Whatto! Peeps....
...and I don't mean the 'sustainable growth' that George Osborne was talking about yesterday...
(a complete oxymoron if ever I've heard one)
...by this I mean a system whereby we do not strip the World of it's natural resources at such a rate that we don't consider our consequences or the impact it's having on our planet...
...and future generations....
...but WAIT!
I'm going far too fast.....
...Let's start with Fridgefast Ltd.......(they're a company that make Fridges).....but they need to sell lots to maintain year on year growth......
....so they hit on a great idea and make sure that their fridges only last 5 years....
....that way every 5 years someone needs to replace their fridge with a new one....
...and sales are maintained!
"Yippppeeee!"....The shareholders say as profits go up....
...but so do the amount of old fridges thrown away into landfill sites all over the world....
...but that's of no concern to Fridgefast because they are just focused on manufacturing Fridges....
...they really don't care about what happens to them once they leave the factory....
....and why should they?
But....I hear you cry.....
....this is the way we've always done it!....
....and it's got us to where we are today!....
.....as a highly productive Nation with a high standard of living!
And THAT's precisely the point.
We have oceans of wine.......
....warehouses of butter.....
....clothes mountains.....
....and famine whenever we need it.
The rich get richer and the poor stay poor.....
....as the Earth slowly gives up it's treasures for us to squander......
....riches that cannot be replaced.
So I ask in all honesty......Can this behaviour be.......... SUSTAINED?
I think we all know the answer.....
...but what's the alternative?
Get rid of the nonsensical notion of 'sustainable economic growth'....
....stop making PROFITS our only aim in life......
....it only feeds the greed that we see illustrated each day by top level employees in Banking Institutions.
How about a change of heart?....
....a movement towards enabling people to contribute because they want to?....
....because they believe that they will all benefit from a better life?
And I don't mean just higher income....
...I'm talking about feeling better inside because they've done something to help others and made themselves feel better in the process.....a co-operative solution?
Already I can hear some people switching orf.....
...."This Guy's a weirdo!" etc etc
But a change is coming.....
....because it HAS to come!
....and our values have to change.....
...to a system that encourages nature instead of battling against it with pesticides?.....
...that allows nature to run it's course instead of trying to control it with vast landscapes of just one crop?.....
....that focuses on giving people a product that lasts instead of one that's designed to fall apart as soon as the warranty runs out?......
....and it's all summed up......
...in ONE simple word.......
SUSTAINABILITY.
Go on......give it a go!...
....what have you got to lose?
...except ....
.....everything?
Tallyho!
Best Wishes - Lord Noel
