DYNAMIC BALANCE
DYNAMIC BALANCE
Martin Tye First Published, 2017 ISBN: 978–0–646–97222–0
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all who follow us in the great timeline of human history, and to all other living things whose fate now rests in our hands. We fight this battle for you.
…and it is dedicated to those who recognise the need for change, and have the conviction and courage to fight for it.
CONTENTS
Preface
Part 1- Introduction
- This book
- Call to action
- Dynamic Balance- definition
- Foundations
Part 2- Growth
- What’s going on?
- Conspiracy
- Carrot
- Stick
- Media
- Summary
Part 3- Dynamic Balance
- A better idea
- Nature
- Quality of life
- Economic machines
- A quick word on technology
- Measuring performance, politics and leaders
Postscript
Appendix- a Bedtime story
Preface
There is a powerful force at work today. It operates on a global scale and extends its evil tentacles right down into our everyday lives. It hides behind its symptoms and a façade of supposedly good intentions. Its propaganda tumbles from the mouths of false prophets.
The time has come for it to be recognised, rejected and replaced with a new way.
“He should know that prophets do not come from cities, promising riches and store clothes. They have always come from the wilderness, stinking of goats and running with lice and telling of a different sort of treasure, one a corporation head would not understand.”
Andrew Nelson Lytle
PART 1- INTRODUCTION
“One must never forget, the characteristic feature of human society is purposeful cooperation”
Ludwig Von Mises
This Book
This book sets out to expose the truth about what’s really going on today, to highlight the problem, and to shine a spotlight on your alternative.
It explains how and why we have become obsessed with economic growth. Why we are willing to play our part in maintaining it, by any means, and at any cost, and how we have been deceived into believing that all worthy and noble goals can only stem from perpetual growth, even as the evidence mounts of its catastrophic failure.
But it’s no good being a critic if you can’t propose an alternative. That’s where Dynamic Balance enters the stage. Dynamic Balance is your alternative to endless growth- a dynamic and exciting state operating within safe ecological limits. Offering opportunity, and rewarding hard work and creative endeavour; restoring nature and improving life.
Dynamic Balance is simple, positive and achievable; the magic ingredients are you, and a collective willingness to fight for change.
Our Call to Action
We, as one people, sharing one planet, demand to be given control of our mutual destiny- to be granted the opportunity to create the world WE want to see.
Dynamic Balance- Definition
For our purposes Dynamic Balance is taken to mean:
“The state where human activity operates to maximise quality of life for all, in balance with nature’s capacity to safely provide our inputs and recycle our waste, without being degraded.”
Dynamic Balance is founded on the belief that protecting the earth and promoting quality of life are our prime objectives, and that these are complementary and achievable aims.
Dynamic Balance recognises that our environment underpins everything we do, and that it is immoral and unethical for any one generation to run it down for its own benefit, leaving it in a degraded state for the next generation. All decisions relating to economics, commerce, population and lifestyles flow from this recognition.
Within this framework of balance within nature, dynamic processes are encouraged and prosper. Hard work, innovation and creative endeavour are rewarded while every effort is made to equitably distribute the benefits, care for those less fortunate, and engage all members of society productively.
Being sustainable over the long term, a state of Dynamic Balance provides the surety business needs to invest and develop. Dynamic Balance is good for business, good for the environment and good for society.
Foundations
So why isn’t Dynamic Balance our goal now? What could possibly be a more worthy, common sense and logical goal for humanity?
It seems we have lost our way. We have assumed, for far too long, that our planet is an infinite source of resources, and a garbage dump of infinite capacity. This dangerously flawed and long outdated assumption is the foundation upon which we rely, as we seek endlessly bigger economies.
But local, national and global environmental systems do, most definitely, have limits and we are now overwhelming them everywhere, and at every level… yet still we pursue endless growth as the path to a better future.
Can you follow the insane logic? I certainly can’t.
All we are really ‘growing’ (apart from the monetary wealth of a few) is a set of problems, problems which grow faster than solutions. No wonder we are in trouble. The very founding assumption which underpins our obsession with endless economic growth is, in a word, wrong. Economics, population, lifestyle ambitions, all seek to load bigger burdens on an already dangerously overloaded foundation.
Ask any builder, it’s no good tinkering with the structure- if the foundations won’t support the weight, it will collapse. All structures must be built well within the safe operating limits of their foundations, even economic structures.
In a world where people are increasingly disconnected from nature it is all too easy to forget that our environment underpins everything we do. It is ecosystems, not economic theories, which are our foundations.
PART 2- GROWTH
“Homo Economicus (Economic Man); an imaginary individual created in classical economics and conceived of as behaving rationally, regularly, and predictably in his economic activities with motives that are egoistic, acquisitive, and short-term in outlook”
Merriam-Webster
“No matter how great it may be collectively, if individually we do not profit by it, we have lost by the exchange. This becomes more apparent with the realization that, as its benefits elude us, the labors and pains of its acquisitions multiply.”
Andrew Nelson Lytle
What’s going on?
