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Global Warning - Mar 5, 2006 - Printable Version
- What Price Eden?
by Robin Buckallew
If I were offered $10 million never to write my column again, would I take the offer? This is the burning question of our day - is everything for sale? In a world of commercials and billboards and outlet malls, it sometimes seems like everything is for sale. Everything has a bar code slapped on it, ready for scanning and taxing. Everything is a commodity to be traded in the market. Everywhere I look, someone is offering something for sale. Everywhere I look, eager consumers look for the best deal, the most spectacular bargain. When is the last time you saw an empty parking lot at the local Wal-Mart (excluding, of course, those few hours of the year when Wal-Mart is actually closed)? When is the last time you heard someone tell you, “I don’t need any more stuff - I have everything I could ever possibly need or want”? It has been said that when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I would say that when you’re a market, everything looks like it’s for sale. So now I want to ask you, gentle reader, what would you take for Eden? In the news the other day, I encountered an interesting piece that at first I assumed was from the world of science. In southern Indiana, a dredge operator uncovered an ancient tree, likely buried in the last Ice Age, believed to be at least 6,000 years old, and possibly as old as 30,000 years. The tree was about 300 years old when it was felled by some natural force, and buried by a glacier. It was perfectly preserved, and scientists are awaiting the radiocarbon dating to get an actual age on the tree. As I read further, however, I discovered the real story - it is believed that this tree will be a very valuable commodity, once it is turned into furniture and other sorts of saleable trinkets. That project is proceeding apace, and the tree is already being turned into logs and wood chips. The main research being done on this tree is being done to determine its commercial value. The main hope for this incredible find is that it will soon become a conversation piece gracing the homes of the very rich who will turn over a portion of their fortune to the retailers for the privilege. It’s all about the money.
A local park is hosting a class of students over the next several weekends for the purposes of environmental research. This is a government owned and managed facility, and environmental education is a large part of its stated mission. Many of these students have spent their entire lives in the city, in front of a television or a computer screen. For a few short hours, they will be taken outside their four walls, outside the concrete and plastic, and their feet will touch real grass. They will lean on real trees, and encounter real bugs, not the kind of bugs you might worry about infecting your computer or being planted on your telephone. For a few short hours, the students will be up close and personal with Eden. This venture is not without some concerns. The managers of the facility are worried. Are they worried the students will hurt themselves? Not really – it’s a very safe facility, and it’s not very wild in the spot where they will be meeting. Are they worried that the students will hurt the ecosystem? No - they have no concerns about that at all. They are worried that the students might disturb the fishermen who are casting their lines into the river, hoping to snag a few big ones. This park, with a mission of environmental education and restoration, is predominantly concerned that they will lose some money from the fees they charge to these fishermen. It’s all about the money.
I have been told for the past several decades that the market is the best way to protect the ecosystem. Leave the market free to operate, and it will operate in a way that is friendly and protective of the environment. The people will demand it, they will pay a premium for it, and the market will respond. The market will be reformed by a groundswell of public opinion, and the environment will prosper if the market is allowed to prosper. This creed is chanted day and night across the political spectrum. The incessant refrain has become a drumbeat across the nation, rallying all the troops to the market. The left sings this song because they believe it. If the market were just run better, everything would be paradise, poor people would no longer go to bed hungry, and the Bengal tiger would be brought back from the brink of extinction. Those on the right sing along in chorus, but the tune sounds a little sour. The harmony doesn’t quite strike the right note, because they don’t believe it. They just want to convince everyone else to leave the market alone, so it can continue to make them prosperous. History is on their side. History reveals the dirty little secret that no one wants to acknowledge. It’s all about the money.
The market cannot protect the environment. The market is fundamentally incapable of doing anything that will reduce profits, and in a sense, it would be illegal for the market to make that move. You see, the market is bound by law to elevate the interests of shareholders above those of others, and generate the maximum profit. For the most part, individual investors are protected from liability for the actions that are taken on their behalf. In order to achieve this end, it is usually most expedient to exploit workers, keep wages and benefits low, and to spend as little as possible protecting public health or the environment. If you don’t believe me, start watching the stock market. When a company announces a substantial layoff in spite of record profits, or announces that it is closing its American factories and moving production overseas, the value of the stock will rise. If a company is able to negotiate a deal with its workers that they will take a reduction in pay and/or benefits, the value of the stock will rise. It hardly needs to be said that if the Clean Water Act were repealed today, the stock market would skyrocket for those firms that are currently regulated under its provisions. Tomorrow, we repeal the Clean Air Act, and watch the numbers go even higher. The next day, eighty-six the Endangered Species Act, and watch the market party. It’s all about the money.
