Would life without electricity, automobiles, trains, aircraft, refrigeration, medicine… and so on… be preferable to you? Without the profit motive, it’s not likely that any of these things would have been developed. It’s possible that we would still be living under feudal conditions. Would you be OK with a life expectancy of 40 years, or so? How about an infant and childhood mortality rate of 60% or higher?
Our life expectancy was mainly enhanced by a very few things: better nutrition, sanitation (based on the germ theory, which microscopes allowed), and a few medical advancements, such as antibiotics.
However, as I mentioned an economy (not to be confused with subsistence patterns such as hunting/gathering, agriculture, and industrialization) should be in the service of people, of promoting life and well-being, not in harming it. “Economy” refers to how we share or do not share our wealth – ownership/tenure patterns, production & division of labor, and modes of exchange, from generalized reciprocity of early tribal societies (“primitive communism”) to market economies to a global market economy.
When Latin American peasants are strong armed off their subsistence farms (where they lived poor, but relatively healthy lives) into utter poverty, disease and early death so that multinational agbiz can grow soy to feed to chickens for export to rich countries, so that the rich can die of heart-attacks from over-consumption – something is wrong with that picture. It also strikes me as not so nice that rich people who pay less % in tax than their maids and secretaries would spend $100,000 on surgery for a pet, when there are people whom their companies have harmed left to die early deaths without adequate medical help. There is just something wrong with a lot of the pictures of our global capitalistic economy as it exists today, as BXVI points out in “Caritas et Veritate.”
As for the industrial way of life – it has brought us lots of comforts and pleasures, and I’m not a ludite saying we should go back to the caves. There just aren’t enough caves for us all (and they are unhealthy with bad air circulation – except for the “cave (earth-covered) homes” I read about in the 70s).
However, we should also vigorously address industrialization’s downside and problems, instead of ignoring them and insisting on living high on the wasteful hog of inefficiency and profligacy, staying totally addicted to fossil fuels, and living well within what economists call the “production possibilities frontier.” I think it would be wise – if we value life and God’s creation to materially sustains us, others around the world, and our progeny well into the future – to become energy/resource efficient/conservative and go on alt energy when feasible.
This can all be done voluntarily at financial savings to people, helping the economy, without lowering our living standards or productivity. However, people either don’t know that, or they are so set in their ways that they refuse to even take baby steps in that direction.
My husband and I have been mitigating climate change since 1990, and have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions (and other concomitant pollution that harms and kills people, and causes miscarriages & birth defects) by over 60% below our 1990 emissions. And that’s not counting having lived within a mile or two of work since the early 70s, out of concern about peak oil and wanting to leave some resources for future generations. With the many $1000s we’ve saved in doing these things, even while increasing our living standards some, we were able to afford a Chevy Volt last year, which we drive 88% of the time on our Green Mountain 100% wind generated electricity. We thought buying the Volt a big non-economical splurge or sacrifice for the sake of the life of the world, but were pleasantly surprised to find out even it is saving us money and will pay for the difference between it and the Ford Taurus we were also considering within 6.5 years, then go on to save us more (it costs about $1.25 in electricity to drive 36 to 44 miles).
Now I understand we would not be able to have wind generate all our electricity and run all our cars. However, employing ALL the various sources of alternative energy that do least harm, PLUS energy/resource efficiency/conservation (that could reduce our demand by over 50% cost-effectively without lowering living standards or productivity), could very greatly reduce human harm and death, and harm to God’s creation.
It’s too late now to undo the many 1000s of years of harms & killing we have set into motion and put in the pipes thru our profligacy to date. Our society should have started down the right path 25 to 35 years ago as the helpful technologies became available. However, we can still reduce our harms. Every life is valuable & where there is life there is hope, and we should never stop striving to do what is right and just.
Mother Teresa said even if our good deeds are very small, if they are done out of love, our love makes them infinite. And once people do tiny things and realize they will not be harmed, they can take courage to do more and more, little by little, to reduce their harm…and be very pleasantly surprised they are not harmed, but even benefitted in the process. And with money saved from these efforts to save lives, we can then have more money for charitable giving
I’d say “yay” for capitalism and industrialism, if we were headed towards that type of world. Since we are not yet, I have to say “boo.”