The world of 300 years ago was a very different place. A world of relatively small numbers of people living relatively humble lives, but with potential beyond imagination. Vast wilderness areas stretched across all continents; a richness of flora and fauna, minerals, water and arable land unrivalled in the universe (as far as we know). A one-off endowment. Ours to manage for the greater good. A platform from which to create the world we wanted. This was our chance. What would we make of it?
What we needed was a plan, a long term plan, and a guiding philosophy on which to found our future. We were after all, taking on this project on behalf of all people, present and future. This was a big responsibility- we had to get it right.
So what did we do?
Well, the first thing we did was to throw any idea of a long term plan straight out the window. Instead we decided that the best way forward was to encourage and reward those who could most efficiently, and quickly, turn our natural endowment into money. Thus, economic growth, focussed on short term monetary gain, was established as our guiding philosophy.
Of all the amazing array of human traits, we chose greed and materialism on which to found our future… oh dear!
Perpetually bigger economies became our goal. Bigger economies circulate bigger amounts of money and in doing so increase the potential, for those in a position to do so (usually those who already have money), to capture even more money.
Money equals power and influence. The more money, the more power and influence. Power and influence can then be used to acquire ever more money. A feedback loop develops which entrenches the status quo and blocks change.
We have created a system, which has produced people/corporations, whom now, even national governments struggle to control.
Welcome to the age of ‘Economic Growth’.
We are adrift on the destructive tide of an unsustainable ideology. We watch on helplessly as it consumes cultures, ecosystems, democracies and eventually civilisation itself.
Yet still most keep the faith. Rather than blame the growth ideology, they remain steadfast supporters, and prefer to lay blame at the feet of those attempting to manage an increasingly impossible situation.
Self-deception seems a uniquely human trait. It’s all too easy to believe that just a few tweaks as advocated by party ‘X’ or ‘Y’ will suffice, so as not to have to leave our comfort zones. We blame first one political party, then the other. We continually ‘party-flip’ hoping to find answers, then act surprised when no one can deliver on their promises.
And so, speculation continues to reap greater reward than an honest day’s work. The short term plunder of our natural endowment is actively encouraged. Wealth and quality of life are increasingly a function of where you were born in the social/financial hierarchy. The “upper class” rises and tightens its grip, while the “middle class” sinks to join the “lower class” in a dismal struggle for survival.
So why do we refuse to leave the sinking ship, despite the fact that lifeboats are at the ready, and salvation is on the horizon?
Conspiracy
The pursuit of endlessly bigger economies, is the ideological basket in which we have chosen to place all our eggs, despite the inescapable fact that we live on a finite planet and operate in very finite sub-divisions, known as countries.
Growth has powerful, cunning and well organised allies, those who specialise in amassing personal gain by parasiting on an ever fatter host. “Never question, always obey the God of growth”, say its band of devoted beneficiaries.
The more one demonstrates one’s personal devotion to the God of growth the more one’s social capital rises among one’s peers. It’s all about grovelling and conforming to achieve personal success. Questioning minds are silenced, ignored or ridiculed.
You’d be forgiven for believing our political leaders and economists wake up each morning, light a candle, sit cross legged and chant three times in a monotone voice:
“Growth by whatever means is good- all growth is good- growth must never be questioned- all who oppose growth are our enemies… grow the economy, grow the economy, grow the economy.”
But this might suggest a degree of genuine spirituality, so perhaps not.
However, our ‘leaders’ (and wannabes) do seem to operate in a zombie-trance like state, often condensing their growth message into three word phrases and reciting these phrases endlessly to the media and the public. These soulless humanoids are most visible during election campaigns. They walk around, refusing to answer legitimate questions, quoting their phrases like pre-programmed robots, even as their eyes glaze over due to brain disengagement. They have apparently lost the ability for deeper thought and all capacity to tackle a broader set of goals, more directly relevant to the majority, in a holistic manner.
And then… guess what? … We vote them in!
“Unbelievable!” Henri Leconte, (French tennis great, turned charismatic commentator)
But there is a well thought out strategy behind the automaton political army. They themselves are being manipulated by darker forces.
Conspiracy theory? Well a theory is only a theory until it is proven, then it becomes a fact. It is a fact that there are those doing very well out of economic growth. It seems they have lost all sense of being part of a broader community. They are totally detached from nature and the greater good. To them, it’s all about profit growth, money and power. As the saying goes, if you want to find the truth, “follow the money”.
Their strategy, is a very simple one. It’s the old time tested, tried and true, ‘carrot and stick’ approach.
*********
A friend of mine had a conversation with a taxi driver that went something like this:
Passenger x: “I believe we are growing too fast, it’s not sustainable”
Taxi driver: “But we’ve got to have growth!”
Passenger x: “Why?”
Taxi driver: “Because it creates jobs.”
“Jobs and Growth” was a popular Australian political slogan at the time. See how successful simplistic slogans can be in a busy person’s life?
