This blog is the result of my search for a 'simple' answer to what appears to be a difficult question: What is it about the way we are living on Planet Earth which is leading to the destruction of the natural environment, to the extinction of many animal and plant species and potentially, as some people think, to the end of human life as we know it? In short, why are we fouling our own nest?
This is not the writing of an academic, a politician or an economist but of a simple soul who worries about the future for our children and grandchildren and who has spent almost a lifetime pondering and reading and observing. It represents a personal journey towards understanding.
My search for the 'simple' answer was fired by a suspicion that maybe the apparent complexity of the subject was part of the problem. Could it be that the 'experts' - economists and sociologists, industrialists and financiers, politicians and academics - are using a language which has enabled the powerful to maintain their elite status while leaving the rest of us with the sense of powerlessness which results from a lack of understanding.
As I read through the news behind the headlines about climate change, social breakdown, economic meltdown, environmental destruction and what appears to be global chaos I feel I am swimming in deep and troubled waters. While struggling with this lack of understanding I began to wonder whether the complexity could be simplified, the issues could be demystified, the choices could be made clearer. I was encouraged in my mission by Ha-Joon Chang's assertion in his '23 Things They Don't Yell You About Capitalism'[1]
‘it is not necessary for us to understand all the technical details in order to understand what is going on in the world and exercise what I call an ‘active citizenship’ to demand the right courses of action from those in decision-making positions.’
I write in the hope that readers might contribute (simple!) ideas and help to fill in the gaps and open up the possibilities. We’ll see …
[1] Ha-Joon Chang – 23 Things
They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism; Pub Allen Lane 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whVf5tuVbus
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