Profit is the biggest polluter. The
economy that goes to any length for profit, the politics that stands for
profit-thirsty economy, the conspicuous consumption-lifestyle that finds life
in profit and considers nothing but self, and that is profit at any cost,
pollute most. Ecology, environment, pollution, sustaining life on the earth,
and all other issues between heaven and earth turns non-issues to
profit-hunting.
Profit generates poverty. Profit pushes the multitude to a
poverty-laden life, where the poor find nothing but the only way to scour and
forage the dirt, the dust, the mud, the municipal garbage dumping grounds, the
last portion of tree felled by the powerful, and all these are simply for
survival in a world conquered by monster-profit. In their thirst for life, the
poor save every drop of water, every piece of paper thrown away by the
paper-rich, every piece of cans and plastic bottles, thrown away foods by the
food-rich. They consume these, they use these, they recycle these, they earn by
selling these to recyclers. Thus they contribute to the survival journey of
this resource-poor planet. Thus they stand opposed to profit, to the rich, to
the squandering life style of an irresponsible minority in society. Thus an
antagonistic relation is established between profit and poor, between rich and
ecology.
Excesses of the filthy rich are unsustainable. They live with
$1,350 wedge-heel sandals, $18,400 leather tote bags, $80,000 BMW 750, $130,000
Maserati Quattroporte, $8,600 custom-tailored suit, day shirts in 350 colors,
35 fabrics, 10 different collars and 2 cuff styles, 127 million euro yacht,
$35,000 intricately detailed canine palace with “recessed and interior
lighting, air conditioning, dry-walled interiors and custom furnishing”,
“Mughal-inspired kebabs topped with shaved pearls and plates trimmed with
24-karat gold leaf”, $1,200 a plate meal. (Newsweek, May 26/June 2, 2008) This
is a miniscule, fractional-fraction of squandering by the energy-rich. The
majestic mansions, the private jets and islands, the luscious parties, the
blazing ornaments, the protected neighborhoods, the delicately designed detail
arrangement for vacations of the rich exist as an obstacle to the changes the
world needs immediately. Their vulgar lifestyle, ab ovo usque ad mala, from the
beginning to the end, lives in a system. The shrewd system, economic and
political, needed to feed and fuel this idiotic lifestyle is inefficient, energy-hungry,
nature-gulping. The system devours environment and ecology. In this economy, it
is profit, not necessities of life that determines allocation of resources.
This market-driven allocation, as Professor Robin Hahnel explained, is
inefficient. (“Against the Market Economy”) No doubt, it is an inefficient
compulsion. This allocation, determined by compulsion for profit, all most all
the time, contradicts with environment. Should not blame for the environmental
crisis be laid on this inefficient, but profit-sensitive economy and the state
and the society that this hungry economy creates?
All commodities produced in this world system are not essential
for life, are not consumed by the masses of common persons. Rather, a lot of
commodities burden life, and take toll from nature while getting produced, but
they make profit. Dominating interests enjoy a lot of those commodities. Those
lots are also in smaller proportion. But those are needed by the capital to
make profit. Section of powerful media manipulates mass psychology so that
masses turn consumers of commodities produced for profit, but not essential for
life.
Economic-political-social-information structure is so designed
that often consumers and, in broader terms, broad society remains unaware of harmful
effects of many commodities or material used or processes followed for
manufacturing these commodities. The structure keeps them unaware of and
incapable to calculate the total cost they pay for the commodity they consume
and for the pollution the commodities create in manufacturing and use
processes. Most of the time, the consumers remain unorganized that makes them
incapable to resist polluting technology. (ibid.) As an arithmetic of profit,
technologies that carry risk of reducing profit but helpful for environment are
not introduced by capital in control of technology and innovation.
A section of environmental discourse ignores this intricate
relation between economy, nature, society, environment, profit for few, welfare
of all, politics, distribution system, consumption style, etc. The “Mickey
Mouse” model, ozpolitic tells, treats economy as an entity non-dependent on
society and environment while the “bullseye” model treats economy as dependent
on society and environment. The model followed by mainstream is the “Mickey
Mouse” model.
