Life in the Rear-view Mirror

Our Contaminated Biosphere

The direct result of relentless economic growth is the inexorable consumption and exploitation of our non-renewable resources. We extract minerals and fossil fuels from the earth's crust. We then process them to make metals, plastics, synthetic fabrics, and other materials that are subsequently turned into consumer goods, many of them necessary to support our lifestyle, some of limited utility, and a few utterly useless.

Mining, refining, and manufacturing use energy, which itself, for the most part, also comes from the earth's crust, in the form of fossil fuels, and needs additional energy for extraction and transportation. Furthermore, the entire process produces emissions of substances, many of which are harmful to human health, other species, and the environment. Moreover, at the end of their useful life, consumer products must be disposed of in one way or another, adding to the environmental burden. So, the more we consume, the more we harm the environment and ourselves. It's as simple as that!

Air pollution has already reached the point where the World Health Organization declared it harmful to our health. Air pollution is a global problem. We need clean air for our very survival! Finger pointing is not the answer. Burning coal to produce electricity is bad for our health. Yet all we hear is that it produces greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. That may be true, but there is immediacy to our health problems. The impact of global warming may be a hundred years from now, whereas lung cancer and cardiovascular problems caused by contaminated air are here now!

The most recent data indicate that 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution, in 2010. Why all the hype about greenhouse gases and not a word about carcinogenic particulates that are released from burning coal? A World Health Organization report estimated that almost one quarter of all diseases are caused by contaminated air! The dilemma is that contaminated air is killing us slowly, but we need air to survive! Why are we silent on this?

Our economic model of capital and resource allocation is based on the concept of a free market – supply and demand. In theory, if there is no demand, there won't be any supply. Companies will not invest in something for which there is no perceived demand. But what happens if a company stumbles on a very profitable gadget for which there is no demand? According to economic theory, the gadget would not be produced. In practice, however, if the profit potential is large and the company has sufficient resources, then the demand can be created through massive, lifestyle advertising campaigns.

The modern cell phone is one such product. When they were first introduced, cell phones were very bulky and of limited range; and the demand was non existent. But through clever advertising, which played mostly on fear, the fear of not knowing where our loved ones are at any time, we were coerced into buying something we didn't need, nor want. Now, of course, there is a huge demand for them.

Incidentally, the first cell phone was invented in 1947, for military use. In the early sixties we knew them as Walkie-Talkies, produced mostly in Japan. They had a very limited range and were largely toys for teenagers. It wasn't until satellites vastly increased their range of communication that their utility increased, but they were still not very desirable due to their bulkiness.

To ensure that we buy things we don't need, corporations bombard us with encoded, subliminal messages that stimulate our desire to buy. Their advertising companies know which emotional buttons to press. Television is not the only medium used to get our attention. Junk mail and newspapers are two others. Newspapers are no longer worth the paper they are printed on, as they have become mere advertising and brainwashing tools of the ruling classes and their large corporations. They are no longer about keeping us informed with unbiased news, and no longer deserve to be called newspapers. A better name is propaganda, what we used to call the communist newspapers!