse onto itself, resulting in all Wall Street charts showing a flatline.

That would be the real end game!

It is indeed ironic when scientists warn about “affluence” being the problem afflicting the planet while unfettered materialism has been pushed down our throats for so many centuries already!

We reviewed a variety of different approaches that may have the solution. They range from reformist to radical ideas, and include post-development, degrowth, eco-feminism, eco-socialism and eco-anarchism. All these approaches have in common that they focus on positive environmental and social outcomes and not on economic growth.

While it is undoubtedly significant to grasp the pitfalls of “endless growth”, in an environment where people must compete for profits to pay wages while affording a sustainable lifestyle, that fairy tale cannot last forever.

Despite all the best intentions, collusion will inherently resurface. That’s the problem in a nutshell as long as “endless growth” remains the consensus.

There is absolutely no way to fix that.

Profits demand growth, and growth requires “endless growth. " This will cause many to lose their shirts every time growth hits a ceiling. Leverage or not, it does not matter. Leverage just makes busts more destructive and sudden.

So, we are stuck and doomed to destroy the biosphere further if we do not change the paradigm. We cannot consume faster than the time the planet needs to replenish itself. However, since we overconsume, we could give the earth a break and start working 15 to 20 hours weekly, for example.

Nature only knows one thing: no winners and no losers. Total equilibrium. She does not keep anything for herself. Nature is into an endless unfolding “giving” mode!

The Earth and the Sun evolve in a perfect symbiosis because they obey laws whose forces are opposing but match one another. Their fundamental difference is what makes their interaction possible. From a cosmic perspective, the Earth is not stronger than the Sun, nor is the Sun stronger than the Earth.

At this stage, and since the edge of the cliff isn’t that far away anymore, the paradigm shift can only be the result of a change in consciousness and a different metaphysical approach discarding “atheistic materialism,” asserting that every organism can be commodified. Because as long as this premise refutes that every organism is conscious, exploiting and killing life will always appear as the cheapest options!

We will learn to respect life or … else. The current scientific consensus must become humble and embrace the paradigm shift if it wants to remain relevant a few years from now.

Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False By Thomas Nagel. Nagel is one of the world’s leading philosophers of mind. Although he is an atheist, he argues that the materialist approach to life and mind has failed to explain consciousness, intentionality, meaning and value. This failure threatens to unravel the entire naturalistic worldview in biology, evolutionary theory and cosmology. We need a new kind of science.

Affluence is killing the planet, warn scientists | 2020, The Conversation.