Chapter 3: The Relationship between the Environment and the Economy
3.2. Role of environmental ethics
Although scientific environmental forecasting is the foundation of a sustainable planned economy, there is, in fact, a fundamental driving factor that cannot be governed by pure science alone in the great transformation of the market economy, which seems to be more and more firmly entrenched on a global scale, into a planned economy. That is environmental ethics.
There is no set theory as to what exactly should be included in an environmental ethic, but what is almost universally accepted is the principle of "intergenerational ethics," in which the present generation assumes responsibility to future generations with respect to the conservation of the global environment. This principle is also generally accepted in environmental conservation theories based on the market economy.
However, as long as the market economy is assumed, such ethical principles must also end up in generalities. This is because a market economy is supremely concerned with "how much profit can be made in the here and now. This is symbolized by the instantaneous transactions in the securities and exchange markets, but the essence is the same in commercial transactions in the general industrial world.
It is the market economy that is thoroughly concerned with the present time axis, and this is the "logic" of capitalism, the ideological framework of the market economy. Unless such "logic" is abandoned, intergenerational ethics will end up as a subject. In fact, the source of skepticism, which is the antithesis of climate change theory, can be seen as a repugnance and repudiation of this environmental ethic, more than a scientific objection.
On the contrary, in a sustainable planned economy, intergenerational ethics will be established as the ethical foundation, along with environmental prediction as the scientific foundation. In order to truly put intergenerational ethics into practice, rather than just talking about it as a topic, we need a major shift to a planned economy on a global scale.
That said, if everything has an end, the day will come when the planet Earth itself will come to an end. If that is the case, then it is even possible to have an ephemeral idea of making the best use of the global environment as much as possible right now, which we might call the "environmental feast theory."
Capitalism, which prioritizes the time axis of the present, has a strong affinity with this environmental feast theory. In particular, measures to deny the finite nature of natural resource extraction, or to consciously estimate the limit point over a long period of time in order to hasten the development of high-value natural resources, are representative examples of environmental feast theory.
However, as long as intergenerational ethics is emphasized, it follows that even if the death of the global environment or the earth itself from natural causes is inevitable, we should at least ensure that the earth does not die from anthropogenic causes. A sustainable planned economy is the most fundamental global environmental protection measure for this purpose.
👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.