The taxi driver didn’t bother asking; “What is growth?”, “How is it being achieved, and at what cost?”, “How is it measured?”, “Is growth the same as progress?”, “Who’s reaping the benefits?” “Are the jobs sustainable, well paid and secure?” …all fairly obvious questions I would have thought, but questions which go unasked in a busy schedule.
*********
The Carrot
The ‘carrot’ is the promise that economic growth will one day deliver benefits for all. Better times always lie somewhere in the future. A message which is re-enforced by growth’s early successes.
But these early successes relied on the unsustainable exploitation of both labour and/or the environment on a massive scale, and I can’t really recall a time when the wealth generated was equitably distributed. These facts are always overlooked.
We have now been conditioned to accept that ‘economic growth’, no matter how achieved, is the only way forward, is sustainable (if we just make a few tweaks), and will ultimately deliver good things for humanity… we’re just not quite ‘there’ yet.
The disturbing thought that we never will be ‘there’, and that no one even knows where ‘there’ is, and that in fact, we are falling further and further behind in our quest to get ‘there’, seems all too easily supressed amid our busy routines and desire to hear what we want to hear. Better a convenient lie, than an uncomfortable truth. False hope will suffice it seems.
Hope, the false hope, of better times ahead, is the unreachable carrot we endlessly slave and sacrifice to achieve. This deception is now operating on a global scale.
Ask yourself, and answer truthfully; “Do I believe endless growth will ever deliver on its promises? Am I chasing mirages deeper into the desert? Is the point of no return upon us? Will I fight for change?”
You know how you’d like to answer… but wait, what is that lingering feeling in the back of your mind? Why won’t you get in the lifeboat? Why do you prefer to stay on board the sinking ship?
The Stick
That feeling, you are experiencing is the growth lobby’s stick. It is a powerful weapon and they wield it ruthlessly. The stick is fear. Fear is necessary to maintain the scam. Fear of change is the weapon of choice. People have an instinctive fear of change, which is very strange, as it is our remarkable ability to adapt which has made us so successful (you’d have to ask a psychologist about that one).
People must be made to fear alternative paths which challenge endless growth- that crazy notion of operating in Dynamic Balance for example.
And now, I’m going to expose their secret weapon. There exists a word which has become the troll under our beds, the ghost which stalks us on a dark night, the earthly incarnation of the devil himself.
WARNING- this word may cause anxiety or other adverse reactions (it is supposed to). Are you prepared? Here we go. You may wish to close one eye and turn your head slightly sideways, oh… and make sure the children have left the room.
“RECESSION”
Note the mental and physical sensations this word is designed to generate- typically: fear, panic and anxiety. But please don’t be alarmed, there’s nothing wrong with you. These are perfectly normal reactions, usually followed by an immediate desire to return to your comfortable mental cocoon, to get your mind ‘right’, become subservient, and return to the fold.
And so, you close your eyes and quickly dose yourself with the opiate of the growthists’ comfortable lie. You remind yourself; “all growth is good, I must support economic growth”. Your brief flirtation with new ideas is over. You sneak a glance over your shoulder and hope that no one noticed your sin.
Please now take a few deep breaths before we move on.
Recognise that these are just mind games they are playing on you. Don’t let them win, don’t allow yourself to be that easily manipulated. You are not a sheep, you a free thinking individual with the courage of your convictions.
The ‘more of the same’ brigade always assert that change will cause a RECESSION. Fear of a RECESSION (generally taken to be when the economy didn’t keep getting ‘bigger’ for around six months) now looms over our daily lives much larger than fear of a devastated and unliveable planet.
“It’s no good saving the planet if you ruin the economy doing it”, is a popular line of thought in the halls of government.
But have you noticed that it is always you, or our environment, which must make just one more sacrifice to sustain economic growth?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying a recession is a good thing, far from it. But recessions will always be part and parcel of growth based economies. The best our politicians, economists and CEO’s can hope for is that the next one is postponed, so it doesn’t happen on their watch. Hence their willingness to destroy or sell off anything that can be used as fuel to sustain the raging fire of endless growth… at least until beyond the next election or financial reporting period.
Note: Recessions will be far less likely, and generally far less severe, in an economy operating in a state of Dynamic Balance… more on that later.
And so, fear, marketed as RECESSION, is built into the growth marketing model to give increased leverage to those wielding power as they tighten their control and exploitation of a frightened and unquestioning populace constantly willing to cede personal ground and weaken environmental protections to drive the engines of growth and profit.
“So if you want to fear RECESSION,
fear the growth obsession,
Dynamic Balance is the way
to happiness every day!”
… Author’s apology- Please excuse my shocking attempt at poetry.
Media
There is one more trick up the growth hypnotist’s evil sleeve.
Economic growth as humanity’s supreme aim must be continually entrenched in the public mind via the media. Those profiting from our current form of growth have not gone to all this trouble, and have far too much invested, to allow some nosey, free thinking reporter to expose their ruse, or highlight its failures.
Journalists and economists, at least those who want to keep their jobs, must never question the form of growth upon which their employers have come to rely.
