Paraíso Factor: The Irresponsible Pursuit of Paradise

This book focuses on several well-entrenched practices that together add up to irresponsible behavior in the present, and potentially serious trouble for future generations. On the one hand, growth is almost universally accepted as the key to prosperity. Growth of populations and economies are seen as not only desirable, but essential, and this view dominates government and business thinking in the most advanced countries. On the other hand, many of the highest consuming countries steadfastly resist acceptance of responsibility for environmental impacts of their own consumption. The United States, where the economy is driven by consumer spending, is a prime example. Despite ongoing and massive consumption of basic raw materials needed to support high levels of consumption, consumer spending is foremost in thinking, with periodic reminders throughout the year of the importance of shopping to the economy. At the same time, stiff resistance to domestic extraction of raw materials has become routine; citizens who devote time and energy to disrupting, halting, or delaying raw material extraction are viewed as heroes in some circles, while many scornfully view those involved in raw materials procurement. These individuals include miners, oil field workers, and loggers. A key metric used to judge the environmental accomplishments of politicians is how much land area is placed off limits to mining, drilling, or logging. There are many reasons, including the question of ethics, that require us to self-examine current practices. Many of the raw material exporting countries, long characterised by low per capita incomes and consumption, are now experiencing rapid economic growth and increases in consumption that accompany such growth. They are, in other words, rapidly becoming competitors for raw materials coveted by the most economically developed countries. In addition, rapid increases in basic raw material consumption worldwide have triggered concerns about environmental impacts of that consumption, as well as the potential for conflict as resource competition intensifies. These realities, coupled with changing global demographics, suggest a need to rethink the relationship of the most economically sound countries to the rest of the world, and such is one of the main discussions of this book, as well as the authors' re-examination of the long-term viability of consumer-based economies.