Day 246: Green Economics – the Newest Fad?

Reading through a magazine, I came across an article on how traditional neoclassical economics is just not up to the task of providing an effective system of distribution for the world – with which I agree. 

At the bottom of the article, was a whole list to numerous websites promoting different forms of ‘alternative economics’. Being interested in exploring what’s out there on the internet in relation to new developments in economics, I copied the list eagerly to go through the various websites.

As I browsed my way through the 10 or so different websites, a communal theme started to make its appearance throughout the websites – they all looked ‘fresh’ and ‘green’ and we’re all about : reduce carbon emissions, shrink your ecological footprint – essentially: ‘save the planet’.

Something was just not right with this picture.

And then it hit me: this is just another fad.

Just as we have Spirituality within the realms of Religion, the Organic / Raw Food movement in terms of Food – we now have ‘Green Economics’ in the realm of Economy.

What all these movements have in common, is that they jump ahead of the issues that are relevant. Without first providing and ensuring dignified living conditions so all can have a life of delight on Earth, Spirituality immediately jumps to saving your ‘Beingness’ and ensuring that your Beingness can transcend to higher planes. But what is the value of such an objective if we can’t even manifest a sense of brotherhood and solidarity on Earth, within our societies and relations to one another? What is the point of ‘attaining our higher selves’ when we obsessively and compulsively wage War and destroy life?

What is the point of pushing and insisting on Organic Food when we have not even established basic Food Security for everyone on the globe?

What is the point of trying to save the planet through changing the way we do economics if we can’t even set our economic system up in a way that saves everyone from economic hardship? How can we expect to fulfill such a great responsibility as ‘saving the planet’ and ‘taking care of the Earth’, when we haven’t even proven our responsibility towards each other, towards one another as human beings? How can we expect people to support ‘Green Economics’ to ‘save the planet’ when every moment of the day is spent towards survival? How can we expect people to start treating the planet with dignity, respect and care when we haven’t shown that we can live these principles towards another?

If we can’t even actively secure Human Rights and treat one another as we would like to be treated – then we can’t engage ourselves towards saving the Planet. Our efforts towards ensuring that every human being on Earth in fact has a living standard that we would all deem acceptable – has been negligible to say the least. To at this stage demand everyone to treat the planet, nature, the Animal Kingdom with respect – would simply be a spit in the face of those who have never received any such kindness. When people are treated with disrespect and disregard, one is tacitly giving permission to those who receive such treatment, to transfer this treatment in kind to others. 

I’m not saying that nutritious food and ecologically balanced methods of producing and distributing goods is not important – as certainly these points would benefit ourselves, the planet and future generations; but the point is to acknowledge our track records, which is looking kind of dismal at the moment, and to not overreach in our objectives. Our race to ‘save the planet’ is currently one ran knee-deep in the mud, we may be spending a lot of energy on it but it’s not getting us far. So let us rather spend our energy towards getting the fundamentals right, towards getting in place the foundation that will ensure an effective campaign towards a harmonious management of our home, the Earth, by first establishing such a relationship towards one another – and then from there it will simply be a walk in the park, to extend this treatment to the Planet.   

The first step towards fostering an attitude and character conducive to the restoration of the Earth to a state of balance, is to first restore faith in humanity and our capacity to care, through implementing a system such as the Living Income Guaranteed by the Equal Life Foundation. This is a practical way to acknowledge our common humanity, our common Right to Life and to truly develop a sense of respect for Life on Earth, and Earth as Life. We cannot allow ourselves to ignore the impact human activity has on the Earth and the Environment. Only through equipping every human being with the necessary resources to sustain a dignified life, and equipping everyone with the tools of education, can we move as One towards caring for our Planet.

About the Living Income Guaranteed – from the LIG website livingincome.me

Why a L.I.G.?

The Living Income Guaranteed (“L.I.G.”) by the Equal Life Foundation is a Proposal geared towards addressing the most immediate Human Rights problems modern societies are faced with today. Current systems and approaches that have been implemented towards prosperity and well-being of the citizens within nations have been able to facilitate economic growth, but though the bounties of this growth have not yet been able to reach everyone.

The Living Income Guaranteed is aimed at assisting and supporting those individuals within society that find themselves in a disadvantaged position as a result from structural ineffectiveness and inadequacies, through providing Equality of Opportunity for all. The Living Income Guaranteed will function as the medium through which a state is able to remediate the most direct negative effects of a capitalistic system, while still being able to maintain some of the perks that such a system represents and embodies. The Living Income Guaranteed will thus aid in balancing Growth with Sustainability whilst effectively securing Human Rights.

What is L.I.G.?

