One of the biggest
fallacies out there is the complaint that we are 'destroying our planet'. We
keep hearing rallying calls to care for the earth - but, alas, the people who
think we are destroying it are confusing their terms.
The earth is not a sentient
being that can be destroyed, and nor does utilising its resources constitute
destruction of the planet. The resources we use are vital ingredients for
making the world a better place, reducing suffering and misery, and increasing
knowledge, well-being and the quality of life we have.
Take a forest as a good
example. Cutting down trees for the paper and replanting more is not destroying
the earth - it is utilising a vital resource that enriches humanity greatly.
Yobs setting fire to a forest, on the other hand, is a case of being careless with the
planet's resources because they are being supplanted for value-less ruination.
The large swathes of
people who are constantly telling us that we are destroying our planet are
seeing our use of resources as being like burning down a forest when they
should be seeing it as being like making paper from trees. The earth is a giant
rock that's over 4 billion years old: it was here long before we were, and it
can survive long after we have gone. The notion of destroying it is a fallacious
one. The only thing we can destroy is our capacity for utilising its resources,
but given that it is the utilisation of its resources that they mistake for its
destruction, the accusation is laughable.
For obvious reasons,
saving the planet (by which it is meant ‘the earth’) must always be a secondary
aim behind saving the planet (by which it is meant ‘life on the planet’). If
preserving life and increasing well-being are the primary goals, then part of
that goal (the most urgent goal, in fact) is to bring an end to global poverty
and help the neediest people out of their plight of impoverishment.
This leaves those who
think we are 'destroying the planet' with a big problem, because the only way
to bring an end to global poverty and help the neediest people out of their
plight is to help those people attain economic freedom, and the ability to
trade, be self-sufficient, and productive in the broader market economy. And,
of course, the only realistic way to achieve this is to generate the kind of
industry and globalised expansion of the market that will come at the cost of
using some of the earth's natural resources.
The upshot is, in the
short-term future, to eradicate global poverty entirely, we're going to have to
carrying on making the best use of the earth's raw materials. Like most things,
there's a trade off, and all it takes for an intellectual malady to occur is
the slightest reactionary ignorance to assert that 'We are destroying the
planet' as though there's no need for consideration of the benefits vs. the
costs of doing so.
It is thanks to the use of
the earth's resources, particularly since the Industrial Revolution, that we've
moved the human condition from a state of widespread poverty to a state of
greatly reduced poverty and much more prosperity. Of course there's still a way
to go, but as the developing world
countries increase their infrastructure and market potential, they are going to
be using the most ecologically efficient technology - so there is every reason
to continue to develop and pioneer more environmentally efficient methods of
industry.
Realistically, the things that are the biggest ingredients in
achieving this - free trade, healthy imports/exports, high employment, sensible
and equitable government spending, a good legal system, cultural plurality,
immigration, global travel, welfare systems, human rights, property rights,
family rights, and being freer citizens* – are going to have an environmental
cost that is more than compensated for by the good it will do for the neediest
people in the world.
* Sadly, it's usually the lack of these things that is
behind the killing of endangered species and the causing of extinctions, as
well as people in developing countries not having a proper stake in their own
country's resources - all of which are certainly things to be spoken out
against.
Further reading: The
Myth That We're Running Out Of Resources
