“There are two things that are infinite, The Universe and Human Stupidity, I’m not sure about Universe” – Einstein
I was wandering over my facebook newsfeed in wonder of what am I supposed to do first on this new year day of January 1st 2017 and accidentally saw a video link of a David Suzuki stating Economics is a Brain damage.
Feeling intrigued I clicked on the video link and watched it completely. To be honest, I was dumbstruck by the sheer accuracy with which he justified his stand. I was also saddened and more than being concerned, I got scared about the future.
We, the humans, who rather arrogently claim to be the most intelligent species on Earth have chosen a path of self destruction in the name of Economic progress.
David Suzuki stated, economics simply ignores the essential components of the nature such as The Ozone layer, the micro organisms, the top soil ecology, the endangered species etc as externalities. The impending problems faced by the world in varied forms due to imbalances in nature caused by human activities are simply externalities. Are we so immune to the consequences of our actions? Certainly not. I am quite sure that igrorance and indifferance is the exact reason why countries or “Economies” do not take the inevitable repercussions of hazardous human activities with the seriousness that it deserves.
Though Economics states that resources are limited and wants are unlimited, the unlimited wants create more necessities which result in research and invention. Once an invention is made, it is grabbed witn both hands by the markets globally over time. Huge consumer bases encourages more production , profits catapult the markets, economies boom, its that simple.
Biologically, when a species finds favourable environment to sustain, it reproduces at a rapid pace, that’s exactly what we have done over time.
and since our wants are unlimited, the more we got comfortable, the more comforts we wanted. Basic needs no longer include just food, clothing and shelter, more commodities intrude into this list with passing generations. The corporations that manufacture these commodities need naturally occuring rawmaterials which are bought with money and in the process not only the natural resources are getting depleted, but also the atmosphere is getting polluted. However, these corporations make profit and help economy grow by providing more jobs which inturn creates more comfort seeking customers. Meanwhile the political sphere has to cater to the population and the corporates that funded them as well. They should make the situations look good so that they can be in power for few more years. The fate of us, the comon people reminds me of the famous phrase from the movie The Matrix “People are so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it”. This forms the never ending vicious circle, gulping the natural resources and leaving rubbish all over the planet. Moreover we have nationalities, borders competing with each other to gain the highest GDP, GNP and so on. We are blindly racing to the edge of the cliff and still think that the road never ends.
The very intelligent human species has failed to unite as one. Borders created for politics divided us. Properties bought by the corporates are turning forest cover into percentages of profits. Polluting the air we breath, water we drink, land we live on. Everything has a price tag, the price tags that contribute to economic growth and we are trained to be proud of them.
After all that the global economies have said to have achieved, how many of the people that tirelessly work for this growth are actually happy with their lives ? That is the serious question need to be answered. Money has been made primary goal in life. 2% of world population controls the rest of the world, and everyone wants to get into that 2%. In the process we forget that neither money nor Economy are a natural phenomenon. They are created by humans. We cannot transform every thing into money just because we can be rich for a short period of time.
We have to realise that we are not the lone hires of this planet, we have our fellow species who are paying the price of our so called Economic growth.
The man made concepts of Money and Economy have outpaced nature. Unlimited wants feeding on limited resources is already showing it’s consequences in the form of climate change and pollution. We have to come up with a serious global effort to counter his situation.
I would like to mention the old Indian phrase as conclusion. “When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat聽money.鈥�
