1st November - The Elephant in the Room?

As part of my attempt to keep upbeat and positive I went along to hear a talk about economic growth and well-being by Prof. Jules Pretty (Professor of Environment and Society at the University of Essex)

Not many surprises really … once we have had our basic needs met there is no link between material consumption and well-being  …  for everyone on Planet Earth to 'enjoy' the lifestyle of the 'developed' nations we would need the physical resources of six planets ..  massive discrepancies between the rich and poor, not only between nations but within nations, and that gap is getting ever wider.

The one surprise for me was that (unless I lost concentration for a while!) Prof Pretty made no (or little?) mention of ‘capitalism’.  We all know that communism doesn’t seem to be that good at environmental protection but surely any discussion of the way out of the mess we are in should look at whether there is anything about industrial capitalism based on material consumption which prevents us finding a path to a better future.  Many see growth as central to free-market capitalism.

If I got it right, Prof Pretty suggested that we could continue to grow the economy but we would need to start buying longer lasting, less polluting,  products and services. We would need to be more ‘attached’ to what we buy.  But I wonder how that squares with the massive drip, drip, drip of cultural messages we are exposed to every day which tell us how we should look, how our homes should look and which tempt us with the latest fashion or gizmo.  . David Edwards in his wonderful book ‘Free to be human’ claims that capitalism depends on keeping us all discontented so we will all go out and buy, buy, buy …

In ‘Prosperity without growth’ Tim Jackson begins to look at different types of capitalism  including employee ownership and some element of state control and even state ownership of vital services.   Not much sign of that just now but perhaps, together with all the inspiring grass-roots activity that is happening, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.