Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Guardian author Ian Dunlop claims times are getting harder for ordinary people because of resource shortages – but completely ignores the negative impacts of green policies.
If business leaders want to regain our trust, they must act on climate risk
Ian Dunlop
Empty rhetoric from corporates is not enough as climate change is accelerating far faster than expected
Business leaders seem astonished that community trust in their activitiesis at an all-time low, trending toward the bottom of the barrel inhabited by politicians. To the corporate leader dedicated to the capitalist, market economy success story of the last 50 years, that attitude is no doubt incomprehensible and downright ungrateful.
But a far more fundamental requirement is ignored, namely that business must lead on really critical issues, particularly the point raised long ago by economist Kenneth Boulding: “Anyone who considers economic growth can continue indefinitely in a finite system is either a madman or an economist”. The constraints Boulding anticipated have now arrived, as burgeoning population and economic growth crash into global biophysical limits which cannot be circumvented.
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To the community, these constraints are increasingly obvious as the quality of life for the average person deteriorates in myriad ways. The rhetoric of much-vaunted corporate social responsibility no longer holds water when our supposed leaders are not prepared to address the issues that really count for our survival, let alone prosperity.
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If business genuinely wishes to regain trust, it must proactively face up to the challenge posed by climate change and initiate emergency action. Beyond that, it must open up honest debate on a new economic model to replace conventional growth. It is the only way business will be sustainable in the 21st century with a real social licence to operate.
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Ian Dunlop was formerly an international oil, gas and coal industry executive, chair of the Australian Coal Association and CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Director
My question – what would be the point of rationing if resources are finite?
If resources really are finite, we might as well party. Rationing delays doomsday but doesn’t stop it from happening. We might as well enjoy ourselves while we can, there is no reason to pointlessly delay the inevitable.
Of course, the reality is resources are not finite in any meaningful sense. Fracking, undersea mining, and in the not too distant future, Asteroid mining, will keep the party rolling indefinitely. Providing we allow capitalists to continue trying to solve our problems, our problems will continue to be solved.
As for Ian Dunlop’s claim that times getting tougher for ordinary people – I agree ordinary people are having a tougher time in many places, but this deterioration in living standards has nothing to do with resource shortages, the deterioration in living standards was the inevitable consequence of policies deliberately imposed by governments.
I’ll let former President Obama explain why he pushed policies which caused hardship for ordinary people.
This caught my eye: “…burgeoning population and economic growth crash into global biophysical limits which cannot be circumvented.”
I’d like to take a moment to point out a few REAL WORLD things:
— There is a lot of empty space with no lights glowing on the “Earth at Night” image from NASA.
— ‘global biophysical limits’ implies erroneously that agribusiness can’t keep up with the demand for food. This is completely not true, whether it’s in cities or in rural areas. Improved hybrids yield higher crop volumes per acre than ever.
— Economic growth will continue to happen as long as people like the clanker who wrote the clanker article get out of their way. I’m seeing megastore and chain stores like Toys “R” Us closing, but I think that has more to do with internet marketing business than anything else. Amazon (which some people despise) may be the last bastion of chain store-type marketing, because they offer 3rd party retailers an online service access. Economic growth has, in fact, continued to thrive and is ‘burgeoning’.
— The people who write these dismal dystopic pieces must be watching too many of those “Mad Max’ movies, in which everything goes to pieces, or maybe it’s the ‘Divergent’ series. Don’t know, don’t care, but they clearly need some contact with reality and some long term professional help with their problem regarding their lack of contact with the real world.
Thanks for your time. I have a chopped salad to make for lunch. Zukes, tomatoes, green and red onion, bell peppers (all colors) diced ham, and a nice, peppery lemon juice/olive oil vinaigrette.
+1
Just more Malthusian Myopia.
Funny. My customers for the most part don’t even talk about the green goofiness or politics in general.
Their concern for the most part is how much, how long and when.
In five years I’ve only had one tell me that vaccines are safe.
And, a few have told me we must protect firearms or mainly just tell me how stupid liberals are in general.
Even had one couple tell me how great Alex Jones is.
But never have any of them talked about globull warming.
And, countless tell me how great Trump is.
I usually hear the normal complaints about how hot it is , or can’t wait for winter. Just normal conversation.
So Ian must be from another planet somewhere else in the universe.
noman
Arizona
To Gang Green business is just a medium to grow their rot in.
Contact with such foulness,the eco warrior type,should be avoided.
Additional note,always try to sidle away to the upwind side when confronted by an agent of Gang Green, no deoderant can disguise the smell.
