The Dollar Bill Isn't the Only Green Thing Around

The Dollar Bill Isn't the Only Green Thing Around

Did you notice how this year the weather couldn't seem to make up its mind? It was summer one day, winter the next, and fall sometime in between. It’s easy to just chalk all of this variability up to chance, but in reality, it’s the fault of global warming. 

We all have heard of global warming, but how many of us take steps to combat it? How many of us realize that if we participate in capitalism, we are contributing to the issue? That’s the major problem with the whole situation, people don't recognize that they are part of the problem, so they don't do anything to fix it. 

When you go to the store and see an item offered at a price that is incredibly attractive, know that behind the flashy $5.99 label there is a darker story. That is where the externalized costs of capitalism come in. Almost everything that Americans consume today has been around the globe more than the person buying it can ever dream to travel. In fact, 99% of the items that Americans buy are thrownout within 6 months. The questions then become: where does all this go and who all does it impact? It’s likely that you have never though of these questions, and it’s because our consumerist society doesn't want us to. What I’m going to offer you today is just a brief, and by that I emphasize very minimal, glimpse into the enormous but constantly hidden costs of capitalism. 

When American’s take their electronics out to the trash, it seems like they just disappear forever. That is not at all the case. Often, these electronics are taken to waste sites in developing countries where they are burned. When burned, these electronics release toxic fumes into the air that not only negatively affect the environment, but also get into the air, soil, and food that residents of these towns are consuming. Studies have been done on the health of these residents, and have found extremely elevated amounts of toxins in these resident’s blood and urine. The saddest part about the whole situation is that the consumer products that are killing these people are products that these residents could never even dream of being about to afford or purchase. The paradox is heartbreaking. 

Despite all of this, it’s not just the direct affects of capitalism that are harming both humans and the environment, it’s the secondary effects as well. As we all know, humans live on the planet, and when we go destroying our environment, we go destroying our livelihood as well. As the state of the environment slowly declines, we are more and more quickly running out of the resources that we need to thrive. As capitalism continues to clear out and destroy natural resources while the world population simultaneously increases, it has been calculated that due to capitalistic motives, by the year 2050 there will not be enough natural resources left to feed the projected world population.

Capitalism can only thrive by exploitation of resources. It is in the very fabric of capitalism to destroy in order to create. You can’t build an empire our of nothing. In such a short time, humans have destroyed more than has been destroyed in a billion years, and the pace at which this trend is continuing will not be able to sustain this trend for years to come. Max Ajl, a researcher at Cornell University explained, “Given that capitalism's underlying logic renders it inherently unsustainable in the long term, it would seem that the system itself is utterly illogical, at least from the point of view of, you know, the survival of humankind.” Essentially, as capitalism goes destroying our world, we go destroying ourselves. 

Each business sector has contributed to this environmental damage in different ways. The visual shown here provides insight into the emissions of each of these groups and how they have caused incredibly expensive costs to the environment. 

Logically, it would make sense for businesses to focus on making more sustainable choices in materials, exploitation of labor, and manufacturing practices. The issue here lies in the definition of capitalism. Capitalism strives to make as much profit as is possible. Unfortunately, sustainable options are less economically favorable as they are beat out economically by cheaper, more mainstream capitalist ideas and practices. Because of this, the cycle of cheap goods with massive external costs is constantly propagated. 

To be sure, while it does play a big part in the problem, capitalism isn't the only thing destroying both the environment and human rights. It’s the choices of consumers that lead to the issues. Capitalism itself isn't innately harmful, it’s the choices that are made along the way that lead to the consequences we are facing today. For those who are lucky enough to walk into a store and have under one roof all of the resources that they could possible need to life as comfortably as they wish, we must remember that very time we make a purchase we are casting a vote for how we want this word to be. At the end of the day, we are the ones who can break the cycle. The ball is in our court. 

In its essence, capitalism is destroying so many aspects of our society. As the environment falls apart, society will fall apart to. As Ban Ki-Moon said, “Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth... these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women's empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.”