“I’m the chief executive. I set policy and I’m not going to surround myself with people who disagree with me.”
Otis Chandler, publisher LA Times, 1960–1980
Real, investigative and free thinking journalists are exiled to the unemployment queues, or minor independent publications, while growthist puppets willing to regurgitate growthist propaganda take their place… and receive pats on the back… and a pay rise.
Those willing to ‘toe the line’ are given prime air time to daily report selective statistics designed to highlight the upside, and disguise the down side, of the growth obsession. They reinforce each other’s drivel in a sort of mutual back scratching exercise.
These media ‘experts’ froth over things largely irrelevant to our day to day lives. Bigger economies and growing company profits is the language they speak. When their narrow world view is threatened by free thinkers, they merely close ranks and form a united front to crush the dissidents.
So where is the media’s repetitive reporting on the ugly consequences of growth? Where is the environmentalist marching out graph after graph showing the decline of ecosystems and species extinctions, as economic growth churns through the last of our natural endowment? Where is the nightly chart showing the growth in people sleeping rough on the streets (with accompanying panel of experts analysing trends)? What about the cost of an education and rising health costs, household rates increases, traffic congestion, the mental health of our communities, and so many other issues that directly affect you and your family? Why aren’t all of these things reported every single night until they are properly addressed?
The pro-growth lobby gets all the coverage as they spruik their propaganda ad-nauseam. The ugly side of their growthist ideology is kept hidden from public view, and main stream media are complicit in this cover-up, much to their eternal shame.
“Growth”- Summary
The reality of the many flaws in our “keep getting bigger” obsession, has been cloaked with the undeliverable promise of better times ahead and spiced up with a not-so-subtle dose of fear. False hope is peddled by those in power, transmitted by complicit journalists, and embraced by an increasingly desperate and time-poor populace, needing someone to tell them what they want to hear.
The time has come to shake off our collective apathy, to leave our comfort zones- the devastating era of endless economic growth is over, and I say, “Thank goodness!”
Out with the old, and in with the new.
Let the age of “Dynamic Balance” begin.
**********
“What is commonly termed “economic growth” today is a combination of productivity enhancement and population increase. In fact, nearly 70 per cent of so-called economic “growth” is not productivity rise but simply population increase, not to mention inflation and currency decline further skewing the statistics.
Population increase, however, is not real “growth.” It is nothing more than a per-capita decline in the essential qualities of life, i.e. per-capita space, environment, resources, etc.
Yet even in today’s out of balance world this sorry definition of “Growth” persists within the economic profession. In effect, by confusing growth with per-capita diminution, it serves to produce a continually degenerated and overpopulated world, thus robbing future generations of the better, less-overcrowded, world we ourselves inherited.
Growth then is indeed a Ponzi scheme, and at this stage in humanity’s devastation of the planet, it is nothing less than a crime.”
Kent Welton
PART 3- DYNAMIC BALANCE
“Economics has come to concern itself with things- resources, the gross national product, the bottom line- rather than people. In any future economics this concern will be reversed. Human beings will be more important than things.”
George P Brockway
“A commitment to the long-term improvement of the human condition is contingent on substituting sustainability for growth as the goal of national economic policy”.
WorldWatch Institute
A Better Idea
“Ok wise guy, so you’ve well and truly put the boot into the status quo… you gotta better idea?”
So if a bigger economy is all we aim for, then a bigger economy is all we will ever achieve; a shallow, empty, and ultimately futile and destructive endeavour.
Dynamic Balance offers us the chance for a fresh start, the opportunity to set sail on a new course, to embark on an exciting adventure… to a better place, a place where our children and grandchildren will thrive and prosper. So who’s going to get on board? and who’s going to be left behind?
Dynamic Balance is about redefining what it means to grow. It asks us to consider questions like; “should growth be measured in monetary terms only?” and, “are growth and progress the same thing?” It’s about broadening our goals to make them more directly relevant to everyday life, and it’s about the environmental moral obligation we owe to future generations.
Dynamic Balance is about long term goals guiding short term actions; because unlike our current path, it actually has a long term. A state of Dynamic Balance sees the future open up into an infinite array of economic, social, artistic and scientific possibilities. Life improvement for all, is its goal.
Dynamic Balance is a new, exciting, and positive concept. It makes us feel good about ourselves and our future. Optimism replaces pessimism and fuels positive human ambition, focussed on the common good. Dynamic Balance is a genuine alternative to the growthist nightmare and must surely be the next great phase of human development.
Nature
Just for fun, compare these two options for a regular segment in your nightly news. The first exists in a possible future under Dynamic Balance. The second is, well… the sort of stuff we are fed today. Which do you prefer?
Dynamic Balance environmental/economic news segment:
“Tonight we are pleased to announce that 1000 hectares has been added to ‘the Great Koala National Park’. This now makes a total of 70,000 hectares added to our National Parks network since Dynamic Balance was officially adopted as our preferred ideology. A dozen such areas were added around the world this month, as pressure eases on land and water resources everywhere.
