It struck me that an iconic anti-capitalist book first published in 1973 could share a theme with financial planning advice from 2009. I am reading EF Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful” and he makes an interesting observation about the fact that in western society we are so detached from the infrastructure and resources that enable our lifestyle that we easily forget how much we rely upon such basics clean water and sanitation. This seemed to be echoed in a quote from an article about peak oil in a Finance newsletter (July 2009 Issue): “Our modern, developed societies tend to be removed, by their present degree of affluence, from the environment as the basis for our existence. Food comes from the supermarket; clean water comes from the faucet. But the closer people live to the margin of existence, the more they realize the vital importance of fertile soil, and safe drinking water.” (Walter Youngquist).
For me it is the photo above that illustrates this point so succinctly. Despite all the goodwill in providing a road for the local community we maintain the western approach of simply shifting the problem sufficiently so that we can ignore it. It is only that I see this pile of rubbish (from the window of our project base) every day that I am reminded of the direct impact I have on the environment. It is no different to the impact I have living in a modern city. The difference is the that having established infrastructure like reticulated water supply and a sophisticated garbage collection system makes it easier for me to detach myself from the problem. Am hoping three months of looking at this mess will stick with me for a while (and in the meantime I will try to find out what we can do with it).
True.
ReplyDeleteThe whole 'out of sight, out of mind' is far too easy for us to do when living in the western world. It's another story all together to try and consider the complete life cycle of a product - from 'cradle to grave' as they say (including the economic implications).
In a way it can be related to a lot of things in life. Take what you were talking about in 'One Step Forward, Two Steps Back'... they wanted the road, they're making the road, but they approach its construction on a day-to-day basis, rather than implementing any kind of plan ahead. What happens after construction? What maintenence schemes will be implemented? Those sort of things shouldn't be forgotten.
Anyway, better get back to work. Sounds like you're having a good trip. Keep it up.
Cheers, Matt.