{"id":51338,"date":"2020-02-24T09:21:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T14:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=51338"},"modified":"2020-02-24T09:21:10","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T14:21:10","slug":"ive-seriously-tried-to-believe-capitalism-and-the-planet-can-coexist-but-ive-lost-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=51338","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve seriously tried to believe capitalism and the planet can coexist, but I\u2019ve lost faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve seriously tried to believe capitalism and the planet can coexist, but I\u2019ve lost\u00a0faith<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

As the Productivity Commission confirmed this week<\/a>, Australia\u2019s economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for 28 years straight. Specifically, our output of goods and services last financial year grew by 2%. Economists obviously see the growth of a national economy as good news \u2013 but what is it doing to the Earth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalism demands<\/a> limitless economic growth, yet research<\/a> shows that trajectory is incompatible<\/a> with a finite planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If capitalism is still the dominant economic system in 2050, current trends<\/a>suggest our planetary ecosystems will be, at best, on the brink of collapse<\/a>. Bushfires will become more monstrous<\/a> and wildlife<\/a> will continue to be annihilated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As my research has sought to demonstrate<\/a>, an adequate response to climate change, and the broader environmental crisis, will require creating a post-capitalist society<\/a> which operates within Earth\u2019s ecological limits<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This won\u2019t will be easy \u2013 it will be the hardest thing our species has tried to do. I\u2019m not saying capitalism hasn\u2019t produced benefits for society (although those benefits are distributed very unequally within<\/a> and between<\/a> nations). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, some people will think even talking about the prospect is naive, or ludicrous. But it\u2019s time to have the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Pigs feed at a landfill site in front of a power station in Macedonia. GEORGI LICOVSKI\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is growth?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic growth<\/a> generally refers to gross domestic product<\/a> (GDP) \u2013 the monetary value of goods and services produced in an economy. Historically, and across the globe, GDP and environmental impact has been closely<\/a> linked<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitalism\u00a0needs growth<\/a>. Businesses must\u00a0pursue profits<\/a>\u00a0to stay viable and governments want growth because a larger tax base means more capacity for funding public services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve seriously tried to believe capitalism and the planet can coexist, but I\u2019ve lost\u00a0faith As the Productivity Commission confirmed this week, Australia\u2019s economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for 28 years straight. Specifically, our output of goods and services last financial year grew by 2%. Economists obviously see the growth of a national economy as good news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[111,5478,391,29086,8487],"class_list":["post-51338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-environment","tag-capitalism","tag-green-growth","tag-growth","tag-rajat-gupta-epa","tag-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51339,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51338\/revisions\/51339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}