As the adjoining ecosystem spreads into our latest restoration area, at least seven additional species should be moved off the endangered species list within 3 years. Sustainable employment, volunteer, and recreational opportunities have been created which will benefit countless generations to come.
Picnic areas and exploratory tracks have been installed for community use- so whatever you’re in to, get out there, and enjoy your weekend.
Meanwhile, strong progress continues right across the environmental restoration and sustainable industry sectors, creating thousands of new, well paid and sustainable job opportunities. Wages and conditions are improving, while the ‘Cost of Living Index’ is lower.”
The “Growth economy” finance segment:
“Tonight we are pleased to announce another quarter of economic growth. Our economy is now the biggest it has ever been. The stock market turned over record volumes of money, home prices are growing, as are bank profits- and as we all know, a strong banking sector is vital if we are to maintain our much envied run of economic growth.
In order to fuel this growth, a new mega coal mine has been approved on agricultural land deemed to be of lesser short term economic value. Supporting infrastructure is to be subsidised by our government, clearly demonstrating our total commitment to a perpetually bigger economy, no matter what the cost.
And in more good news, the historic coastal town of “Ybenice” has been deemed guilty of not maximising the economic potential of its land. Ybenice, together with 500 hectares of surrounding forest have now been earmarked for a mix of suburban and high rise housing estates to accommodate its much needed rapid population growth… overseas purchasers take note. There is now talk of a new hardware store, a chain shopping mall, and a casino to be built on an underutilised wetland. Demand for jobs is growing much faster than well paid, sustainable job opportunities… but hey, that’s tomorrow’s problem, not ours. Meanwhile, the installation of pay parking stations, household rates rises and multiple new traffic lights further demonstrate Ybenice’s commitment to growth.
All this fantastic news has boosted the Prime Minister’s opinion polls, and he now appears certain to retain power in the upcoming election”.
… We shape our own destiny.
The restoration of nature and the dynamic striving for quality of life improvements provide the economic, environmental and social underpinning for a world in Dynamic Balance.
All societies and economies ultimately depend on the environment for their existence and advancement. Ecosystems are complex and impossible to rebuild once destroyed.
Nature is our foundation. Nature is the most precious asset we have. We are on the verge of losing it… forever.
Under the current growthist regime we pretend either; that nature has no limits, or that it has no significant role in our future. Nature is merely a set of resources waiting to be systematically exploited, turned into money, and added to someone’s balance sheet.
Always, just a little more sacrifice on Mother Nature’s part is needed. It’s a one way, ‘I take, you give’ relationship. Some may call this greedy and selfish, but it is commended and rewarded under the growth ideology.
The fact that we are already asking far too much is dismissed as a nonsense, or as irrelevant, by minds closed to uncomfortable truths which might impede their immoral and misguided quest for ‘more’. These are people who will never have enough; and so they make the evidence fit their pre-conceived conclusions and are happy to devour the future to prop up their unsustainable (but highly profitable) present. They are incapable of thought beyond the next accounting period or election cycle.
Who, among them, will make the pronouncement; “Mother Nature, has left the planet… forever”?
Dynamic Balance is founded on a new attitude towards nature based on respect, rather than exploitation. The reality of nature’s limits replaces the fantasy of perpetually bigger economies. Our new foundation is merely a return to our traditional roots. A strong and sustainable foundation on which commerce, science and technology can strive for genuine progress, and deliver an improving quality of life for all, for millennia to come.
As a world community we are no longer children. Mother Nature has given all she can give to see us arrive at where we are today- young adults embarking on a new phase in human history. It’s time to change our relationship with our mother. We must stand up to those who would drive her to an early grave merely to get their grubby little fingers on what’s left of the inheritance (only to squander it on material possessions).
Dynamic Balance recognises that Mother Nature, just like your biological mother, has a great capacity to give, but she does have limits. Those limits have been passed, and she is now very sick and in need of our care.
From now on-
If we take, we must give back, in equal or greater proportion. We must take only what she can give without degrading herself. In this way, her strength will return and she will offer great support, continuously, over countless generations.
If we ask too much today, we may benefit for a short while, for she will always give beyond her limits, but slowly she will weaken, and her offerings will diminish. For that, we will all be worse off.
When young and naïve, to us, she may seem limitless, indestructible, our tower of strength, and indeed she is strong. But she can be destroyed by our actions… for she is a living thing.
‘Quality of Life’
“Quality of life is the general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life. It observes life satisfaction, including everything from physical health, family, education, employment, wealth, religious beliefs, finance and the environment… Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of ‘standard of living’, which is based primarily on income.”
-Wikipedia
“Climbing over one another in feverish attempts to attain escape velocity from capital’s game has come to be the sole occupation of ‘homo economicus’.”
Kent Welton
It’s time to get angry folks, really angry. This book was written because I’m angry. Angry because I’m tired of being a willing participant in a system which has now commenced its tragic final chapter; that being, to sustain itself, for just a bit longer, by devouring our quality of life.