If appeasement by corporations is effective we should use it to our advantage as well. We need a list of products/companies/corporations that allow politics to shape their business so we can avoid them. They should be politically neutral. My guess is as soon as it starts affecting their bottom line they will have second thoughts about publicly supporting anything but their products. All businesses will happily follow to save themselves grief.
Trust is not what they are asking for. What they are demanding is obeisance.
Let them freeze, naked and in the dark. They dare not light a fire….it’s against their credo.
“Resources are finite.” OMG, we’ll run out of zeros and ones, and then our computers won’t work. Maybe we should start a recycling program, with separate bins for zeros and for ones of course.
From the article: “Empty rhetoric from corporates is not enough as climate change is accelerating far faster than expected”
Ridiculous. There is no evidence that Climate Change (CAGW is what he means) is happening anywhere around the world and there is certainly no evidence that it is accelerating. The author doesn’t know what he is talking about and couldn’t prove that statement if his life depended on it.
Yup – but similar to what I said in my definition of “unprecedented,” they don’t let facts get in the way of a good sound bite, and figure the ignorant masses they want to control won’t bother to fact check, and will instead jump on the bandwagon of demanding “action” to provide a non-solution to the non-existent “crisis.”
From the article: ““Anyone who considers economic growth can continue indefinitely in a finite system is either a madman or an economist”. ”
The author is essentially lobbying against econimic growth, like all the Greens and Alarmists do. At least this one comes right out and says it.
“Anyone who considers [that] economic growth can continue indefinitely in a finite system is either a madman or an economist”.
His use of “indefinitely” is a ruse. He’s saying “to infinity”, which is obviously not possible.
We live in a finite world; and as demonstrated by affluent countries, the population levels out.
It also depends on how you measure wealth.
Obviously a computer chip is a lot more valuable than a pile of sand with the same weight.
Knowledge itself takes up no weight or space, but is very valuable.
From the article: “To the community, these constraints are increasingly obvious as the quality of life for the average person deteriorates in myriad ways.”
I don’t know about you but my quality of life is good and getting better now that Trump has been elected. I wonder who this “average person” is. Most of the people I know are better off now than in the past.
Yes, indeed, my “quality of life” is surprisingly good, best it’s been in a while.
From the article: “Beyond that, it must open up honest debate on a new economic model to replace conventional growth.”
The author doesn’t mention what economic model he is talking about. I assume he means socialism. But socialism isn’t new. It’s old enough to have proven itself a flawed economic policy. Venezuela is a good example.
Free enterprise is what sets people and economies free. There isn’t a better economic model.
When will the filthy capitalists who have killed ten of thousands of migratory birds with their useless windmills be brought to justice by the greens?
Those aren’t capitalists; they’re rent-seeking mandate and subsidy miners.
In France, the group “les économistes atterrés” (the “dismayed economists”), pretend to fight the neo-liberal economic agenda and the “politique de rigueur” and budget balancing all over Europe (“rigueur” and budget balancing actually which means ever more increasing spending and deficit all over Europe). They are pretty much a French economic variant of “the concerned scientists”.
“Les économistes atterrés” explicitly say that the role of the government is to find clients for new technologies (“renewables”, electric cars…).
Of course these “economists” are loved by the “news” media!
We can them “les économistes atterrants” (the staggering economists).
Capitalism generally goes with the lowest cost highest profit formula that allows affordability by the majority of their target customers.
It is the over demanding ultra Green Zealots that demand the higher cost more “environmentally friendly” Bird Chopping and Bird & Bug Cooking supposedly Carbon Free “Alternate Energy Sources”.
Maybe the Greenies should just bugger off.
“Green” implies, to me anyway, an alignment with photosynthetic plants. Two key ingredients for the flourishing of same are: 1) Warm temperatures, and 2) An ample supply of CO2 in the atmosphere. To claim that one is “Green,” yet opposes both of those things, would to me say that Greens have a LOT of work, and I mean a WHOLE LOT of f*&*ing work, to convince anyone on the face of the earth that they are sane.
LMFAO truer words could not be spoken.
I think math education failed.
Some of these guys probably were there when integrals were explained, but they don’t “see” these. Some students can compute any usual integral on the instant but do not understand anything they write.
The integral of an increasing exponential cost function (cost is positive), over infinite time, is infinite.
The integral of any increasing cost function, over infinite time, is infinite.
The integral of any real cost (real cost is not null) constant function, over infinite time, is infinite.
And any realistic decreasing cost function would still have infinite integral.
Not so much that Math education failed, but that Stupid education succeeded.
F him and the Yugo he rode in on.