Erin Balser’s text defines that sustainability is an ‘inter- and intra- generational equality in the social, environmental, economic, moral and political spheres of society’: sustainability is a communal concept. The entire population of the world needs to work together to support and save the planet we are living on while as individuals we need to carry out our own tasks. For example, as individuals we all need to recycle our waste but unless everyone makes the effort to do so it will not have much impact on saving the planet.
When a country’s trade is controlled by private owners (in contrast to state owners) for profit it is called capitalism. It is a laissez- faire social system that is constantly changing as it expands and accumulates more trade- ‘a diverse web that is continuously expanding and trapping things’. The trade companies can very in size, appearance and materialization. Capitalisation thrives on creating new markets and subsuming others, it is every socialist’s (when people are unified into a single society) dream. Capitalism tends to be known as the system of political freedom.
On the other hand there is the ‘crisis of capitalism’. This is when in an economic cycle (of boom, bust and slump) a sharp bust occurs due to a ridiculous capitalist development that finally concludes in a recession or depression. A crisis of capitalism is mainly down to greed and over consumption. It indicates a turning point in a cycle of accumulation- the company is too focused on expanding its finances rather than the product and their customer needs. Balser states how industries have reached the point of no return and that it is possible that the destruction of our environment is the only way to obliterate this capitalist cycle. An historic example of a crisis of capitalism is the wall street crash of 1929 but a increasing crisis today it the rapidly decreasing depletion of fossil fuels.
In her text, Balser states solutions to the above sustainability. Businesses must:
1. ‘Radically increase the productivity of resource use’
2. ‘Shift to biologically inspired production with closed loops, no waste no toxicity’ etc.
3. ‘Shift the business model away from the making and selling of “things’ to providing the service that the “thing” delivers’
4. ‘Reinvest in human capital’ (knowledge, personality, experience etc)
If large businesses start undergoing the above then it makes it easier for the rest of the population as individuals to follow. There is also the suggested solution of using bio-diesel oil. Bio- diesel oil is an organic vegetable oil or animal fat used in cars etc. Bio diesel oil is a realistic alternative to normal fuel as it gives off less carbon monoxide and dioxide, gives off less armful respiratory particles and it is easier to ignite but it has its flaws. The oil is difficult to come by which makes it really expensive; people will therefore start buying into it that is surely capitalism. Furthermore it is still not compatible with the green world- it puts out just as many harmful chemicals as we would be saving. Although biodiesel oil can be seen as a solution, it is only a short term solution. For better sustainability more long-term solutions need to be discovered, fast.
The concept of sustainability is compatible with capitalism, but within reason. As realization of what we are doing to the planet kicks in, more and more people are going to want to help to save it. However, there are always going to be greed as, after all, it is only human.
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