Growing numbers of homeless people suffering on the streets. People’s lives evaporating as they sit in traffic congestion breathing each other’s fumes. Human beings being crammed into trains, shopping malls, handout queues, high rise, and endlessly sprawling suburbs. The erosion of personal space, sense of community, artistic pursuits, compassion, job satisfaction, recreation and family time.
These are just some of the ways we are paying the growthist piper as he plays his final tune.
I will no longer sit by and watch our once beautiful cities turned into concrete canyons as their populations swell endlessly merely to create bigger markets for ‘things’ and bigger profits for the few, all the while sucking the life essence from our regional communities, our rivers, our forests and our oceans. I will no longer sit back and watch growthists applauding each other for their ‘achievements’.
Our quality of life must not be the final offering on growth’s long and gluttonous menu. It’s time to fight back people!
Dynamic Balance recognises that improving quality of life, is what it’s all about. It is our right to expect that whatever system or ideology we adopt delivers quality of life improvement, for all… sustainably. No more excuses, no more “one day’s”. We have the means to do it now. All we need is a clear set of quality of life objectives, appropriate progress indicators, the right leaders, and a collective willingness to adopt a new way forward.
Dynamic Balance is about you, your family, your community and all who follow in the great timeline of human existence, stretching far off into the future. A future beyond imagination. Once we learn to operate sustainably, and to properly focus our talents, our future truly is limitless in its potential.
A state of Dynamic Balance liberates us from the assumption that getting endless bigger is the key to quality of life improvement. It opens our minds to new possibilities. It recognises the fact that in the real world, the world beyond economic textbooks, things are deteriorating fast. Growth, beyond limits, is the culprit. Quality of life falls, even as economies and company profits grow.
It’s time we assessed our progress and judged our leaders using a broad set of progress indicators which directly measure quality of life. Things like environmental restoration, desirable and affordable housing, secure and sustainable job opportunities with fair pay and improving conditions; and, the economy’s capacity to fund quality education and health services.
Dynamic Balance is concerned with big picture issues like better funding for science, health, education and the arts. It’s about encouraging: small business and entrepreneurship, renewable energy development and implementation, better mental and physical health, racial and religious tolerance, etc.
But Dynamic Balance is also concerned with the things that directly impact your daily life. Things such as the cost of parking or public transport, the comfort of your commute, traffic congestion, family time, disposable income, stress, access to green space and recreational opportunities, the cost of living and job satisfaction- all of which seem to be going in the wrong direction as we continue to pursue “economic growth” beyond sustainable limits.
A continuous improvement in all the things that matter to you… a continuous improvement in your quality of life, is what you must expect the economic system you support to deliver.
Economic Machines
Economic systems have become very powerful machines. They organise our affairs, from the local, all the way up to the global level. We entrust our well-being, our children’s futures, even our planet to them.
Economic machines are not ends in themselves, they are a means to ends. It’s up to us to define those ends. Economic machines are like computers- it is vital that we programme them correctly. An economy just does what we ask it to do.
Currently our economic machines are set to ‘growth’, endless ‘growth’- full steam ahead. But economies are human constructs, and just like computers, cannot do the impossible.
Our growthist economic programmers have omitted so many vital inputs. For example, that the benefits must be distributed equitably and sustainably over the long term, and that nature is finite and we want to leave room for other species. No value is placed on ‘quality of life’ things such as family time, an uncrowded train or road, the calming effect (and hence boost to health and productivity) of hearing birdsongs rather than traffic noise with your morning coffee. In short, there is far too much emphasis on money, and far too little on the human life experience. Garbage in, garbage out.
And so, our economic machines grind on, and on, attempting to do exactly what we ask them to do- get bigger and drive profit ‘growth’.
Dynamic Balance requires re-programming our economic machines to deliver the outcomes we want. It’s about taking the programming out of the hands of the mega-corporations, property speculators, money lenders and their political puppets and putting it back where it belongs, in the hands of the people.
Our task now, as a community, is to set those quality of life goals, prioritise them, and to get out there and fight for their inclusion. So it’s time you asked yourself: “What are the things that really matter to me?”, “What sort of world do I want for my children?” Take some time to think seriously about these questions. Your answers will constitute the objectives for a world in Dynamic Balance. Try writing them down.
Dynamic Balance delivers a strong and stable foundation- balance within nature. It clearly states its desired outcomes- a defined set of quality of life improvements.
No more ‘boom and bust’. No more ‘grow and hope’. A long term plan and a broad set of desirable outcomes means a broader economic base will develop. A sustainable foundation and a broader economic base means long term stability and surety. These are the prime ingredients needed by ethical, sustainable business practices if they are to invest, progress, create jobs and prosper.
Re-programming our economic machines to promote Dynamic Balance will be great for business, great for the environment and great for people.
A quick word on Technology
There will be those out there saying smugly, “Ahhh, but in criticising endless growth this guy has forgotten to factor in the capacity for technological advancement to solve our problems”- yet another commonly used growthist smokescreen.
