The Conservation Economy (1993)
(revised April 2008)
Modern economic theories from Adam Smith to Karl Marx are
not going to be much help as people look to their future.
The popular labels of capitalist' and `socialist' economies
have become meaningless. It's time to face reality and discard
old political and economic buzzwords and theories.
For all industrial societies, this means a ****ft from consumption
to conservation-based economics. Financial trends are serving
notice that the wor****p of economic consumption for its own sake is
an illusion people can no longer afford. Now, the price for this
folly is starting to be paid, and it means change. As the present
global financial system unravels, a better one must take its place.
Here are seven major differences between a consumption and a
conservation economy.
Today's consumption economies are: (1) short sighted, (2) link
material goods to status, (3) promote goods on perceived, not real
needs, (4) are mentally and physically harmful to people, (5)
ignore effects to the biosphere, (6) have chaotic finances. and (7)
sponsor periodic wars.
A conservation economy: (1) looks long term, (2) promotes the use
value of material goods, (3) produces for real needs, (4) is
beneficial for people, (5) is ecologically sound, (6) is
financially stable, and (7) exists to sustain a permanent global
peace.
Today households and businesses plan only for the short term, often
month by month just to pay debt. Public companies, too, must plan
in short periods to devise quarterly financial re****ts to keep
speculators happy. Stock and financial markets are skewed to care
little for the future.
In a conservation economy people plan generations ahead to provide
for the welfare of children, grandchildren, and their descendants.
By the next generation, a tree seedling planted today could be
bearing fruit, nuts, or maple syrup.
In seven generations mature forests could be restored. Without
trees, there won't be a future for anyone. In a conservation
society, people's idea of time will get in synch with the longer
cycles of natural events.
A major conservation principle is holding material goods as tools
instead of status symbols. Possessions are to be used, not
displayed. If, before people bought anything, they thought, `How
can I use this to enrich my life permanently?', it would test for
utility value and slow impulsive and wasteful purchases. Needs and
wants in a conservation economy are real, not perceived.
In a consumption economy sellers promote the idea of wants. People
default their natural idea of needs to an unreal media-generated
`standard of living.' A deluded economic cabal now dominates the
advertising and media that create and deliver messages to people.
They don't even call human beings `people.' They refer to them
as economic units - `consumers.'
Based on advertising, people pattern buying habits. Stimulation
from this barrage of brain-wa****ng causes impulsive purchases and
a quagmire of perpetual personal and family debt.
Most people in consumption societies tenuously hold jobs that are
unrewarding except for making money. Money was originally a means
of exchange, not something to be sought for its own sake. Holding
a job in this confining and demeaning work setting is economic
slavery.
Hidden frustrations of this syndrome then erupt in patterns of
escapism involving alcohol, drug, family abuse, and violent crime.
Witness the `news' for evidence the consequences of consumption
societies are life threatening to people.
The conservation work setting would be more than a job. It would be
integrated with a broader life vision, and linked to hope for a
tomorrow that includes today. The perception that one's work
contributes to a better future makes it easier to cope with natural
stress on the job and encourages a pro-life attitude.
Consumption economies also happen to be political states. Political
states promote war system economies, which is the most wasteful
kind of consumption. Periodically, a political state must prove its
dominance of its own and other populations by armed force or it
loses political credibility.
Wars appear to initially stimulate the riches of the winner, but
added up, there's always a global net loss. The idea of sustaining
wealth by destruction is a sick delusion.
The global economy is nothing new. Ever since there has been
pack animals, wagons, sailors and ****ps, economic exchange has
always been people-to-people, and crossed the borders of political
states.
Transcending political states, conservation economies are global by
nature. While nations are logical cultural groupings of people and
their environment, political states are only paper legal entities
that can't relate to the ecosystem.
A nation and its political structure are different. Only political
states and groups cause war, not individuals. A subtlety, but once
embraced, it can help design the stage for permanent peace.
Economies use money to help transfer goods and services. Whatever
money is, it must be agreed to by everyone, be tangible and
divisible, and define its value by consensus independent of state
or banking power.
Today, almost all world money doesn't qualify as such. Money now
has only symbolic value, sup****ted by a wishful confidence. As
such, it's dangerously subject to manipulation by sudden economic
and political panics that influences its value.
This constant fluctuation of symbolic money is characteristic of
debt-driven consumption economies, and is chaotic to natural
economic exchange. A peaceful conservation world that plans long
term, can grow in a qualitative, orderly way, without steep boom
and bust cycles. Its money will be equally stable and predictable.
Ultimately, people will rediscover that the historic essence of
global trade is barter not financial credit. Banks and banking are
not necessary for `money' to circulate.
The real issue is conservation vs. consumption. The transition from
a wasteful consumption pattern to a natural conservation ethic will
cause disrupting, but needed, social change. It'll be easier to
cope with if people will first think about what they really value
for themselves and their families and always keep those hopes in
focus.
Advertising is mind control. If they have to advertise it, you
don't need it. People must learn to tune out the consumption-
promoting radio, TV, daily newspaper and Internet advertising
messages. Then each household must become a tiny conservation
economy. Family by family, it'll catch on.
People will realize again what they've forgotten; that their
own optimism, and genuinely productive activity is the real wealth
of themselves, and their families. The result can be an enduring
and harmonious new order of living.
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