Because of this talk (and current findings according to scientists and other things) many are dubbing this talk the talk that'll "decide the fate of Earth" and many activists have used this event to voice their anger in many ways, from the premièring of this film by director Louie Psihoyos (of The Cove fame) to satirical ads mocking the event's sponsors.
With this event I think should use this opportunity to put in my thoughts about the future of the world regarding the all things relating to the environment. And this thought comes in the form of a very worded answer to finding out that most people think economic recovery is more important than dealing with climate change.
(ham ham!)
So, everyone want a thriving economy. Everyone has a job that uses their best abilities for the benefit of everyone. Everyone has more money than they need to buy the essentials and has the ability to use that money to buy luxuries, such as foreign holidays. And when it comes the essentials, everyone is given a lot choice, such as what type of water to drink or whether their home has wheels or not. People can even afford to choose not to use horses for daily transport (let alone as a source of meat). Everyone is fit and healthy and has access to the best medical care possible and all the latest news and information, regardless of race, gender an preference, or religious belief. A utopia, basically.
But here's a question. Can it be possible to have a truly thriving economy anywhere if the environment is totally screwed up by resource depletion, mass uncontrolled pollution, mass extinction of most lifeforms (plant and animal) and irreversible climate change?
Can the business leaders and politicians of the world still deliver the "milk and honey" promises they always preach, if the Earth experienced this worst case scenario?
Let's start at the beginning.
If all the earth's natural resources have been used up with gay-abandon, is there any work of all the miners and engineers that use to extract those resources?
If they are no new resources left, what about the places that use to turn those raw resources into useful materials? You know the saw mills, the steel plants and the petrochemical refineries.
If they are no more new materials to work with, how are new products going to get made? What's going to happen to all the inventors, designers, the people who create the new visions for tomorrow?
And what about the factory workers and the retailers and advertisers who use to sale them?
If there is no new products, is there a point in hiring shelf-stackers?
If they are no jobs shelf-stacker jobs, how are the students going to pay their tuition?
The fried chicken place? Maybe.
But if all the resources have been used up, how are farmers going to grow crops without the help of fertilizer, pesticides or spare parts for their machines? And with polluted soil and unpredictable weather, is it possible for a farmer to grow enough crops to feed themselves and make a profit?
With little crops, how can the farmers feed their animals for meat and make plat-based products, like vegetable oil? Can fried chicken still exist in this ruined world? Can it be possible to make enough chicken wings to keep a chicken place a thriving business?
Where is the student going to go to pay their tuition, if all the miners, factory workers and retailers are out of work and can't afford fried chicken (let alone holidays abroad)?
This is a scenario John Maynard Keynes fans will recognise - the vicious cycle of unemployment. Factory closes down. No jobs. Workers have no money to spend. Retailers get no money due to lack of sales. Lack of sales causes closure of factory. And repeat.
In the past the government stepped in and start up massive infrastructure programs to employ many workers for them to spend their money, helping the economy to recover. But with no resources left to make concrete and steel, how are the new highways, ships and airports going to get built? In fact, with little money flowing about, who wants the new highways, ships and airports if there is no demand for products across continent, products oversea and foreign travel? Where are all the construction workers and engineers going to go?
Home?
With no money how is the work-at-home parent supposed to provide food for the children? Food that is in short supply, therefore expensive. If they can't be fed, how are they going to learn and play? With no resources left, will the kids still have toys? What about books to read? What will they have to expel the little energy they have? You could take them outside and see nature, but that is gone now. No flowers. No wild animals. No inspiration. Human culture is at a loss.
And that brings up the most significant thing? With all the resources gone how are the people going to light and heat their homes and means of transport? What's going to provide the electricity needed to power fridges, washing machines, TVs, computers, mobile phones, and the internet? What is going to power the planes, trains and automobiles? They all need energy to work. But how are you going to build the power stations, the wind turbines, the solar panels, and the nuclear reactors if all the materials needed to build them are gone?
So, you have no raw materials to make things, grow things, power things and stimulate the brain (except sex). The Earth can replenish many of them if given enough time... but would humans be around when that time comes? What about space, you ask? Ermmm. No resources to make and power a rocket, remember. No rocket, no space program.
And speaking of space, there is the issue of the sky. Thanks to extreme unchecked pollution the sky is constantly dark with little sunlight, meaning little energy for plants (including crops) and solar panels. How can you explain to kids who have never seen a clear sky that the cosmos is full of stars if they can't see them? With no idea about the existence of other planets (or asteroids) its no wonder no space program came to be. That space program could have made a difference, giving humans more resources to make and power stuff.
And with a polluted sky, how can you guarantee good health for life? There is no need for farmers to wastefully grow tobacco because the sky already gives everyone involuntary lung cancer... and other diseases.
And how can you cure their ills if there is no medicine to cure them. All the plants that could have contained the life-saving chemicals are gone.
But surely the doctors can do some surgery on us, right? Genetic engineering?
Remember those students who can't pay their tuition?
Remember those kids who were deprived of stimulation for their imagination?
They could have been those surgeons and geneticists and other people who could have made the nightmare scenario more bearable.
"But surely I could just through money at the problem, right?" says the rich businessman/investment banker. But the thing is.... your fortunes depend on everyone else spending money and doing "useful" stuff with resources.
The miners who extract the raw resources.
The prospectors who look for new resources.
The farmers who grow the crops (which will feed the cattle and the people).
The fishers and hunters who collect the wild animals for food and other resources.
The processing plants that turn these people's labour into useful materials and
the factories that turn those materials into stuff like pharmaceuticals, electronics, textiles, vehicles, weapons, and so on.
And those other industries too, like construction, entertainment, food, and computer software.
And the industries that make "nothing" physical, such as retail, travel, insurance, and finance.
Those industries are dependant on the others to exist.
How can someone sale insurance if there is nothing to insure?
How can it be possible to start a shop if their is nothing to sale?
And how can it be possible for an economic crash to happen due to the trading of sub-prime mortgages if no one could get a job that could pay enough for someone to get a home.... let alone a mortgage on it.
You see, everything connects. Such disasters caused by a low supply of a vital resource (like oil) have happened before. But that was just one vital resource. Imagine if all of them went? Imagine a world without electricity, internal combustion, jets, and plastics. Can you live without a computer, a smartphone, a car, or cheap clothes, let alone food at affordable prices? This world won't accept Discover card (or any card that that matter).
And you thought unpredictable weather and flooded cities were the worst things that could happen?
So, let me ask you this question again -
Can it be possible to have a thriving economy if the environment is ruined?
I'll let you decide....
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