The consumer society is leading to the Global Crisis; human over-consumption and pollution of the earth’s resources for short term profit or pleasure threatens human kind and the whole ecosystem on Earth.
Unless we tackle this crisis, we are going to have severe misery in large parts of every country within 50 years. So we can’t do nothing – or very little – and hope the problem goes away by itself. We have to either tackle the problem (now) or deal with the consequences (later). It’s a question of big changes now or catastrophe later and I’ve opted for the big changes now.
Rampant consumption is the problem; half measures (e.g. avoiding plastic straws, small extra taxes on fuel) are woefully insufficient; today’s society is a consumer society and we need to replace it with a Modern Society that sustainably protects the planet and its people.
You can see some people’s improved lives in a Modern Society; I illustrate the differences between the two societies through some fictional lives in them and also a direct, simple comparison.
Action Plan for a Modern Society
- Reduce working week to 4 days
- Volunteering replaces unemployment benefit
- Radically better public transport
- Private sufficiency, public luxury
- Public, progressive and simple taxation system
- Encourage ecological local food production and selling
- Radical programme to encourage equality
- Upgrade homes to be carbon neutral
- No population growth incentives
- Corporate control, not welfare
- Plan for Government Carbon Footprint
- Metrics and Accountability