Living Income Guaranteed stands for the provision of a Living Income for each citizen that is unable to sustain themselves financially to live a dignified life. Unlike the Basic Income Grant proposals, the Living Income Guaranteed is not invariably provided but distributed by a means-test. The Living Income Guaranteed is a social security net which everyone can apply to, when it is necessitated. This principle locks in with the Duties of the Government as laid out within most Bill of Rights, where the State is responsible to ensure the livelihood and well-being of its citizens when the citizen is unable to do so for him or herself.

For more information, visit:

http://livingincome.me

http://livingincomeguaranteed.wordpress.com

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Day 217: Who's Free Riding Who?

In economics you have the 'free-rider' phenomenon, a concept which if often brought forward in favour of capitalism.

The free rider concept refers to instances where someone enjoys the benefits of a product or service, without having paid for that particular good or service.

A classic example that is used in text books is where someone uses a form of public transportation such as a train, without having paid for a ticket, and is thus 'free riding'. The same goes when there is for example a project where there is collective action to reduce emissions as to increase air quality. Some may not want to participate/contribute and keep their emission levels the same while everyone else is lowering theirs, still resulting in better air quality for them, even though they did not contribute.

Now, within the context of economics, capitalism thinks to have the solution for the free rider problem, by trying to capitalize on as much as possible. If everything has a price, then everyone who uses whatever good or service, will pay.

Linked to this is also the whole 'but I worked so hard for this' and 'it's not fair that I have worked for this and that others besides me are benefiting from it, if they want it they should just work for it' mentality. This is the result from believing that our current society and economic system truly provide everyone with 'equal opportunity' -- while this is not the case.

When the Equal Money System is put forward, the 'free rider problem' gets hauled in to show how 'unfair' the system is, because everyone is provided for even though not everyone may be contributing (because they are unable to).

The problem with the free rider concept is that it is only ever brought up in the interest of holding on to one's money where "it's mine! And I worked for it!". Other forms of free riding are never brought up.

If everyone consumed as much as an average American, we would need 5 planet Earths. Put otherwise, it's a situation where 5% of the population consumes 20% of the Earth's resources. Isn't that free riding as well? You are then free riding because other people both now and in the future will bare the consequences of the unsustainable lifestyle someone else enjoys. Free riding doesn't only occur when someone is enjoying the benefits, but when someone is not taking part in resolving the consequences of the actions you are involved in.
People are being deprived of resources which are being directed towards unsustainable lifestyles – and so people are free riding on the lives of others and free riding on borrowed time from generations to come. Dumping waste into the ocean or poor countries with weak environmental regulations is free riding the Earth. The continuous postponement of coming to an actual agreement that is binding for everyone to reduce emissions and use of fossil fuels is free riding. Each time we wait with making crucial decisions which we KNOW will affect future generations is free riding. Just because ‘we won’t be here to face the music’, we don’t care = free riding.

We live in a polarized world of massive inequality – where some have more than they’ll ever need and other barely, and even don’t, get by on a day to day basis. Rich countries positions today are the result of free riding other countries in the past under forms such as colonisation and slavery. Without free riding, capitalism as it exists today would not have been possible.

Instead of moaning about people benefiting from your efforts, it would be better to spend one’s energy towards ensuring that we have a world that is Best for All to make sure that we can all live and live sustainably while ensuring the safety of life for future generations. This is the only form of free riding that is really a problem – as it has actual physical consequences on the life of others, while the free riding problems most people currently care about only hurts one’s self-interest and ego and does not really pose any real problems.

In an Equal Money System, we care about real free riding problems and will act according to the principle of Prevention is the Best Cure to minimize consequence as much as we are able to

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Day 206: Bring your Own Cup and Help Save the Planet!

The other day we went to a shop to get some take-away coffee. Right next to where you get your coffee is a big stand with the prices and types of coffee, and at the bottom in a big font and size it says ‘Bring your own cup and help save the planet!’ and ‘The Earth says: thank you!”.

I’ve seen such statements many times before, but seeing it that day it really dawned to me just how ridiculous a statement like that is. I mean seriously, bring your own cup and help save the planet?

We live in a world where the economic system that runs the world is in direct violation of the Earth’s well-being – where the capacity of the Earth has been stretched to its ultimate for the sake of indefinite growth and profit. And yet somehow the corporations and politicians have to arrogance and audacity to ask people to ‘bring their own cup’ or ‘bring their own bag’ in order to ‘Help Save the Planet’?!

Surely, the waste of take-away cups and plastic-bags is just a SPEC in the face of the actual problem, which is the entirety and totality of both our individual lifestyles and the global lifestyle we have adopted as consumerism and greed. Bringing your own cup and bringing your own bag is not going to Save the Planet. It’s like trying to conserve water by catching a raindrop a day whilst letting all the taps in your house gush out water non-stop. It’s just ridiculous and kind of offending to tell people to ‘bring their own cup’ and make it look like you’re a ‘Responsible Company’ that ‘Cares about the Environment’ while everything a company that runs by the principle of Capitalism represents is the very Disregard an Destruction it is now apparently trying to abate.

