Advantage 76 – Consequently greatly reduced use of resources and less rubbish

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Before we change the world,

 it might be more important not to destroy it.«

– Paul Claudel

French writer and diplomat

The pressure to consume, which is so crucial for the old economic system, rears its ugly head in two ways – use of resources and waste. Both are extremely damaging to our environment, drastically diminish the quality of our lives and present humankind with increasing problems. The limits to growth have long be exceeded. Far too many resources have long since been used up and much too much rubbish has long been produced and dumped somewhere in the world.

Without the pressure to consume there will be much less production, much less use of resources and much less rubbish. This does not mean that the old resources have been replenished and the old rubbish dumps removed. However, the descent to hell has been slowed down and with some further measures we will bring it to a standstill and finally reverse direction. 

Advantage 77 – Beneficial ecological footprints

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life« 

»In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments;

there are consequences.«

– Robert Green Ingersoll

American writer

You may know the expression »small footprint«. Based on the assumption that everybody leaves traces or footprints behind them with everything that they do and that these footprints are generally damaging or at least use resources, a »small footprint« means that as little damage as possible is caused. The expression is used in software development and also in the environmental field. A small ecological footprint thus means that a product or an activity causes as little damage as possible to the environment. For this reason nature conservationists often call for a small ecological footprint.

But how would it be if we left a »beneficial ecological footprint«? This would mean that we would not only not damage nature with our actions but even benefit it. A beneficial ecological footprint is created, for example, when a conventional farmer changes over to organic farming or when a supermarket extends its range more and more in the direction of vegan (exclusively non-animal) products which are produced organically as far as possible. The more beneficial footprints we leave behind us, the greater the chances are that the descent to hell is not only slowed down but the direction is reversed.

In the previous sections a lot has been said about measures that can promote such a reversal. The most important financial instrument that the Natural Economy of Life has at its disposal for this purpose is the Equalisation and Environment Fund, which provides a budget for decontaminating our environment worldwide of an amount equal to the national budgets of all countries together.  

Much human creativity and commitment will still be required to reverse the direction completely and permanently, thus initiating the return home to paradise. However, the financial foundation for this is already provided by the Equalisation and Environment Fund.

And, as always, all action has to be measured by the threefold good and will have to meet all three criteria: does it serve the good of the individual, the good of the community and the good of the big scheme of things? When all three questions can be answered with a clear »yes«, the action leaves a beneficial footprint.