Briefly to pick up on this, I cannot see how any meaningful vision of
sustainability can be predicated on economic growth - its just an
oxymoron in a closed system. Too much tinkering with a
fundamentally flawed system when all the warnings are going off (ie
not just the hydrocarbon twins of peak oil/gas and climate change,
but also species extinction, top soil erosion, chemical pollution,
etc etc) seems to me to be a waste of ever more precious time.
Agree with the money creation analysis.
Peter
On 30 Jan 2006, at 0:10, Chris Keene wrote:
Some people claim that the obsession with economic growth in our
society is due to the way money is created - nearly all of it as
interest-bearing debt. This means that we have to generate growth
to
pay the interest.
What do others on the list think?
Chris
Aubrey Meyer wrote:
> Chris and whoever - I am perplexed.
>
> Is it out of fatalism, habit, or perhaps religious belief that you
> and others on [and beyond] this list persist in framing this [the
> 'nuclear-decision'] issue only in in terms of a vision that leaves
> the demand-as-usual curve unchallenged?
>
> In other words I am asking you [plural] if you are seeking to do
> battle with an 'opponent' [the government and it's imminent
> pro-nuclear decision etc] whose number one assumption - unlimited
> growth - you accept without a comment or a quibble?
>
> If so - i.e. accepting this and proceeding on this assumption, is
> the consensus of this list: -
>
> [1] I am not a party to it
>
> [2] not least because proceeding this way weights the outcome in
> favour of nuclear and
>
> [3] once again avoids the real problem which is the structural c!
> ommitment to economic growth by any means and at any cost
>
> [4] and thereby ensures the problem of failure in the battle to
> avoid dangerous climate change.
>
> I.A. - I will read the absence of comment as list-agreement with the
> consensus as defined above and adjust accordingly with
> self-excommunication.
>
> I am indifferent to the outcome and will decide by the end of the
> week ahead.
>
>
> Aubrey
>
>
>
>
> Aubrey Meyer
> GCI
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