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INDUSTRY VS. NATURE AND TRUE COST PRICING
Industrial economies must always expand. However, we mistakenly
think we can change nature into most anything we desire. We must
realize that we have to live "within" nature. Nature is too often
looked at as a resource for "human" use without much regard or respect
for wildlife and the planet.
Nature circles mankind, mankind does not circle nature.
Ecological harmony should be the measure by which we determine the
goodness of any economy!
Americans may need "eco-tax" reform. This means the prices for
everything we consume should reflect the "ecological truth". "True
cost pricing" would tend to speed up our evolution towards
"sustainability". Presently, 50% of the USA's tax revenues come from
income taxes with only 10% coming from taxing "consumption"!
Eco-tax reform may reverse this practice by taxing our consumption
and our polluting practices instead of just taxing the income
generated by jobs or employment. The problem with the current market
system is that environmental costs are not being added to the prices
of the goods and services we purchase and consume.
For example, the "true cost" of driving a car and pumping carbon
monoxide into the atmosphere far exceeds the original price tag on the
car! Eco-taxes could help streamline certain industries down to their
"natural" size.
It could cause some global economic chaos, yet eventually may open
up new marketplaces and industries to replace the old ones.
Consequently, this process could help Western cultures, especially, to
evolve into and sustain a "fair market" system, as well as help save
the planet for future generations IF everything we consume becomes
based on "true cost pricing".
SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: ADBUSTERS MAGAZINE FALL 1995
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