Economic Growth or Climate Protection? E-Book

Ulrich Seibert

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 55

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

The story of climate change is omnipresent. But we rarely hear the whole story. And even less often, we hear it as a generally understandable gist. Humanity must finally respond appropriately, otherwise, its end is already heralded. But still - among all our political institutions - another size is prioritized: Economic growth. This book shall document, that, unfortunately, economic growth and climate protection are not compatible. But there are alternatives. If we succeed in reducing our fear of change, this crisis could turn out to be one of the greatest opportunities for human civilization ...

Leseprobe

For our children, those, who are already born as well as those not yet born, to whom we are committed to leave them the perspective of a life worth living on this wonderful blue planet …

It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itselfAttributed to Charles Darwin1

Science and bravery build greatness. They make immortal because they themselves are immortal. Everyone is as much as he knows, and the sage can do everything. A person without knowledge is a world in darkness. Insight and power are eyes and hands. Without courage, knowledge is barren.Gracian (1601 – 1658)

1https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/04/adapt/

Table of contents

About the Author …

Foreword

Part 1: The Starting Point

Awareness of the Problem

Growth as the Engine of Capitalism

Growth and Consumption

Human Consumption and Resource Consumption

Population Growth as a driver of Consumption

Resource Consumption and Climate / Environmental Protection

Intermediate Results

The Dilemma of Politics

Part 2: The Goal

The Preservation of Humanity's Livelihoods

The Problem Will Be Solved Globally or Not at All

Eco-sufficiency – The Magic Term for Our Path Into the Future

Sufficiency – the Technological Aspect

Sufficiency – the Socio-political Aspect

Could There Be a Solution with Neoliberalism / Other Forms of Capitalism?

Which Economic System Should It Be, Then?

Conclusion: What Needs to Be Done?

Political Parties Paving the Path to Change?

Who Can Outline the Solution and Build the Road into the Future?

Acknowledgement

Copyright Notice

About the Author …

Ulrich Seibert, born in 1964, grew up in the south of Bavaria (Germany) and studied economics. After having graduated from Regensburg University with a diploma, he worked for different firms of the same group of companies. At the beginning of the 2000s, he moved through a tax consulting firm to an employers' association as a company advisor.

Around 2012, he quit his job in business for family reasons for a while and devoted himself entirely to writing, politics and music. Various short stories and novels were published. In 2019 his book “Die Diktatur des Monetariats” (The Dictatorship of the Monetariats), a topic near to his justice-craving heart, with which he returned to the starting point of his writing career, the genre of non-fiction. In this work, he tries to explain economic contexts and schemes in a generally understandable way and to show, which groups of people have staged the coup against Keynesianism (the German manifestation of this was the social market economy – “Soziale Marktwirtschaft”) and institutionalized the system of neoliberalism – the system of the law of the strongest – for which motives.

For about a year now, Seibert is also in charge of an editorial office called after his book "Die Diktatur des Monetariats" at a local radio station in Munich.

With this writing he actually wanted to end his excursion into economic policy literature. But things turned out differently ...

Foreword

Actually, you could think that this story here should be superfluous …

… because it was and is constantly being told, on all channels. No-one can escape the topic of climate protection anymore. This is good... and again not, because it also leads to fatigue in the population. “Why are you telling me this, I can't save the climate anyway", he said, got into his SUV and drove to his favorite butcher around the corner for shopping.

So why another version of a story that no-one really likes to hear?

For one thing, it's a very important story. I would almost say, it is the most important story of our time. It is about us, about you and me, about each and every one of us. It is about whether and how we might eventually survive. At the moment, the state of this story is that of a mediocre Hollywood movie plot at the beginning of the last quarter before its ending: We, the protagonists, are heading for a catastrophe, a few recognize the danger, but most cannot or do not want to see it, some even try to gain a few extra profits out of the situation. We don't yet see, how the story will end for us, but unfortunately it is not yet foreseeable that there could be a happy ending. The people in this film defend themselves against the realization of an approaching catastrophe, an element that (screen)writers particularly like to use, to increase tension into the unbearable.

On the other hand, unfortunately, only parts of the story are told on all these channels. Everything has already been said on the subject, a pre-reader remarked completely correctly. Nothing in this work is mine or new. But nowhere else have I heard this story in its entirety, not in a short form, unfortunately not even in more voluminous works. As an author, I hate incomplete stories teeming with loose strands. In order to really understand a story, the whole story must be told in its context. That is the task I have set myself with this “manifesto”: to explain in a few words in a generally understandable way, what has happened so far and what we can do effectively.

Humanity must now (!) reflect on its strengths: intelligence, empathy, organizational talent and, above all, courage, courage for radical changes, which on the one hand are absolutely necessary, but on the other hand also offer us completely new opportunities. Because if we do not have this courage to finally act, then nature will definitely “act” for us. Whether the result will suit us ... or not!

One thing is certain: there won't be a “keep it up” in any of the possible endings of this story...

Like all creatures on this planet, we humans want two things first and foremost: to survive and to give and receive love. So far so good.

Our intelligence has made us the dominant species on this planet. At least that is, what we use to think. Nevertheless... are we intelligent?

Are we really?

What is intelligence?

Intelligence is the ability to understand, to comprehend, to recognize connections, to draw and to derive actions from them that bring us forward. This enables us, not by instinct, but quite consciously (in other words: rationally) to survive and reproduce.

And what do we do?