The aim here is to quickly end the discussion (before you have the chance to think too deeply), to promote a knee-jerk ‘anti-change’ reaction, maintain popular support for business as usual, and dismiss the case for Dynamic Balance with one shallow and poorly thought out accusation.
“Technology will save us”, the pro-endless growth club trumpet, in total denial of the deterioration they see all around them. I would ask, “When will this happen?”, “When will technology begin solving problems faster than growth is creating them?”
Please don’t fall for this one. It is yet another deception designed to keep you in line by simply telling you what you want to hear. It’s a convenient lie.
In reality, the ballooning set of problems caused by growth have massively outstripped technology’s ability to clean up the mess for many decades.
Technology is not even particularly interested in solving problems related to economic and environmental sustainability.
Technology is now, primarily directed by the hands of those seeking bigger economic gains. It is a double-edged sword, and at present, far from solving our problems, the ‘sword of technology’ is cutting a swathe thru ecosystems and human quality of life.
Even if technology was entirely focussed on solving growth’s problems it is doubtful it would succeed while growth continues to pile new problems on top of old ones at an ever-accelerating rate.
To give technology a chance, we need to recalibrate our economic machines towards Dynamic Balance. If we do this, human creativity, ingenuity and market forces will drive technological advances in the right direction- towards delivering us a better quality of life, sustainably.
In the hands of the wrong people technology is our enemy, but in the right hands it can be our saviour.
So yes, technology can save us… but only in a world in a state of Dynamic Balance!
Measuring Performance, Politics and Leaders
Our current leaders must adapt or go and find another job. How many more chances are we going to give them? If the pursuit of endlessly bigger economies is all they know, even if that means cramming ever more people into our once liveable cities and towns, degrading farmland for fossil fuels, destroying old growth forests, emptying the oceans of life and filling them with our crap… or all of the above, if that’s all they have to offer, banish them! Bring on the new breed of politician.
But the new breed must not be judged on whether or not the economy is getting continuously bigger. They must be willing to stake their reputations (and we must be willing to back them up with our vote), on how they measure up against the broader range of progress indicators.
How would you feel if the economy failed to get bigger, but we stopped logging old growth forests and eased the pressure on our oceans and river systems?
How would you feel if the economy failed to get bigger, but the ever expanding urban sprawl and infill needed to accommodate endless population growth ceased? How would you feel if your suburb was safe from the developer’s bulldozers, and property speculators? If housing became more affordable for young home buyers? How would you feel if ‘development’ was focussed on better and more sustainable urban living rather than just cramming more in?
What if job creation was focussed on sustainable industries generating sustainable revenue streams? What if these revenues streams were then used to build better schools, better hospitals, better facilities for sport and the performing arts? Healthier, happier people, progressing steadily on many fronts, within ecological limits- this is the aim of an economy operating in a state of Dynamic Balance.
So, how are you feeling right now? Would you switch your voting habits to those offering Dynamic Balance and quality of life outcomes? Or will you stick with endless growth?
Surely many politicians must realise, that we are on a ‘growth to ruin’ path? Maybe they are afraid to come out of the closet? Maybe they don’t know where to turn without jeopardising their political careers? Maybe they feel trapped between a rock and a hard place, and are looking for a way out?
So listen up politicians and young aspirants, here is your way out of the growth trap. Dynamic Balance is your escape route. It’s as easy as just changing your attitude. Stop obsessing over economic growth, stop assuming everything will just fall into place behind it. Adopt environmental restoration and quality of life as your declared objectives. Embrace a broader range of ‘Genuine Progress Indicators’ and be willing to be judged by these. There is a very strong mood for change in the world today and it’s just waiting for the right leaders. Have the courage to be different, and the people will back you!
Of course, you would need to demonstrate that you actually are fundamentally something different. You would need to ‘come out’ and publicaly embrace Dynamic Balance. To preach these objectives but retain your faith in growth as the means to achieving them, would see you cast as yet another big talking politician with no substance, willing to say and do whatever it takes to get elected. You will fail to deliver on your promises and you’ll end up, like so many of your predecessors, a disgrace and a failure in the eyes of the community.
Call me the eternal optimist, but I retain faith that there are many out there who pursue political careers out of a genuine desire to do good for society, rather than as a means of self-aggrandisement. But as they know of no alternative, they attempt to work within the existing system. They just do their best to sustain the unsustainable, and are then shattered by their own failure- another good person sacrificed to the God of growth.
If you good people adopt Dynamic Balance, then your political careers will not hang exclusively on the impossible task of creating and managing ever bigger economies. You will be free to formulate policy directly for the benefit of the people. You will be judged by the outcomes you achieve on a much broader and more humane front.
Here is your opportunity to do what you really want to do. Here is your chance to make the world a better place, and in doing so to write your name into the history books as a visionary. Tough times present great opportunities for the right people.
So where are these people? Where are the people with the resilience and courage to break away from orthodox thinking? Where are those who will stand and fight? Where is our next great leader? Who will it be?
