I am posting this article to illustrate how most Western academics deal with the problem of ecological limits which faces the capitalist system.
The author's article contains some useful insights such as this:
The basic problem is that the implementation of sustainable development unevenly emphasizes economic growth, and equity is seen as a managed outcome of applying modern science and technology to expand the economic pie and its subsequent allocation through free markets.However, he treats the subject from such a high level of abstraction that he cannot really zero in on the root causes behind this dilemma. For example, in this statement he seems to suggest that technology itself created the problem:
Lewis Mumford eloquently reported on this sudden encounter that put “mankind in a fever of exploitation”, so much so that the logic of mining pervaded the “economic and social organism” and became the norm for subsidiary economic and industrial organization. This logic of “disorderly exploitation and wasteful expenditure” acquired a life of its own and continued to propagate quite independently of whether or not the initial mine of energy was depleted.The closest he can come to understanding the problem is with this statement:
What appears to be lacking is the ability for society to influence the evolution of technology and to impart to it values of sufficiency.This kind of examination of the inability of societies appearing to be unable to cope with resource and ecological limits is very typical of people who are situated in Western academic institutions. This is because the ruling One Percent has insured its influence over this vital institution as it has over all other important institutions.
People who rise to the top in universities in capitalist countries have been thoroughly indoctrinated in capitalist values and biases. Likewise they have learned to avoid any critical examination of their societies that might be counter to capitalist interests. People who fail to learn this are almost always weeded out of universities at some point in their education. (To understand this process of indoctrination and selection/rejection I highly recommend that you read a book entitled Disciplined Minds by Eric Schmidt.)
Thus, he dare not, or is unable, to reach the obvious insight that the dynamics of capitalism are fundamentally in opposition to conservation of resources and a democratically planned economy.
