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by Andrew Martin from Collective-Evolution Website
in treating the Earth as if it were
a business in liquidation."
A 2014 report by Oxfam warned that the
richest 85 people across the globe share a combined wealth of £1
trillion, as much as the poorest 3.5 billion of the world's
population. (1a)
While there are many wealthy individuals whom contribute to various causes, charities and philanthropic pursuits there is no denying the growth and continued exploitation of the planet in an effort to increase wealth is having devastating consequences.
Today much of this wealth is now concentrated at the very elite and top percentage profile.
Uneconomic growth is where there is a decline in the quality of life on Earth. With ever expanding focus on ever increasing profits, companies, executives, shareholders and owners continue to exploit resources and people in an attempt to maximize profits.
This profit driven motive dominating the mainstream and the economic model is creating inequality not just in society, but throughout the natural world.
For continued profits, which keep shareholders and owners happy there must be a corresponding increase in profits. These profits can only come about due to the use of more resources.
It doesn't matter which way you spin it, the concept and very premise economic growth is founded on turning natural resources into goods and services.
Recent psychological research has not
only shown the truth of this maxim, but has begun to demonstrate
that when people organize their lives around the pursuit of wealth,
their happiness can actually decrease.
However, once individuals have enough
money to pay for their basic needs of food, shelter, etc., money
does relatively little to improve happiness. Further, increases in
neither national economic growth nor personal income have much
effect on changes in the personal happiness of citizens.
According to research by psychologist Tim Kasser, Ph.D., individuals who say that goals for money, image, and popularity are relatively important to them also report less satisfaction in life, fewer experiences of pleasant emotions, and more depression and anxiety.
Similar results have been demonstrated for a variety of age groups and people around the world.
In addition to these problems with
personal happiness, research suggests that strivings for affluence
also hurt social relationships and promote ecologically-destructive
behavior. (1)
Generally Wealthy
People Are Less Altruistic Than Most
Studies by Berkeley psychologists Paul Piff and Dacher Keltner conducted several studies to determine which socio-economic groups act in their self-interest and disregard the impact they have upon others.
They found that the more wealth one has, the greater the propensity to participate in and behave in a uncompassionate manner. They found that as people climb the social ladder their feelings towards others decline.
Piff and his colleagues suspect the
answer may have something to do with how wealth and abundance give
us a sense of freedom and independence from others.
Piff and his colleagues found that wealthier people are more likely to agree with statements that greed is justified, beneficial, and morally defensible...
These attitudes ended up predicting participants' likelihood of engaging in unethical behavior. (2)
The law states that,
An example can be seen in the growth of plants.
If one of the variables that goes into growing a plant, for example, sun, water, nutrients, soil Ph is out of balance or missing (the scarcest resource), then the plant will subsequently die.
In essence, we only have to get one thing significantly wrong for us to face almost certain environmental and societal collapse. It seems many (not just wealthy) individuals, corporations and governments are hell bent on pursuing the status quo in spite of coming to the realization that everything is connected.
This failure to see the connection by
continually exploiting resources and undermining the systems which
support us is rooted in ignorance, arrogance and the inability to
understand how everything is connected…
References
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