Filthy Lucre

Tue Dec 29, 2020 by Bela Mondo

After the basic need for survival and procreation, our next essential activity is possibly trading. Before money existed, humans had to carry goods (like a bag of cereals or half a pig, etc.) to exchange and also the right amount of merchandise to exchange with other goods. Not very convenient! So some form of a system of money is one human invention that makes trade easier. It can be considered one of the great tools that pushed forward development of our societies. It enabled more complex ways for us to trade and gave us a metric for the value of material goods.

What Went Wrong?

Not a new story but worth telling again.

If aliens came to our planet and looked around our cities, this might be the conclusion they would reach “This species put great importance on the big structures in their settlements. They call them ‘skyscrapers’ and are generally owned by organisations such as ‘banks’, ‘insurance companies’ and ‘investment companies’ - these all buildings deal with money in one way or another. The extreme reverence paid to these institutions is something we have seen on other inhabited planets. We name this behaviour ‘the worship of religion’. And on this particular planet, what they worship is quite obviously, money “.

Another name for this religion could be “economic wealth”. Here are a few of many things we do (or allow) in the name of this.

Cause many species on the planet to become extinct
Deforest vast tracts of land and degrade our home planet
Let 9 million people (5 million children) die of starvation a year
Another 9 million global mortality due to fossil fuel pollution
Cause about 150 million to become homeless
Massively pollute our home planet with toxic and non-biodegradable waste

As can be seen, chasing this “economic wealth” has effects well beyond what a reasonable person would class as acceptable. Our economic system and processes seem to be controlled by a few people who are happy to allow these egregious violations to occur. Yet the momentum of our economic system carries on relentlessly even though most individuals feel that it needs changing.

What is the result when everyone in the world has ultimate monetary and material wealth but the planet is uninhabitable? Where each of us have all the material things we could ever want with bulging bank balances in a world without trees and animals. Where we have to wear masks (sounds familiar?) and live in isolated pods?

We could of course continue living in denial of our ultimate trajectory and carry on thoughtlessly till we have exhausted the planet, totally surrounded by our own filth. But suddenly, we have a ….

A Viral Pause

So we now have a pause imposed upon our economic system caused by the Covid-19 virus.

It is a chance to review what sort of a world we are moving towards. What future are we leaving for future generations - nay this generation is now being affected. Our impact on the world is accelerating very, very fast. Maybe you’ve noticed.

Let us review what really is “economic wealth” or “economic growth” and do these deserve the importance we attached to them?

Where the accepted belief is that we should aim for earning more so that we can consume more regardless of the consequences. And billions of people who have not yet achieved this material over-abundance are also clamouring to do so.

Yes, let us see what is actually happening as we are forced to take a pause.

Let us focus on what really gives us improved quality of life. Things like the incredibly wonderful natural world and its healing effect on us. A healthy environment for us, our family and ideally, all of our species. And extending that to the plants and other animals, whose well-being is completely and inexorably linked to our own.

This pause give us the opportunity to think of how the world could be better. How to put right the human processes and structures so that they contribute to the vitality our whole world. And doing this can become the purpose of our existence; to live more harmoniously with nature. A much better goal than mindless economic striving.

In other words, let us imagine a more beautiful world. What we humans can imagine, we totally have the ability to create.