Will it be you?
Postscript
I have adopted the name ‘Dynamic Balance’ to embrace a new way forward. Although the term ‘Dynamic Balance’ may not be in wide circulation at present, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t already many eminent people working in this field. Sustainable economics, environmental restoration, ‘Genuine Progress Indicators’, social welfare and equity, etc. are all areas which receive little publicity but which are already brewing up the leaders of the future. Their work delves into far greater depth on this topic and is well worth reading. All I’ve done is draw on their efforts and attempt to put an umbrella over them. I have deliberately left much of the detail to those much wiser than I.
This book is intended to be a short introduction to the concept of Dynamic Balance and the need for change. There is much more to be said and done. Further material will be produced should there be sufficient public interest.
So now… it’s over to you.
Talk to people, discuss the issues raised here, word of mouth is very powerful. Never underestimate the difference YOU can make.
Recommend this book. Pass it around your friends. Donate and/or order extra copies to distribute*.
We hope to develop a website and a social media presence soon, follow us.
Seek out politicians, academics, economists, environmentalists, social workers… anyone who is on the Dynamic Balance message. Support them in any way you can.
Above all, both as an individual and as a collective, have the courage to fight for change.
These are exciting times.
“There is a powerful force at work today. It operates on a global scale and extends its evil tentacles right down into our everyday lives. The time has come for us to recognise it, reject it and replace it with a new way.”
Dynamic Balance.
Thank you for taking the time to read this book- Martin.
“For, in conclusion, this much is clear: If a community, or a section, or a race, or an age, is groaning under industrialization, and well aware that it is an evil dispensation, it must find the way to throw it off. To think that this cannot be done is pusillanimous. And if the whole community, section, race or age thinks it cannot be done, then it has simply lost its political genius and doomed itself to impotence”.
Louis D Rubin Jr- 1930.
Appendix
A Bedtime Story
“Come on mum and dad… stop sitting there reading that silly book. I’m tired, will someone pleeease come and read me a bedtime story?”
Once upon a time, in a suburb not very far from here, there lived a brother and sister named Michael and Sally.
They had a large and beautiful tree growing in their back yard. Every day it would drop a few twigs which Michael and Sally would collect.
They would sell their bundles of twigs to neighbours for firewood. It was their fun little business and it would give them enough money to go down to the shop to buy some sweets on the weekend.
One day, little Johnny moved in next door. He decided to help Michael and Sally grow their business.
Johnny’s idea was that if Michael and Sally worked a little harder, and collected just a few more twigs, he would help them sell the extra twigs to more people, further down the street.
They could make lots of money.
Michael and Sally weren’t so sure, as they were quite happy as they were, but little Johnny talked them into it.
Their business got bigger and bigger. They made more and more money. They bought more and more sweets, until… there weren’t enough twigs any more.
Then little Johnny had another idea. “Let’s get a saw and cut off a branch!” He proudly exclaimed.
So, each week Michael and Sally went up the ladder and sawed another branch off the tree.
Their business kept getting bigger, and they kept making more money.
Michael and Sally were willing to do the extra hard work as they could buy more sweets… they even started to get fat!
Of course, with fewer branches, there were fewer twigs, but that didn’t matter because there were always more branches to cut off.
Each week Michael and Sally worked harder and harder, climbing higher and higher up the tree to find the next branch, while little Johnny supervised.
But Michael and Sally weren’t having fun anymore.
They were working much harder, but making no extra money, because little Johnny needed most of the money to keep their business growing.
Then, one day, Michael and Sally climbed up their ladder only to realise that there were no branches left.
Nobody had imagined this could possibly happen. Their tree was so big and bountiful, it had seemed endless.
Their tree was dead. Their business was over. Michael and Sally became very, very sad.
What would they do now? …they thought they’d go and ask Johnny.
But Johnny had moved away. They were told that Johnny’s family had moved to a new house next to another brother and sister, who had a bigger tree.
Many, many months passed.
One afternoon, sick of television, bored and with nothing to do, Sally decided to take a walk in the garden to visit her old tree.
She sadly sat on the stump remembering those fun times after school when she and her brother had enjoyed collecting twigs in the shade of its branches.
Then, as she was looking down, she saw something.
She couldn’t believe her eyes, because there, sticking out of the side of the stump, was a small shoot with two leaves on it.
Sally was thrilled. She raced inside where Michael was watching TV and dragged him out into the back yard.
The pair stood and watched as a small butterfly landed on one of the leaves. Their tree was not dead after all!
So, every day, after school, they gave their tree some water and some fertiliser. Every day new shoots began to appear. Then some small branches.
Michael and Sally nursed their tree for one whole year, and steadily the tree grew stronger.
Then, something really amazing happened…
One afternoon, when Michael was busy putting some water around the roots, he looked at the ground and saw something. He looked again, just to be sure.
Then he called Sally over. He held her hand. They stood and looked at it together, and together they felt an unbelievable sense of happiness, pride and achievement.
Because there, lying on the ground …was a small twig.
The End
