No jobs on a dead planet
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money.”
Yet as the last of the world's old-growth forests are being cut, and toxins are being dumped into our rivers, and commercial fishing boats empty the oceans of marine life, we are more concerned with the state of our economy.
Environmental concerns are now being swept aside and even dealt with as ‘red-tape' by governments eager to keep their sinking economies afloat. The argument of jobs tends to always trump environmental rights when a decision needs to be made about whether or not to allow some corporation the rights to plunder nature for profit.
This is especially true during recessions, when people are hard-pressed to find work, and more willing to compromise in order to survive.
Somehow we all tend to forget that there are no jobs on a dead planet. If we poison the rest of our water sources, having a job or money won't stop us from dying of thirst. If we drag nets across the ocean floor until nothing is left, there will be no fishing jobs left, and those that earned their living fishing commercially will not even be able to eat fish anymore. When the forests are cut, we will not only lose our forestry jobs, we will lose our breath as well.
We tend to think that it has to be one or the other, but we can have both. We don't have to sacrifice our environment in order to live a good life. In fact it's impossible to live a good life in a polluted environment. We are a product of our environment, and the environment is not a product.
Everything on this planet is interconnected, including the current economic and environmental crises. The economy is in crisis because it is based upon the failed logic of perpetual growth and perpetual resource extraction, which is in direct conflict with this earth. There are limits to the resources on this earth, and there is a limit to how much waste and pollution this planet can handle before it reaches a tipping point.
This is the defining moment of our species' existence. If we continue down this same path we will reach the dead end it is leading us into. However, if we change our path, and not just our light bulbs, we still have a chance to avoid climate chaos, and ecological catastrophe.
It is our lifestyles that need to change. It is the way we work, the way we eat, the way we entertain ourselves and communicate with each other, and the way we travel. It is our relationship with nature that needs to change. Economic growth cannot be perpetual. Capitalism is unsustainable. Just as we need to change our relationship with nature, we need to change our relationship with each other. We cannot continue to live these isolated lives of consumerism, and forced to pay for it by working in oppressive power structures. We need to challenge and do away with the notion that it's okay to seek profit at other people's expense. We need to do away oppression in all our social relations, so that we can all live freer lives. Pollution is linked to oppression and domination. As autonomous communities we would have the power to decide that nobody would be forced to ravage the earth in order to pay for food and shelter.
We can create our own alternatives that would allow us to live in balance with nature and the communities we live in. We can collaborate on projects that are mutually beneficial instead of competing against each other in ways that assure mutual destruction. We can, and we will, reclaim our communities from the powers of greed and domination, so that we may liberate ourselves, and the earth as well.
“The earth is not dying, it is being killed and those that are killing it have names and addresses.”
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Yet as the last of the world's old-growth forests are being cut, and toxins are being dumped into our rivers, and commercial fishing boats empty the oceans of marine life, we are more concerned with the state of our economy.
Environmental concerns are now being swept aside and even dealt with as ‘red-tape' by governments eager to keep their sinking economies afloat. The argument of jobs tends to always trump environmental rights when a decision needs to be made about whether or not to allow some corporation the rights to plunder nature for profit.
This is especially true during recessions, when people are hard-pressed to find work, and more willing to compromise in order to survive.
Somehow we all tend to forget that there are no jobs on a dead planet. If we poison the rest of our water sources, having a job or money won't stop us from dying of thirst. If we drag nets across the ocean floor until nothing is left, there will be no fishing jobs left, and those that earned their living fishing commercially will not even be able to eat fish anymore. When the forests are cut, we will not only lose our forestry jobs, we will lose our breath as well.
We tend to think that it has to be one or the other, but we can have both. We don't have to sacrifice our environment in order to live a good life. In fact it's impossible to live a good life in a polluted environment. We are a product of our environment, and the environment is not a product.
Everything on this planet is interconnected, including the current economic and environmental crises. The economy is in crisis because it is based upon the failed logic of perpetual growth and perpetual resource extraction, which is in direct conflict with this earth. There are limits to the resources on this earth, and there is a limit to how much waste and pollution this planet can handle before it reaches a tipping point.
This is the defining moment of our species' existence. If we continue down this same path we will reach the dead end it is leading us into. However, if we change our path, and not just our light bulbs, we still have a chance to avoid climate chaos, and ecological catastrophe.
It is our lifestyles that need to change. It is the way we work, the way we eat, the way we entertain ourselves and communicate with each other, and the way we travel. It is our relationship with nature that needs to change. Economic growth cannot be perpetual. Capitalism is unsustainable. Just as we need to change our relationship with nature, we need to change our relationship with each other. We cannot continue to live these isolated lives of consumerism, and forced to pay for it by working in oppressive power structures. We need to challenge and do away with the notion that it's okay to seek profit at other people's expense. We need to do away oppression in all our social relations, so that we can all live freer lives. Pollution is linked to oppression and domination. As autonomous communities we would have the power to decide that nobody would be forced to ravage the earth in order to pay for food and shelter.
We can create our own alternatives that would allow us to live in balance with nature and the communities we live in. We can collaborate on projects that are mutually beneficial instead of competing against each other in ways that assure mutual destruction. We can, and we will, reclaim our communities from the powers of greed and domination, so that we may liberate ourselves, and the earth as well.
“The earth is not dying, it is being killed and those that are killing it have names and addresses.”
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
