That's a good point, but let me offer this as a counterargument: Mammon demands that we offer up the planet and all living species at the sacrificial altar of capitalism and he shall not be denied
I think the per-person metric is a poor metric when talking about damaging consumption.
Yes, we can all lower our standards of living in developed countries and also transition to more communal transport and utility systems (you can do this right now, within your means and comfort), but a very large portion (a majority I think, in fact) of the human race have standards of living that arguably are so low that they should be raised.
This metric also completely misses the exponentially higher amount of devastation caused directly from mass production consumerist capitalism. Shifting to economic systems which make only what is reasonable while also not denying those in need would likely be the biggest move towards sustainability.
The per person metric is great! ~If you are a large corporation and need to shift blame that is.~
Yes, extraordinary personal consumption can make things way worse, but lowering your standards can only improve things so much until you hit the limit. imho the solution lies in using the resources we have more efficiently, so that people can sustain and improve their living conditions, while greatly reducing the ecological burden. If you demand that people shall lower their standards for the greater good, it will work about as good as telling them to wear a mask during a respiratory pandemic.
Isn't that exactly what is said? The growth of people x consumption is finite and there needs to be a system change to represent that. It does not specify how the factors are balanced in relation to each other.
You guys heard of this new one, the growing earth theory? Kinda like flat earth people, these ones believe that the earth is growing from inside and the land mass is expanding but the government, for some reason doesn't want us to know! Lol
Because most people just want to live, and not rule. Those that want to rule are not good people. And the authoritarian hierarchy we live under will always have the money, will, and means to hinder any progress made by the majority of the population that just wants to live.
I wonder if anywhere in the universe some civilization decided that it's against their interests to progress through industrial stage because of the environmental impact.
The "dao", which is the thing that you want to protect. For example your house, your family.
The work that you have to do to fulfill your protection. Like, necessary maintenance on the house, bringing food on the table, caring for your family.
Finally, it is the interaction with the environment. Because your house isn't the only object in the world, and sooner or later you have to talk to your neighbors.
I agree that the wikipedia article doesn't really discuss that, and I guess that there's different interpretations of the dharma, just like there's different interpretations of christianity. But that's how a friend explained it to me, and it makes total sense to me. :-)
Edit: So the connection is, that in the case of the meme, it is the earth that you want to protect. And to do this, you have to take the appropriate actions, like building your infrastructure around renewable energy, and stuff like this.
So what? is the maker of this meme saying we need to do a "great reset" and start doing eugenics and culling of human beings?
There's several billionaires that literally say that on the reg in the WEF. Those are the people who started saying "you will own nothing and be happy" and want us to eat bugs and have obedience chips in our brains.
No, this is really basic anti-capitalist stuff. It's not that deep. Just saying that capitalism relies on economic growth in perpetuity, which is impossible in a finite world.
Why does this discussion immediately turn to culling and eugenics? It’s like you can’t even admit there could be a problem. Fixing it will be hard, but few suggest those steps are the solution. Instead, it starts with realizing everyone can’t have the standard 2.5 kids. We cannot just keep going. Earth is finite and has finite resources. Adding people means less and less is available to everyone else. But people that want a ton of kids hate hearing that. So it becomes solution aversion (if you don’t like a solution, deny there is a problem) and strawmen, like claiming anyone that thinks there is overpopulation wants eugenics.