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There's a difference between growing enough food to have enough to eat plus some reserves and buying a new smartphone every year, a new car every few years, new
by kiliantics 8y ago
There's a difference between growing enough food to have enough to eat plus some reserves and buying a new smartphone every year, a new car every few years, new clothes every month, etc.
- platz 8y agoSo are you going to stop accumulating wealth in your own life and just sustain at your current level based on your basic bodily needs?
- DennisP 8y agoI don't know about you but my current level covers a lot more than my basic bodily needs. I'd love to trade any future wealth increases for a healthy planet.
- platz 8y agoSo you're saying this is a tragedy of the commons, principal-agent scenario then? You will continue to accumulate unless everyone else stops accumulating.
- DennisP 8y agoAbsolutely it's a tragedy of the commons. That's why it's such a hard problem to solve. But one way we often solve these problems is with taxes. We pay for all sorts of public goods with taxes and it works pretty well. So I completely support a high tax on carbon, even if it significantly impacts my personal wealth.
- kiliantics 8y agoI think that's overly simplistic. There are systemic forces beyond our individual control that pretty much force us to consume at irresponsibly unsustainable rates. Planned obsolescence is an obvious one when it comes to technology products. Fast fashion is another. There are also many ways in which artificial scarcity forces us to consume more than we otherwise would. If things like handtools were "common" property, then not everyone would have to buy a hammer or drill for each house which they then only use once or twice a year. There are many ways this could be different but they are just not profitable so our current system won't allow it. In the past, for instance, even things like ovens were common property, fired up once a week for everyone in the community to bake their loaves in.