Rule 102 Nature decays, but latinum lasts forever.
Prestigious_Talk6652 on
The billions of people in Africa and Asia will want a piece of the pie if and when they get the means.
You don’t hear about the devastating famines you used to get back in the day.,maybe capitalism has given them the means to buy produce rather rely on subsistence farming?
MedicalParamedic1887 on
Yeah you can’t win elections promising slowing down the economy and everyone having and buying less stuff, but that is exactly what we need to be doing.
The current system we are part of can only lead to war over resources, massive numbers migrating, fascist governments, all of the bad stuff will emerge more as climate change continues to contribute to food shortages and areas becoming unliveable.
Willing-Departure115 on
On the one hand, yes unfettered capitalism – actually, more corporatism as it has moved to in some parts of the world – will screw us all for a time.
On the other hand, lifting people out of poverty has been a carbon intensive activity. China is the world’s fastest growing polluter, but has also lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, also by servicing the world as a manufacturer.
The case for optimism is technological and engineering advances. So China is now producing solar panels at a fraction of the cost of competitors, and last year the country installed more solar capacity in China than the US had in its entire history, as well as exporting.
Lots of technological changes and engineering will, hopefully and please god for our children, save us from the worst of our stupidity in consumption.
I wouldn’t say “capitalism” so much as “economic development”. The USSR and Eastern Bloc had shocking environmental records in the pursuit of development.
A lot of people will agree with statements like the headline on the one hand, but on the other they won’t actually want to see the impacts of curtailing economic development for their lives.
RobotIcHead on
In a western democracy no one will vote to make themselves poorer while others benefit, I read that most Russian believe in climate change, they are seeing the effects but they still selling oil and gas, have a lot of crumbling infrastructure, generations of young dying in war and their number one priority is winning the war in Ukraine.
Honestly though reading the article it felt like the writer was trying to win an academic argument, and the word that kept coming to mind while reading it was pretentious.
aghicantthinkofaname on
Pointless for Irish people to be thinking about this. It can only be achieved by the larger countries making a deal
davesr25 on
Ah yes, the cult of money cares little for the living cost.
SignalEven1537 on
GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH!!
it’s fucking nuts that eternal growth is somehow accepted as sustainable
FuckAntiMaskers on
The EU has regulated things like Apple’s charge cables, so I can’t see any reason why they couldn’t put in place some regulations to try and curtail things like annual refreshes of electronic goods and repairability by manufacturers. Years ago, things like household appliances would easily last 10+ years, whereas these days people are often having things breaking in half that time. The EU could force manufacturers to only release new versions of electronics and appliances every 3 years and ensure that they’re repaired by the manufacturer for a reasonable timeframe 5-10 years. Things would become much more expensive of course but nobody actually needs a brand new version of the highest end phone/TV/laptop every single year, and eventually it would settle down and manufacturers should compete to have the most reliable, durable products.
Yes, some individuals would still source new iterations of things like phones each year outside the EU, but long-term it should hopefully influence other markets.
Envinyatar20 on
Ireland is a post wilderness, post bio diversity country/ environment. If we were serious about biodiversity we would be putting aside meaningful size chunks of marginal land in Mayo, Donegal, Kerry, parts of cork and Waterford and managing a rewilding, But we’re not, so. Don’t worry about Irish biodiversity. It doesn’t exist!
Just hope the countries who have wilderness protect and increase it.
ancapailldorcha on
Nobody’s going to vote to make themselves poorer though. Well, not after a certain event in 2016. Churchill was right to describe capitalism as the worst system, apart from the alternatives.
13 Comments
Rule 102 Nature decays, but latinum lasts forever.
The billions of people in Africa and Asia will want a piece of the pie if and when they get the means.
You don’t hear about the devastating famines you used to get back in the day.,maybe capitalism has given them the means to buy produce rather rely on subsistence farming?
Yeah you can’t win elections promising slowing down the economy and everyone having and buying less stuff, but that is exactly what we need to be doing.
The current system we are part of can only lead to war over resources, massive numbers migrating, fascist governments, all of the bad stuff will emerge more as climate change continues to contribute to food shortages and areas becoming unliveable.
On the one hand, yes unfettered capitalism – actually, more corporatism as it has moved to in some parts of the world – will screw us all for a time.
On the other hand, lifting people out of poverty has been a carbon intensive activity. China is the world’s fastest growing polluter, but has also lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, also by servicing the world as a manufacturer.
The case for optimism is technological and engineering advances. So China is now producing solar panels at a fraction of the cost of competitors, and last year the country installed more solar capacity in China than the US had in its entire history, as well as exporting.
Lots of technological changes and engineering will, hopefully and please god for our children, save us from the worst of our stupidity in consumption.
[“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is the end of capitalism.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_Realism)
I wouldn’t say “capitalism” so much as “economic development”. The USSR and Eastern Bloc had shocking environmental records in the pursuit of development.
A lot of people will agree with statements like the headline on the one hand, but on the other they won’t actually want to see the impacts of curtailing economic development for their lives.
In a western democracy no one will vote to make themselves poorer while others benefit, I read that most Russian believe in climate change, they are seeing the effects but they still selling oil and gas, have a lot of crumbling infrastructure, generations of young dying in war and their number one priority is winning the war in Ukraine.
Honestly though reading the article it felt like the writer was trying to win an academic argument, and the word that kept coming to mind while reading it was pretentious.
Pointless for Irish people to be thinking about this. It can only be achieved by the larger countries making a deal
Ah yes, the cult of money cares little for the living cost.
GROWTH GROWTH GROWTH!!
it’s fucking nuts that eternal growth is somehow accepted as sustainable
The EU has regulated things like Apple’s charge cables, so I can’t see any reason why they couldn’t put in place some regulations to try and curtail things like annual refreshes of electronic goods and repairability by manufacturers. Years ago, things like household appliances would easily last 10+ years, whereas these days people are often having things breaking in half that time. The EU could force manufacturers to only release new versions of electronics and appliances every 3 years and ensure that they’re repaired by the manufacturer for a reasonable timeframe 5-10 years. Things would become much more expensive of course but nobody actually needs a brand new version of the highest end phone/TV/laptop every single year, and eventually it would settle down and manufacturers should compete to have the most reliable, durable products.
Yes, some individuals would still source new iterations of things like phones each year outside the EU, but long-term it should hopefully influence other markets.
Ireland is a post wilderness, post bio diversity country/ environment. If we were serious about biodiversity we would be putting aside meaningful size chunks of marginal land in Mayo, Donegal, Kerry, parts of cork and Waterford and managing a rewilding, But we’re not, so. Don’t worry about Irish biodiversity. It doesn’t exist!
Just hope the countries who have wilderness protect and increase it.
Nobody’s going to vote to make themselves poorer though. Well, not after a certain event in 2016. Churchill was right to describe capitalism as the worst system, apart from the alternatives.