The author takes on the widely publicized myth that technological progress will enable capitalists to both eat the Earth's cake and have it too. Capitalists have apparently employed well educated and indoctrinated middle class people across the world to spread this propaganda. One such international group, who call themselves "ecomodernists", are actively promoting it. Nair argues that it is simply a myth.
Eco-modernists must recognise a simple fact – that simply calling for the decoupling of human activity from environmental impact will not in itself drive technological change to finds solutions. One can only hope that they do not also simply believe that the developers of technology are committed to finding these solutions, because they are driven by some altruistic motives or a higher calling. That is not how the world of technology and investments work. It will need a whole new way of organizing ourselves around the reality of a resource constrained world. And that requires a new socio-economic and political narrative about sustainability, individual rights, freedoms and the role of the state, much of which will fly in the face of current day western led narratives about capitalism, free markets and democracy. ....Unfortunately, Nair seems to think that the world's capitalist governors and their subservient populations can do the right thing simply by being informed by Nair and others that "ecomodernism" is a myth. He accuses ecomodernists of being naïve, but I think that he has topped them when he makes such an argument. His argument "defies logic and the prevailing evidence" which is much more abundant than the myth being spread by these people.
A new economic model must therefore account for three major adjustments: First, it must accept limits to growth in a resource constraint world and thus ensure that resources are priced to reflect their true cost. Second, the economy needs to be subservient to maintaining the vitality of the resource base, and not the other way around, as it is now. Third, an effective economy for the 21st century must weigh collective welfare over individual rights. But how do we get there?
