THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE PROJECT
ONLINE CONSULTATION
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From: Rob Cozens
Affiliation: Ocean Wildnerness Network
Remote Name: compression03.oak.mdsg-pacwest.com
Time: 19:47:52 +0100
"1. people, like any organism, strive for basics, and given the chance, information flow results striving towards a higher standard. At the lower end (basics) and middle (still striving for improving living conditions), there are no or very few incentives to act ‘responsible’ in favor of the globe. 2. we know there are not enough resources to allow all people living at the low end to move up." Several other posts have tempted me to respond with the thoughts that will follow. This is straying from the subject of pp somewhat and has absolutely no connection with my role with OWN. At the heart of Points 1 & 2 is the basic assumption that improving one's economic condition results in improving one's life experience. This is the viewpoint promoted by technological societies and the excessive consumption that drives them. It has been followed to the extreme in America, and I hope other societies do not choose to buy into it to the point that money addiction spreads worldwide, because money addicts have no qualms about doing long term dammage to the ecosystem that is essential to their very existence. I believe the quality of one's life experience is based more on the feelings and emotions one experiences from moment to moment, and that economic well being has less to do with our feelings and emotions than technological society would have us believe. I'm having trouble expressing my ideas without coming off as an American who could never understand the reality of an empty stomach, high infant mortality rates, and short lifespans. And to some degree I am a product of my national heritage, I suppose. Yet it was not so many years ago that a National Geographic program on Tibetan nomads mentioned that their incidence of heart disease, cancer, and other stress-related maladies was virtually nil. Societies that equate individual economic well being with a "successful" life tend to acquisitiveness, selfishness, competitiveness, and money addiction. They break up the family to generate more income to buy more possessions. They bankrupt their society in their effort to protect possessions and power. I urge people in developing nations to find a better means to an "improved" life experience than the model offered by American capitalism. P.S. Nature abounds with examples of creatures who, while subject to the same struggle to survive, help others of their kind to survive rather than use them for personal gain. Eg: vampire bats will give up part of a night's meal to a friend who comes back to the roost with an empty stomach. Mankind has much to gain when it shifts its focus from economic competition to cooperative efforts to really improve the quality of life all. The preceeding is a statement of my personal views, and does not necessarily reflect th viewpoint of OWN's Executive Committee and/or constituant organizations.
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