Do the Math

Population + technology + energy use + consumerism + resource depletion + global warming + environmental degradation + ocean acidification + loss of biodiversity = totally fucked.

These aren’t separate problems; they’re all part of the same problem caused by too many people competing for too few resources using too much energy-dependent technology in a constrained environment.

Over the last few decades, global population more than doubled, while global energy use went up even more. For the first time in history, humanity consumed more renewable resources (on an annual basis) than planet Earth can restore. For the first time in history, we maxed out the planetary credit card.

There’s no denying that the global economy is hamstrung by a nexus of perfect storms―overpopulation, overconsumption, overproduction, environmental destruction, ecological mayhem, pollution, resource depletion, climate changes attributed to global warming, and probably a few others. For the first time in history, we simultaneously peaked on everything that’s essential to long-term human survival. The implications, in terms of population numbers, are obvious.

A vibrant, growing economy results in major impacts to environment and ecosystem alike. Human demand (consumption) drives production (exploitation of natural resources, energy use) and all other forms of economic activity that, in aggregate, take a horrendous toll on the environment. The rational approach to averting climate catastrophe (and a few others, too) is to take our collective foot off the economic throttle and let the economy idle for a good long while.

We can fix the economy by making radical changes to it now and introducing fundamental changes as we go along to ensure we get it right, but if we don’t take immediate radical steps to fix the environment, then it’s game over for most species―maybe all species, including ours. If ever there was a time for radicalism, this is it.

Our best chances of surviving what’s coming down the road begin with stopping―not reducing―CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere, accompanied by shutting off the flow of toxic chemicals entering the environment. The fastest way to accomplish this is to abandon our industrial economy’s endless cycles of production and consumption in favor of something that’s less destructive of the environment and more supportive of life.

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Environment 1, Economy 0

According to a recent report in The Guardian (UK), the world’s wealthy have as much as $32 trillion stashed in off-shore accounts.

Why is all that money stashed in off-shore accounts? The obvious answer is that it’s avoiding the tax man, of course. The less obvious answer―the answer almost everyone overlooks―is that it’s cooling the economy and helping to reduce CO₂ emissions and other forms of pollution worldwide.

Wait! What?

That’s right. Money acts as a lubricant for the economy. When you take away substantial amounts of lubricant, machinery starts to bog down. If you take away all of the lubricant, machinery seizes up and grinds to a halt. The economy works on the same principle; it needs plenty of lubricant (money) to keep the machinery running smoothly at top speed. When money goes out of the economy, the economy slows down, contracts and turns sluggish. You know, about like the global economy is doing right now.

More money circulating in the economy means more people have more money to spend on goods and services, which stimulates the economy. When demand goes up, businesses hire more workers to help them meet the increased demand. Taking money out of the economy produces the exact opposite effect.

Money taken out of the economy and squirreled away might as well not exist; certainly nothing would change if it ceased to exist. Money held in savings represents economic activity that’s already occurred; as long as that money is held in savings, it can’t be used to stimulate new economic activity. In terms of the economy, money is only useful when it’s spent. In terms of the environment, the opposite is true; unspent money represents reduced economic activity and a corresponding reduction of industrial pollution entering the environment.

Whether by intent or as an unintended consequence of rapacious greed, the world’s wealthy seem to be doing the rest of us a huge favor by reining-in the causes of global warming. How cool is that?

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