Let’s have a look at for instance the whole ‘bring you own bag and save the planet’ motto.

In Britain a study was done where the results showed that on average a Brit uses 134 plastic bags in a year. This equals to 2kgs of carbon dioxide emission – while a typical person is responsible for 11 000 kgs of carbon dioxide emission in a year. That is like 0.018% that you’ve just reduced of your total emission as one person – and the Earth is supposed to say ‘Thank You’ to that? Are we now also assuming that the Planet is a complete idiot?

All those ‘little things’ that are asked of people to ‘Save the Planet’ like bringing your own cup, bringing your own bag, turning off your electronics that are on stand-by, boiling no more water in the kettle than what you need, turning off the tap while you brush your teeth, etc. – all make only a marginal difference of maximum 1% in terms of per capita emissions and mostly less than that.

The UK Government has spent £22m in the past on a ‘Do Your Bit’ Campaign promoting these type of ‘easy’ ‘quick fix’ solutions and then had to admit that the campaign produced no measurable change in people’s behaviour.

In fact, promoting these ineffectual little actions perpetuates the problem even more, where ‘bring your own cup’, ‘bringing your own bag’ and doing some recycling:

“Mori concluded that it was becoming an act of "totem behaviour" and that "individuals use recycling as a means of discharging their responsibility to undertake wider changes in lifestyle". In other words, people can adopt the simplest solutions as a part of a deliberate denial strategy that enables them to feel virtuous without changing their real behaviour.

Governments and businesses are, if anything, even more prone to tokenistic behaviour than individuals. Encouraging small voluntary actions by the public, customers or staff looks good and is much safer than passing restrictive legislation or rethinking your entire business model”.

As long as we don’t start re-evaluating our socioeconomic and political system that we live in and by, it does not matter what little token behaviour we participate in because it’s not going to make a damn difference. We need to strip the system down and rebuilt in from the foundation up – create a system that takes into account the environment and what it takes to reach and remain in equilibrium and harmony.

Within Equal Money Capitalism, points like emission and pollution will no longer just be ‘externalities’ that one does not have to account for and that are ‘conveniently’ here to be used at one’s whims. Just as someone gets something in return for their labour in a company, so will nature/the planet/earth receive something in return for what was given. If you for instance use water in the production process of your product and this water gets polluted/contaminated in anyway whatsoever: then it is your responsibility to also handle to process of purification. Only when we give as we like to receive, can we live in a sustainable, harmonious and equilibrated way with and within our environment.

Save Planet Earth? Support Equal Money Capitalism.

[info and numbers come from this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/13/ethicalliving.climatechange]

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Day 184: The Relationship between Ecology and Economics in Equal Money Capitalism

 The Problem

One of the major fundamental problems of the current economic system is its relationship to Ecology. What has been forgotten or not considered, is that both the words 'ecology' and 'economy' have their origins in the same word: the Greek word 'οἴκος' - which means 'house'. The ecology is the study of the house, or the environment - where ecology studies what conditions and principles require to be in place in an environment for species to flourish in it. Economy, then is the management of the house or the environment. Knowing this, we would expect that both work very closely together and that, economics is in service of ecology - because what's the use of managing the environment if it's not in service of making sure that the conditions and principles in place are those that provide optimal support?

Though - in today's world, the opposite happens - the economy is seen to be more important than ecology. It's okay to try to establish an optimal environment, but only in so far as it does not harm the economy. Whaaaaat?! That's, like, the world in reverse. And then the environment is attempted to be valued in economic terms by placing a price on it - instead of looking at the basic value of a forest in terms of what its role is within the ecosystem that we all benefit from.

The Solution

In EMC - we place everything back in its rightful place - where first the conditions and principles are studied in terms of what is required to be in place for the environment and in an environment for species to flourish together as part of the same ecosystem - the same house. In this, we look at all the different kinds of environments - like nature, like a family, like your human physical body, like a school, like a company like a community. Once those conditions and principles have been identified, we can look at how to manage the resources the Earth provides in a way to satisfy these conditions and principles. The same approach will be applied for all Life - not only the human species - because animals for instance form part of an ecosystem and a balanced ecosystem is the one that is most supportive.

So studies like ecology, physics, sociology, education, psychology will form the basis of economics and not the other way around - where today, economics determines science in terms of what is currently being researched as that which is the most profitable.

Rewards

The idea that humans are more than the environment will be disengaged, as we will realize that both require to support each other if we're going to attempt to effectively share the same planet. The human, then, will transform from a parasite to an expression of Life.

