permaculture

["Michael Kramer" <MKramer@hawaii.rr.com>]

I'm not sure that economic growth is really the problem. As population
grows, more goods and services are needed. In permaculture we discuss the
need to limits our needs and conserve resource use, and to use ecologically
appropriate materials, but growth is inevitable and necessary. I'd counter
that the central issue is linking resource regeneration to economic activity
so as to account for the cost of resource use. Were we to require (via
shareholder activism or government regulation) the replenishment of
extracted resources and/or the tithing of a percentage of profits generated
from such extraction back to the host bioregion for resource reinvestment,
we could perhaps meet the needs of future generations. There could be
taxes/fines against the non-compliant as well. I would also suggest that
there is growing interest in the triple bottom line, which puts social and
ecological criteria on equal footing to profit. On economic terms alone,
research is demonstrating a strong correlation between companies which are
good ecological stewards and which invest in their employees, and
profitability. It is simply better business to operate in such a way as to
avoid public scrutiny, government fines, boycotts, lawsuits, shareholder
actions, etc that come from bad business policies. Smart companies are
discovering that their own survival will only be assured by transitioning to
more sustainable and socially just practices. Resource shortages (including
employee morale) are slowly forcing such innovation, but this has spawned
immeasurable creativity. Many companies pay their workers to pursue advanced
degrees and/or provide on-site child care. McDonough has designed a
prototype 100% recyclable car. Dell is the first to have a complete computer
take back program for recycling. Interface is shifting to natural fiber and
dyed carpet tiles that are recycled when worn. Wind/solar/hydrogen power
continues to increase its market share. Health food is the fastest growing
segment of the American economy. Home Depot has a policy against purchasing
timber from old growth forests. These are growth industries we must strongly
encourage. Perfect solutions they are not, but they are steps in the right
direction. We are changing capitalism, one dollar at a time, and I would
suggest that we need to engage capitalism and not play victim to its class
of elites. We must take that bull by the horns and wrangle with it, demand
accountability, demand sustainable operations, and demand the regeneration
of resources on which the entire economy is based. We do this through our
purchasing power, through our banking and investment choices, and through
our pressures upon government regulatory agencies. We must resolve our own
issues of anti-capitalism, for money is not the problem, consensus about how
to use money appropriately is the problem; we permaculturists have an
ethical obligation to do something about that.

-----
Michael Kramer, Accredited Investment Fiduciary
Natural Investment Services
P.O. Box 390595
Keauhou, HI 96739

Michael@NaturalInvesting.com
www.NaturalInvesting.com
808-331-0910
Toll-free: 888-779-1500

Socially Conscious Portfolio Management & Hourly Consulting
Sustainability Strategic Planning and Education

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 01:24:22 -0800
> From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
> Subject: [permaculture] Economic Growth (and Neoclassical Economics)
> vs. Sustainability
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <41D12646.3020504@intrex.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [SANET-MG] Economic Growth (and Neoclassical Economics) vs.
Sustainability
> Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 19:28:24 -0800
> From: Brian Czech <brianczech@STEADYSTATE.ORG>
> To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am new to the list.  I am a conservation biologist
> with the federal government and founding president of
> the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State
> Economy (CASSE).  My government job (biodiversity
> conservation) is an exercise in futility as long as
> economic growth (increasing production and onsumption
> of goods and services) is the primary domestic policy
> goal of the American polity.  Due to the tremendous
> breadth of the human niche, the scale of the human
> economy expands at the competitive exclusion of
> wildlife in the aggregate.
>
> Iâ?Tve come to view economic growth as not only the
> biggest problem facing biodiversity conservation but as
> a major threat to national security and international
> stability.  Iâ?Tve been writing on this topic since my
> Ph.D. research 10 years ago.  I proposed the steady
> state revolution in Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train:
> Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to
> Stop Them All.
>
> I invite you to visit the CASSE website:
>
> Www.steadystate.org
>
> and e-sign the position on economic growth at the
> Action page:
>
> http://www.steadystate.org/PositiononEG.html
>
> The reasons for signing the position are provided at
> the CASSE website.  No contact information is requested
> and no further contact results from e-signing.
>
> I was glad to see the recent exchange on the merits of
> mainstream economics for sustainability purposes.  My
> thoughts on that are provided in Shoveling Fuel.
>
> Happy holidays,
>
>
> Brian Czech, President
> Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
> Arlington, VA
> WWW.STEADYSTATE.ORG
>
> **************
>
>    Steve:
>
> Baloney.  The profession of Economics is a lap-dog.
> The powers that be,
> political and economic, have co-opted the economics
> profession, which is
> entirely a captive of market fundamentalism.
>
> Those brave economists who stray too far from
> fundamentalism are ignored or
> worse.  I'm thinking of Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen,
> Herman Daly, and maybe Kenneth
> Boulding, from earlier decades.  It is time for
> economists to get serious and
> admit the limitations of the market model.
>
> Or, maybe something has changed that I don't know about
> in the ten years I've
> been away.
>
> My two cents.
>
> John Lozier
> ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
> West Virginia University Extension Service
> PO Box 6108, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108
> Telephone 304-293-6256
> ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
>
>
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>
> End of permaculture Digest, Vol 23, Issue 28
> ********************************************
>