I was wondering what your position is on the claim by the Canadian physicist Dr. David Suzuki that the pursuit of constant economic growth is the cause of the degradation of the planet. This economic growth is producing a demand for energy faster than green sources can replace fossil-fuel plants.
People have this mistaken idea that the fossil fuel industry is only about fuel. That's wrong. It also supports the entire petrochemical industry. Until we replace every single one of those chemicals with a new process to create it, fossil fuels are also here to stay.
The underlying problem is our economic system drives us to make and sell more. If we replace nylon with cotton we degrade the land and require energy to make the clothing. We are not just destroying the planet by adding GHG’S, we are disrupting the balance of the natural world that maintains life.
I can get behind this idea, because it opens the curtain a little further. To talk about fossil fuels as only being fuel is naive though. The stuff is everywhere. Dyes, fragrances, plastics, fibers, pharmaceuticals, everything. So you have to fix everything. Including the behemoth of consumption.
Agreed. Petroleum products are everywhere and present a problem from the extraction of the oil to the microplastics in the oceans and drinking water. Until the cost of fixing the problems created by oil drilling and processing is included in the price of oil it will be the product of choice.
I learned that early. My parents worked for a good portion of the evil empire. Monsanto, DOW, pharma. We owned a plastics manufacturing company for a time. I interned at a pharma company, for 8 summers, worked our company about as long. Just another cog. I'm a disabled artist, writer, now, happier.
Much much poorer though, lol. Funny how that works out. Turns out you only need as much money to be happy as you need to not worry about paying your bills, and you can even be happy without that. Also though it really is nicer to cry in your Mercedes then your shitbox with no AC, lol. 🥵