On Earth Day, an Economics for People and Planet

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https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/22-1



Much has changed since the first Earth Day in 1970. Not only have our ecological crises come into sharper focus, it has also become obvious that we need to rescue not just the Earth, but also its people from the clutches of an economy gone mad. Worldwide, more and more people are recognizing that fundamental changes to that economy are urgently needed if our most pressing problems – ecological, social, economic, and even spiritual – are to be solved. Instead of trying to tackle a seemingly endless list of separate problems, strategic shifts in economic policy would put us on a path that is good for both people and the planet.

Over the past decades, globalization, or the continued deregulation of trade and finance, has created a world dominated by giant banks and corporations. Because governments almost everywhere have catered to their demands, we are now faced not only with global warming, extinction of species and dramatic increases in pollution, but also with financial instability, endemic unemployment, increased conflict, and epidemics of ill health and depression.

We need to move in exactly the opposite direction – away from economic globalization and towards the local. This doesn’t mean eliminating all trade or adopting an isolationist attitude – it simply means shortening the distances between consumers and producers wherever possible.

It is an inherent feature of the global economy that these distances are forever increasing, with larger and larger middlemen positioning themselves between people and their needs. A familiar example is the way food miles have risen in the global food economy – and along with them carbon emissions, farmer bankruptcies, use of pesticides, GMOs and other damaging agro-technologies, and soil erosion, as well as profits for agribusiness corporations. When food systems are localized, on the other hand, CO2 emissions are minimized, farmers get a better price for their produce, production becomes more environmentally-friendly, local economies and communities are strengthened, and, in the end, consumers get fresher food, healthier food.