| Nature is red in
tooth and claw – there have to be winners and losers
– but when (as we are) a species is at the top of the food chain, we
have only ourselves to fear. The so-called ‘developed’ world
has tastes and values that are unsustainable without someone else's suffering
for them.
How long can the notion of sustainable growth keep
tempting us with the sorts of things we didn't know we wanted until they
were so cleverly advertised? How long can we afford to gamble with making
money out of money?
Unlike 500 years ago, there is no ‘new world’
for us to discover: there is nowhere left for us to go. We need to put money
to one side and to think seriously about alternative values if we are to
have real quality and meaning in our lives.
The human race has had a great adventure. It has
invented many wonderful things of use and value – but at what cost to
our home, the planet Earth? Surely it is time to take stock of what we have
achieved and to turn this knowledge to our long-term advantage rather than
our downfall.
Do we have to work so hard? All we need to do is
supply ourselves with good food, make somewhere comfortable for us to live,
and find enjoyable ways of developing our creative and competitive skills
that are, for once, in harmony with the rest of nature. Let's keep the best
bits and dump the rest!
The real wealth of humanity is humanity itself –
its children. Man's ‘economics’ to man has got to change.
History has shown that money has only ever made
very few people rich and a very great many thoroughly miserable. There are
enough natural disasters in the world each year to occupy us without all
the suffering and environmental damage caused by today's extraordinary levels
of consumerism.
After all, what is consumerism for? Profits, dividends,
getting a
return
– making money for its own sake. It is like a drug, distorting our
perception of reality, our reason, and our sense of responsibility.
Why can't we invest in the Future? Use the money
NOW to research, design, manufacture, and employ people to make all the things
we KNOW we need – and then educate our children and their children to
keep repairing them and maintaining them. No overnight miracles, just a steady,
planned, caring and phased programme of withdrawal. If we can send someone
to the moon, why can't we do this? |
There is far,
far more to economics than meets the reader's eye in these humble pages,
so it seems only fair that I should offer up some sort of author's message.
After all, what do people write books for – surely not just for other
people to read? So here I am, and if you will kindly give me a leg up –
I shall get on my high horse . . . 