Living within supportive environments will allow us to flourish as individuals, as communities, as a species, able to explore and expand ourselves to reach our full potential as a part of Life on Earth.

We will no longer have to break our heads about how to mitigate all the damaging effects of our economy and feel guilty about passing on our mess to the next generation - because we will bring children into a world that is already effective, that is already balanced, that is already equipped to adequately support itself and them.

Most problems that are created as a consequence of inadequacies within environments will be eliminated. This means - an extensive reduction in health problems, an extensive reduction of stress and midlife crises as a result of counter-supportive work-environments, an extensive reduction of psychological problems, an extensive reduction of extinctions of animal species, an extensive reduction of abuse in families - because within correcting the foundational problems within all kinds of environments, we eliminate the root causes of much of the dysfunctional behaviors on a physical, social and psychological level that we are faced with today.

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Day 157: Growing your Own Food and Equal Money

"You can't tell people they can't do something because that will motivate them further. So my hypothetical situation is this. You plans are in full swing and the majority of the planet is behind you but thousands of people don't like the system of ordering food at the touch of a button or swipe of a card and they gather in their city square and protest outside your building then more and more people join until there are endless seas of angry people outside your building that no longer want to be dependent on your system and instead would like to grow food themselves but in your fields that your system has acquired do you let them grow their own food or do you call the riot police to sweep these complainers off your front door. In addition to this I would say I don't want to be dependent on nothing but the earth for it has enough to provide for all without your idea of regulating it we need abundance in all reaches of the globe so we need only ourselves and our generosity. "

Any points of discontent with the organization of society, can be reported by each individual through their online Life Profile (see Politics Wiki page). Riots, marches, demonstrations and massive protests are only applicable in a system where the people are not being heard and where the system stands in opposition to the well-being of the population. Within an Equal Money System, each point of discontent will be addressed on an individual level - where you don't require thousands of people to stand together to make themselves heard. When addressing a point of discontent, which indicates a point of disharmony, it will be assessed whether the disharmony is a result of the organizational structure of society or whether there is a point of disharmony within the person, such as for instance a lack of understanding regarding particular policies and the research these policies are based upon.

Within your example of growing one's own food, there are several points to be considered. Firstly, any point that is made available to one person, must be made available to all people equally. Therefore, to allow one person to cultivate land for food production, implies allowing everyone to do the same. Within this, it must be considered whether it is Best for All to convert such massive amounts of land for agricultural process when this is not part of the Earth's natural expression and can have ramifications in terms of the harmonious balance that is required for the Earth's Life Support System to function effectively. Secondly, the desire for growing one's own food must be investigated. Meaning: does it stem from a lack of quality from the food that you are receiving? In this case, for each one to grow their own food is not necessarily the required solution - but instead one would require to upgrade and better the already existent food production processes. If the desire to grow one's own food stems from simply wanting to participate in such activities as growing food, then each one can on a voluntary basis participate in the already existent food production processes.

Currently, many resort to growing their own food as a coping mechanism because the profit motive compromises the quality of the available food. Without the ability to influence those processes directly, such a reaction is understandable, because there is no alternative. In a system of Equality wherein the well-being of each individual is safeguarded by the Constitution, one would not need to resort to coping mechanisms for the purpose of bettering the lives of only a few. Instead - each one will engage to find solutions that better the life of All. 

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Day 109: Politics as a Double-Faced Game

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that if I change the face/the appearance of something, that that something actually changed.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that to change the form of something does not mean that that something actually changed.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to realise that any political reforms can get away with changing the form/face/appearance of the government and way of ruling, but in its essential character can remain unchanged.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to be satisfied with numbers and superficial facts of how elections are being held in African countries and opposition parties are allowed to be formed, etc. - without looking further than the surface and actually investigating what the practicaly daily living reality is of the politics in Africa - where corruption and neopatrimonialism contitute the rules of the game.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to believe that the international community is genuine in its efforts to facilitate the democratic transition in Africa instead of looking at what they have to gain from this change - where states and economies are being assimilated to the ones in the rest of the world, and so facilitating globalisation, which is a necessity for continued exploitation of the developing nations.

I forgive myself for not accepting and allowing myself to question why the international community is turning a blind eye to these virtual democracies, where, despite international monitoring of elections, the results are often invalid and the result of rigging and manipulation - where the international community proves that they don't really care about the well-being of the local populations, but only care to uphold an appearance of care - allowing them to entrench themselves further in the policy making of foreign states, giving them more control over their economies and, thus, resources.

I commit myself to change the interaction between nations from being tricks and manipulation, to genuine communication and support.

I commit myself to encourage people to see the hidden agreements and interactions happening within politics.

I commit myself to stop politics from being a double-faced game where what it seems is never what it really is, as what it really is is always driven by self-interest and personal gratification.

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