Sunday, January 30, 2011

Growing the economy, shrinking the ecosystem

I was in Spokane a couple weeks ago when a car pulled up beside me at a stop light. It had a bumper sticker that I just barely managed to photograph before the car drove off. (Sorry it’s blurry.) The bumper sticker said: “Growing the Economy / Shrinking the Ecosystem.”


Would it be too much of a leap of logic to conclude this driver is deliriously happy about the shambles our economy is in? Just think – the closer we inch to an economic depression, the bigger and (presumably) healthier the ecosystem! Massive unemployment = happy ecosystem!

Of course, maybe I’m looking at it wrong. Maybe the driver is suggesting we grow the economy and shrink the ecosystem…

10 comments:

  1. When I look at this photo, I see... "Growing the Economy IS shrinking the ecosystem". So, I think it is supposed to be a pro-ecosystem sticker not a pro-economy sticker. Just my two cents... :-)

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  2. Eh...an abundance of either is bad. I think the first thing we should do is work on making farming smaller, strengthening communities instead of just creating a society of incessant consumerism.

    And what about all those so-called green jobs I keep hearing about? If innovation in those fields isn't encouraged domestically, how are we ever going to get those jobs? I may be missing an awful lot, but I can see a few ways to help the economy AND the ecosystem at the same time.

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  3. Tell me, Lindsay, how are all those urban and suburban folks supposed to eat when farms are made smaller? Do you think everybody can be a farmer these days? Not enough available farmland to go around. I certainly don't agree with all the things agribusiness is accused of, but I don't see how a population of over 300,000,000 people can survive on minifarms or backyard gardens. And all those big farms you don't like are also feeding millions of people in other countries. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, big farms are more efficient and more productive.

    Who would you preserve the ecosystem from, or for? Perhaps everyone should stop breeding? Do you think feral hogs and wild horses are any easier on the ecosystem? They aren't.

    Green jobs are a euphemism for destroying our economy even further. The people who believe the "green jobs" lie are part of the problem. Don't drink the Kool-Aid.

    Before we throw out the baby with the bathwater, perhaps we should have a VIABLE plan in place, first.

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  4. http://yedies.blogspot.com/2011/01/ghengis-khan-was-greenie.html

    The above link is about a researcher who shows that Ghengis Khan had a positive effect on the ecosystem since he "removed" so many people from the Earth.

    That's the kind of person whose car has the bumper sticker you saw!!

    KatieJ
    Germany

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  5. I don't see how one could be mutually exclusive without the other. Of course they will tell you otherwise, because they can 'computer model it and in virtual reality it always works'.

    The problem is the 'visionary bean-counters of the corporate world' can only guess at what an ecosystem is in theory. Without ever breaking a sweat or getting callouses on their hands, their sense of reality is sadly lacking, ''can we all say 'disconnect'.''

    Unfortunately though, when the batteries run out of juice, and corporate America needs bailing out, they'll cast a jaundiced eye at folks like us as their '911-saviors'. Dear LORD! Please come back soon, 'sooner is better than later'!

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  6. I think examples abound of "green" folk who are more concerned about the planet than about the people who populate it. It was nice to have some substantiation of this last year when this study came out:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/15/green-consumers-more-likely-steal
    This twisted moral view seems an unfortunate but not surprising point to fall to when people lose hold of the idea that the Earth was created for Man to accomplish the plans and designs of God, and see us instead as a random accident...
    jcd

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  7. There must be a finite limit to economic growth if it continues to be based on the carbon model because the resources of the planet are finite. Better to look ahead and prepare than wait to be overwhelmed by a problem. I would have thought this message would have appealed to "preppers" .

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  8. Ooo touched a nerve there. Oops. I was thinking maybe more farms, with more community involvement. No need to go on the attack, it's not like I can do anything about it in the first place, nor would I want to because I can't see the whole thing. I'll just stop speaking my mind or having an opinion before checking with you first, how's that Anonymous?

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