We live in a world that's running out of stuff including the stuff that keeps you alive - clean air and fresh water for starters. There is not enough to meet our insatiable and persistently growing demand. The Global Footprint Network that studies these things has worked out that mankind now uses renewable resources (water, air, biomass) at 1.7 times the Earth's replenishment rate, its carrying capacity.
That means we're neck deep in a major resource deficit. The shortfall is visible, tangible, palpable and manifests in countless forms. It's evident in lakes that have dried out, rivers that no longer run to the sea, aquifers that have been rapaciously drained and now stand empty, vast and expanding tracts of deforestation, spreading desertification encroaching on once productive land, even cities. It's evident in increasing contamination and pollution of our waterways and coastlines observed in algae blooms and oceanic "dead zones." It's inescapable in the collapse of global fisheries as the industrial fleet chases species after species, "fishing down the food chain." It's evident in loss of natural habitat and biodiversity, the extinction of species terrestrial and aquatic. It's everywhere. You have to close your eyes not to see it.
Keep all of that in mind when you consider that a lot of what we're running out of is consumed, free of charge, by the same industrial sector that has given us so much crap that ends up obsolete or unworkable in such short order. In fact a recent study finds that none of the world's top industries would realize any profit if they had to pay for the resources they consume at no charge.
Coming from a civilization which, for most of its 12,000 year history, enjoyed a bountiful surplus of natural resources, we're not accustomed to seeing those resources in terms of ownership or value. We have to get our minds around the idea that assets are property and, if they don't belong to you personally, they very much belong to your society or, in the case of the atmosphere, to humankind in general. Then understand that your society, with the collusion of your political caste, is getting grievously shortchanged.
The notion of “externalities” has become familiar in environmental circles. It refers to costs imposed by businesses that are not paid for by those businesses. For instance, industrial processes can put pollutants in the air that increase public health costs, but the public, not the polluting businesses, picks up the tab. In this way, businesses privatize profits and publicize costs.
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The majority of unpriced natural capital costs are from greenhouse gas emissions (38%), followed by water use (25%), land use (24%), air pollution (7%), land and water pollution (5%), and waste (1%).
So how much is that costing us? Trucost’s headline results are fairly stunning.
First, the total unpriced natural capital consumed by the more than 1,000 “global primary production and primary processing region-sectors” amounts to $7.3 trillion a year — 13 percent of 2009 global GDP.
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That amounts to an global industrial system built on sleight of hand. As Paul Hawken likes to put it, we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it GDP.
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Of course the contrarians will say that, if we priced that natural capital and forced industry to pay, that would be passed along in ever higher prices. Not so fast. That overlooks what would happen to both production and consumption.
Free resources are freely consumed, subject to availability, and freely squandered. They're free after all. When those resources are priced, when they come with a cost, the competitor that uses them most wisely, with the least waste, has a market advantage.
Also, when the price increases, consumers will become less tolerant of shoddy manufacture, planned obsolescence and shortened lifespans, products that cannot be repaired or upgraded. Imagine if your appliances, out of the box, were good for 25 to 30 years. I've been in my current house for about 15-years and I'm already on my third stove. When the first two failed I was outraged to be told that the essential parts needed to repair them were no longer available.
Pricing natural capital is an essential step in transitioning to a steady state economy. It's not a nice idea. It's not an option. If we don't take that leap we won't have an economy.
If you're interested in this idea of pricing natural capital there are several good books you can find in your library. A good starting point is "Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival," a 1995 book edited by Thomas Prugh and containing essays by Robert Costanza, John Cumberland, Herman Daly, Robert Goodland and Richard Norgaard. If nothing else you'll discover how we're all getting shortchanged by neoliberal governments. You'll also realize that continuing on with the status quo is not an option. If we don't change, and soon, we will be changed.
7 comments:
Mound, I will not comment upon where the corporate greed for profit has led us except to say this....
As an independent 'repair shop' (now retired) I own and had a number of customer with 50 to 70 yer old equipment (lawn & garden) which worked fine, was reparable and even had some parts available at reasonable cost. On the other hand equipment less than 20 years old was frequently scrapped as 'unrepeatable' due to shoddy manufacture, no parts, or excessive cost of same. Its a throw away world and sooner or later its all going to catch up with us...... sooner probably! Still running 1950s good stuff here in the boonies, you can keep your 'new' stuff......
We are deliberately allowing this to happen.
GDP needs to grow every year. So we will keep adding debt, which is borrowing from the future. We will grow the GDP by going deeper into debt.
We'll measure debt as a ratio of debt to GDP. So as long as GDP grows along with the growing debt, the debt to GDP ratio remains the same.
Sounds like a plan, Doh!
I totally agree, Rural. I recall when my parents built their dream home on the lake. My mother was delighted with her Kitchenaid dishwasher, then made by Hobart. With three teenage sons it got a lot of use. From time to time something would break down. My dad was always able to source a replacement part and keep it in perfect running order for some 40 years before they sold the place. Go into an appliance store today (as I've had to more often than I can stand) and they'll look you in the eye and say you should expect 5-7 years out of what they sell, no more.
I've long argued that our governments are complicit in this. They have the regulatory power to compel manufacturers to maintain adequate stocks of spare parts for at least 15-20 years from sale but they won't. As Anyong points out, we're deliberately allowing this to happen.
It is incredibly easy to seduce people with shiny new stuff. It is very difficult to inoculate against shiny new stuff syndrome. This problem is not going away soon.
Hugh, you're right. Perpetual exponential growth in GDP is the keel of neoliberalism. Find a Western leader, any national leader for that matter, who doesn't embrace this toxic ideology. Yet it's leading us ever faster toward the cliff's edge.
Yes, Toby, this is culturally embedded in our modern societies. We would sooner accept inevitable collapse. It's a certainty. Our coping mechanism is to hope that it will be a future generation's problem.
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