It isn’t that the market has an inherently evil nature. It simply plays a role in society that precludes social responsibility. When you or I stand before a giant redwood, we see an awesome tree that has been around for millennia and inspires us to poetic rhapsodies. The market sees patio furniture. When you or I visit the stark landscape of Wyoming, we see wild beauty and fabulous landscapes. The market sees shale oil. When you and I look at a waterfall, we see spectacular sights as rainbows come and go teasingly in the cascading water. The market sees hydroelectric plants and bottled water sales. When you and I see a newborn baby, we ooh and aah over the tiny little fingers and toes, and speculate on what wonders await this new life in an as yet unrealized future. The market sees a consumer. It’s all about the money.
Every day, people invest in the stock market. They are gambling that when they buy a stock at one price, they will be able to sell it at a higher one, and make a profit. Many people don’t think that much about the role of the market, and certainly are not consciously gambling that their next door neighbor will be laid off when her job is shipped to India or China. They are not consciously gambling that their cousin will be evicted after his wages are cut in brutal contract negotiations. They are not consciously gambling that a neighborhood will become an environmental sacrifice zone as toxic wastes fill the streams and rivers. But in all reality, those are the gambles that are being made when a person invests in the stock market. It is recognized by people who truly understand the role of the market in the world that what is good for labor, what is good for workers, and what is good for communities is not good for investors. In rare moments of candor, this will even be acknowledged openly. Still the market goes on. Still investors are protected from liability for the consequences of their investment. Still we all chirp in endless chorus about doing what is good for the economy. We hide our heads in the sand, refusing to notice that our system is built on a fragile foundation of continual growth. We refuse to acknowledge the fact that we are living on a finite earth, where resources are limited. Edward Abbey once said, “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”. This is one cancer we have all learned to love, and to encourage. Grow, damn you, grow. Spread your malignant tentacles over our world, and grow. We have learned to love the sickness that is killing us. In fact, we even convince ourselves that the sickness itself contains the cure for what is killing us. Grow, damn you, grow.
For those who honestly and sincerely believe that the market can become the cure for the devastation that is spreading throughout Eden, I ask you this: do you truly believe that you can fix what is broken with the same tool that broke it? Could I come into your home, smash up your computer with a sledge hammer, and then stand by and watch you fix your computer by continuing to pound it with the same hammer? For centuries the market has been raping, ravaging, and pillaging its way around the world. The New World was discovered and settled when the resources of the Old World became limited. When the East Coast began to prove confining to the market, we moved west. Now as the world proves to be finite and there are fewer places to expand to, the market begins to look skyward into space. The market, in order to survive, must grow. The world, in order to survive, must curtail the continued growth it can no longer support. These are mutually incompatible goals. A market based on growth can never be ecologically sustainable, and it certainly cannot ever undo the damage it does. It is time to rethink how we create wealth.
It is widely believed that consumers will be the driving force that will cause the market to change its ways. Consumers will purchase products that promote the public welfare, products that are produced in less invasive and destructive ways. It is fondly believed by intelligent people everywhere that people will willingly pay extra for the products that support their values. This is the most curious phenomenon of all, since very few of the people who express this belief to me are themselves voluntarily paying more for products that support their values. Socially responsible purchasing requires a great deal of time to educate yourself on production methods, shipping, packaging and marketing issues. It requires time in what might already be a grueling trip to the grocery store to compare the available products to see if they meet the desired standards. It requires saying “no” to your whining children who want the “cool” brand they saw advertised during Sponge Bob. It requires not keeping up with the Joneses, not replacing the months old electronic gadget with the “latest thing in technology”. Perhaps someday our species will reach this advanced stage of enlightenment. Unfortunately, the tipping point is near at hand, and we need to work on solutions now. For those of you who argue that the market can “change the tipping point”, I would agree. It certainly can. The market has been steadily and faithfully moving the tipping point ever closer, so that now it is due to arrive about a century before it was originally expected. A good friend once told me “Sometimes you have to sacrifice your queen”. He was right. Now is the time to sacrifice our queen, to admit we are moving the wrong pieces, and to face up to the fact that we are very near to “Checkmate”.
Many of you are no doubt curious about what I would put in place of the current market. This is where I have a confession to make: I don’t know. For some strange reason, everyone is scared to say those words, “I don’t know”. Politicians will not say they don’t know. Preachers will not say they don’t know. Teachers will not say they don’t know. Parents will not say they don’t know. But I will say it: I don’t know. If there is one thing that my years of studying science have taught me, it is to not be scared of the unknown. It is always a nobler thing to admit a lack of knowledge than to plunge ahead in a misguided certainty. Once we all admit that we don’t have the answer, we can begin to think. We can put our heads together, and work out a solution. We can begin to think outside the box - outside the market, outside the commercial, outside the mall - and come up with a truly, genuinely new and creative answer. An answer that promotes stability over growth, that promotes public welfare over private profit, that recognizes the earth itself as a prime stakeholder.
It’s time for me to answer the question with which I began this column - if I were offered $10 million dollars to quit writing, would I take it? The answer, in case you haven’t already figured it out, is no. I don’t need $10 million. I am not a wealthy person, but my needs are simple. Sometimes we have treasures in the world that we cherish above all else. This column is one of the greatest treasures I have. Some things are not for sale.
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