Environmental Destruction and Greed

Here is something important to ponder on this Earth Day weekend. Most of the damage that mankind has done to the environment was driven by a single overriding motive: greed. 

Don't cut some trees for timber; cut ALL of them. Don't hunt some of the buffalo for meat and leather; kill ALL of them. Don't hunt some whales for oil for your cute little lamps; hunt them to near extinction. Don't bother with clean water systems; just dump the waste in the river. Don't try to find a way to extract coal without destroying the surface; just strip mine the whole area. Don't bother investing in R&D and infrastructure for alternative energy sources; just keep pumping carbon into the atmosphere. 

Greed is at the center of human motivation, perhaps not the motivation of particular individuals, but it drives enough of us (typically, those who put themselves in positions of power) to cause nearly insurmountable problems that all of us must face collectively. The conclusion is undeniable. These patterns of behavior occur happens over and over and over again. Capitalism is a dangerous enabler for the greed of mankind, because it justifies profit motive above all else. We need to adopt sensible, balanced policies for the stewardship of our miraculous, live-giving planet, or our planet will die, and all of us will die with it.

Copyright © 2017 Daniel R. South 

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