- The earth has a finite amount of natural resources
- Our world economic model requires growth to function
As long as capitalism and banks rule the priorities of the world, resources will become more and more scarce. Regardless of the corporate green-washing marketing rhetoric, corporations must grow. Companies are required to grow by the inherent demands of a money system with scarcity and interest payments at it's core. No company will ever be financially motivated to conserve resources unless perhaps that company sells those resources and it's stock price will be favorably, in the short-term, effected.
There are people who understand the need to address global warming, and peak oil, and water shortage, and the myriad other challenges we face with dwindling natural resources. These people have been working for decades to effect meaningful change with barely enough impact to notice. Is it any wonder that most caring individuals feel powerless and depressed in the face of such a daunting challenge when the system that citizens depend on to make a living is at direct odds with them?
We as a world use more energy now than ever. We use more energy per person than ever before and we are adding new population faster than ever before. Despite everyone's apparent agreement that conservation is the key issue facing the modern world, the amount of our natural resource consumption is increasing at an increasing rate. How can this be happening when the clear path we must take is to conserve?
The answer is that every effort we make in the face of capitalism is like rearranging deck chairs while the titanic sinks. It makes us feel better but we are still doomed. The only true solution is a change in the way we produce things. The industrial age has brought us many great innovations but now, like a teenager's stubborn ignorance, it must come to an end for us to become adults. Corporations will not rescue us. A hot new startup will not develop a product that suddenly fixes global warming (and if it did it would be under a fiduciary imperative to it's investors to charge a price worthy of world salvation). No, corporations will not save us. Banks will not save us. The government will not save us. All these institutions will never draw attention to the fact that the system that makes them powerful must be abolished for humans to continue on earth. It's time for the next chapter in human evolution.
Welcome to the Conservation Age.
The Conservation Age has begun but it has nothing to do with hybrid cars, or efficient office lighting. This age marks the end of capitalism and the beginning of a monetary system that replaces the corporate requirements for growth and centralization with the community's requirement to conserve and decentralize control.
The Conservation Age has begun in the only place it can, by neighbors that get together and know there is a better way. Change never comes from those in power. Change comes from the bottom. If you're on the bottom, like me, then congratulations - the world is depending on you.