It is not that the pecuniary dominating classes are ignorant of
the science, economics and politics of ecology. It is oligarchy’s, and now in
countries, plutocracy’s class interest – light speed-super-ultra-profit – that
keeps them indifferent to environmental problems, to environment-destitute, to
ecology-poor, to climate-refugees, to unequal access to ecology, to injustices
of inequality, to indecencies of life, to indignities of poverty. The system
standing on immense wealth power excludes the poor. The poor are excluded from
fora for voicing concern with the defaced ecology they live in, excluded from
getting aware of ecological devastations that degrade their life to the level
even miserable than the living condition of pet dogs and cats of the rich. Most
of the time, the poor are kept unaware of this despicable reality of
I-enjoy-you-to-doom. (Keeping the poor unaware is another complex story, told
elsewhere.)
Dominating capital and the state machine it controls benefit
from processes harmful for environment. (A. Dobson, Green Political Theory: An
Introduction) There are cases in this world when state protects environment
plunderers as the party of plunderers has assigned state the task. State
faithfully carries on this assignment, at times, with a mask of a
blind-deaf-dumb-inefficient-worthless-broken down-hapless machine, at times,
turning captive to detail, imposing legal edifice its masters have erected, at
times, suffering from scarcity of resources required to enforce steps essential
for environment, at times, presiding over distribution of chunks of land to its
masters and masters’ underlings, at times, “benevolently” concerned with
imaginary-trickling down growth only. Although, there are times, states in this
amazing world act swiftly, unerringly, efficiently, delicately, smartly,
secretly, head-hands-legs not tied or smoothened by legalities and
legitimacies. Those are moments for maintaining status quo. Those are issues
and times for its survival of its masters, not for survival of environment
of/for common community. At times, state turns ignorant; it does not know the
way to use taxation-tool to fight pollution. But, at times, it knows smart ways
to use tax-tool to benefit polluters, at least not to harm those actors.
For earning bread, the working people have to take dangerous
jobs, jobs harmful for their health and head and for environment. Environmental
problems severely affect the working class. Many reports, studies, books and
essays including Rod Crompton and Alec Erwin’s “Reds And Greens: Labour And The
Environment” in Jacklyn Cock and Eddie Koch’s Going Green, D E Morrison and
R.E. Dunlap’s “Environmentalism And Elitism: A Conceptual And Empirical
Analysis”, (Environmental Management, vol. 10, no. 5), K D van Liere and R E
Dunlap’s “The Social Bases of Environmental Concern: A Review Of Hypotheses,
Explanations And Empirical Evidence” (Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 44, no.
2), State of India’s Environment, Citizens’ Reports, People’s Reports on Bangladesh
Environment provide evidence of the suffering.
Resolving the crisis requires replacement of the system and
relation of production that cannot sustain without expanding always and without
devouring the nature, and the political arrangement that the relation and
system build up. It has to be replaced by a society that organizes production
and distribution democratically in the interests of all. The social system that
now governs human society blindly stands against the indispensable changes as
Hervé Kempf, environmental editor, Le Monde, tells in his book How the Rich are
Destroying the Earth.
Reality that appears puts forth the following urgent, immediate
task: seriously review the political and economic power, processes,
institutions and relations that maintain and control inequality in distribution
pinning down multitude to an ecologically intolerable life – ramshackle, dingy,
windowless, dark hovel adjacent to or amidst heaps of garbage, where stagnant
water subdued by mosquitoes dominates with its odor, where water and energy are
extremely scarce, where unhealthy little kitchen and toilet are
disproportionately shared by too many, where it turns difficult to identify
whether drains are in courtyard or courtyard is drains, where sons of Adam
consume bare minimum but work for hours and hours, where park, play ground and
affordable amusement are unknown facilities, where fresh air is a forgotten
dream, where similar innumerable descriptions make perception unmanageable. The
review will lead to increased space – ecological, economic, political,
information – for the poor.
Mainstream environment dissertate don’t go for this review,
don’t raise the issue of remodeling distribution and consumption. It keeps
itself busy and vocal with the very important task of saving trees and rivers
while it forgets the issue of the living condition of the poor, an essential
part of environment. It denies looking at the reasons behind reaching the
critical ecological threshold. It is a denial of connivance.
Today’s ecological equity demands: increased consumption of the
poorest, for the sake of their survival, and reversal of consumption of the
insensitive top 20% of the world population consuming 80% of the planet’s
wealth. Common persons have direct interest in environment. For having a
dignified human existence, a vibrant ecology is common persons’ requirement.
For their survival, they have to stand for it. Communities of common persons
have to take initiative identifying sources of environmental crisis, fighting
the crisis out, regenerate environment.
