The Myth of Money
The Web of Debt Blog Series
I recently discovered Ellen Brown’s ‘Web of Debt’ blog series, that provides a running critique on the financial world from an American perspective. The title of the item posted on 17 January echoed my personal foreboding that we are headed for a resounding collapse of the global financial market: Casino Capitalism and the Derivatives Market: Time for Another ‘Lehman Moment’?. This view combines with the latest from the World Economic Forum to fuel my own conviction that our entire global financial market is one massive Ponzi scheme that is due to collapse at any moment.
The sense of security that wealthy folks in wealthy countries feel, is just an illusion. This myth is constantly propped up by the illusions that are presented to us through a media lens warped by an education steeped in the adulation of ecocidal growth economics.
How do we prepare for Global Financial Collapse?
I am currently in the process of downsizing my house to release some capital to pursue the legal case against the UK government for pursuing ecocidal growth economics. However, a legal challenge of this type takes about two years. To my mind releasing £200,000 of capital and allowing it to reside in any bank for such an extended length of time would be a very unwise move. I am more likely to invest it in different ways that I hope will serve to raise awareness of the need to downsize the global economy.
I also have philanthropic links with friends in Africa who understand the need for family planning to relieve pressure on their local ecosystems. Accessible capital will enable me to more generously finance these advocates for culture change in the global South. Apart from financing their advocacy, they share relevant articles like this one of a Ugandan father with 12 wives who sired 102 children. This is a classic example of the danger of combining a pronatalist culture with a good business brain, without including any education about local and global carrying capacity. The head of this huge family talks wisely about his experience, he explains how difficult it is to provide for his huge family, and that is why he has decided not to sire any more children.
I have asked my barrister, Marc Willers, for permission to record the discussions about the merits of the case. This means that the preliminary steps to building the case can be used for the purpose of public education. I get the impression that Marc is already persuaded that the case has merit. I am sure that a barrister with such a high profile would not waste his time on a flimsy or unrealistic case. Hopefully, that the mere fact that this case will be shared publicly as it develops, will generate sufficient public awareness and interest to bring attention to the burgeoning Degrowth movement.
With the spectre of global financial collapse looming, I would urge others to use some of their available assets in any re-education exercise that explains about ecological overshoot and I=PAT. I would also recommend EO Wilson’s suggestion that half Earth’s biocapacity is a good guide to the carrying capacity of Earth for a human population. Using this bench-mark a modest footprint per capita of about 2 global hectares should be sustainable for about 2 billion people.
Envisioning a Way Forward
I am hoping to see a voluntary and peaceful ‘Degrowth’ focussed global society emerge, adopting a global currency that trades only in goods and services that are helpful towards economic shrinkage and voluntary depopulation i.e. ‘Degrowth’ of our human enterprise and ‘Regrowth’ of our enabling ecosystems. We might be a position to expand to exo-planets one-day, but right now is definitely not appropriate. Services consistent with degrowth objectives will prioritise education and services relating to ecological overshoot, family planning, voluntary help-to-die and other services related to euthanasia; second to these essential educational items will come all the logistics that would surround the delivery of universal basic provisions, food, shelter, warmth, temperature easing.
The exercise of re-education to ensure everyone is aware of the dire nature of our predicament is a very challenging one. Jack Alpert has been producing some very helpful videos, he tends to assume a much higher dependence on technology in the next phase of human development, so his suggested target population sizes are much smaller than 2 billion. His educational material is very helpful for any Degrowth focussed society, there is a separate Medium article that provides some helpful reflections on Jack Alpert’s suggestions.
The Drawback in Degrowth Movement
The Degrowth movement is alive but faltering. It manifests in so many different forms which are varying intensities of green-washing. The Degrowth movement will only reach emotional maturity when it can admit that we need to shrink the global economy by about 70% in order to reach sustainability.
The Degrowth movement is currently crying out for decisive leadership. This summary of a recent paper by Ted Trainer, echoes my own criticisms. Humanity is consuming 1.75 Earths, the carrying capacity is about 0.5 Earths. Therefore, we need to shrink the global economy by about 70% to get back within carrying capacity. 100*(1.75–0.5)/1.75 ~ 70
Helpful Articles
David Shapiro is a very clever American, who is absolutely clueless about the impact that climate change and ecosystems collapse will have. Despite the fact that his baseline is totally different to mine, I have watched a few of his videos and found them illuminating in several ways. It enables me to gain an understanding of the massive blinkers that many very clever people, especially Americans, are inclined to apply to their vision of the future. The belief that money will retain its value lies at the core of their misconceptions.
Art Berman provides an excellent antidote to someone like David Shapiro — The narrow view of our predicament
Most News media present population decline with a sense of foreboding. However there are a few helpful articles, like this BBC report on climate anxiety causing young adults to refrain from child-bearing.
Some straight-forward reporting articles follow about the reality that is unfolding:
Greenland Icesheet melting
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/17/greenland-losing-30m-tonnes-of-ice-an-hour-study-reveals
Soil Degradation
https://globalclimatecare.in/climate-north-america/f/soil-degradation-a-global-climate-issue-in-2024
Syrian Conflict
https://globalclimatecare.in/climate-asia/f/syria-a-war-ravaged-country-facing-climate-crisis
Nguru Wetlands in crisis, this is an old article, but recent posts in LinkedIn indicate the crisis has deepened even further.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-africas-big-water-projects-helped-trigger-the-migrant-crisis
Quite an old article, but relevant nevertheless:
