The economy is no longer the same, get used to it!

Dear Edmonton Journal,

The article Alberta should lead way to healthier economy in the March 2nd Journal laid out the problem we find ourselves in, “unparalleled job losses, budgets from surplus to deficit and massive stimulus packages announced”. The solution proposing a Green economy is sound and sensible, but gives little or no explanation of why.The old economy was attempting to defy the law of gravity by assuming that there could be unlimited growth forever. We have been informed and seen many times that growth is always limited and if the rule is ignored, watch out for the nasty consequences.Nothing under the sun grows forever. Cancer cells try and defy this rule but end up killing the body that allowed them to grow in the first place. Now it looks like the world economy will suffer major shrinkage and have to severely change and adapt to reality and become sustainable, or perish.It’s time we stopped toying with the concept of sustainability and trying to make it fit the old, dead paradigm. Instead look at human history and ask why civilizations fail and what sustainability actually means?Simply, cultures go beyond their limits ignoring natural systems that can renew, if allowed, and rapaciously keep on expanding their take. Examples include the ancient Babylonians, the Mayan and Aztec, the Easter Islanders, and others. In the past new civilizations emerged with renewable resources still intact and took over where the failed ones left off. The present civilization is worldwide and there is nowhere else to go. Those who suggest colonizing other planets are dreaming since such an ambitious endeavour won’t happen for centuries, if ever.What must happen is a reversion to old, time tested methods of the past, “Back to the Future” as the movie title had it. Unlimited air travel, a gas guzzling car for everyone, meat on every plate at every meal, 10,000 square foot mansions, etc. have to go the way of the dodo. Reduce, reuse, recycle and repair, must become the norm, along with respect for the natural world.If we collectively cling to the idea that we must have everything, all the time and on demand, we will condemn ourselves to unhappiness. If we recognize that true contentment lays with sufficiency and restraint we will discover happiness we never knew possible. It could take a decade or more before sufficient numbers recognize this truth and the interim probably won’t be pretty. Imagine an addict deprived of his fix, it takes a long time to come to terms with but, if he survives, leaves him much happier without his dependency.This is why a green economy is the only viable option. All the things we clamoured after have become passé and we must learn constraint. Work must be shared and work time reduced, buildings constructed to minimize ecological footprints, food must become local, organic and plant based, there must be low impact transportation and a sharing of collective wealth. Fighting against it will only prolong the pain and delay the inevitable.The sooner we start the process, the easier the transition will be and the long term consequences mitigated. Don’t fight it, there is no way back to excess.