Mega-Corporations And Sustainability

[Tim Smith]

This is a talk in the TED series by Jason Clay, the director for the ecocertification programs at the World Wildlife Fund.

This is a major movement in global conservation initiatives and it directly links the typical concerns in biodiversity and ecosystem services to the practical realities of profit and free enterprise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFVhRkElYM&playnext=1&list=PL0E1BB1F69065725D

[catman70]

This is a talk in the TED series by Jason Clay, the director for the ecocertification programs at the World Wildlife Fund.

This is a major movement in global conservation initiatives and it directly links the typical concerns in biodiversity and ecosystem services to the practical realities of profit and free enterprise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFVhRkElYM&playnext=1&list=PL0E1BB1F69065725D

I don't see what the difference is between his message of sustainability and what has been predicted in books like "The Population Bomb" for 40+ years – which couldn't have been more wrong. Whether you agree or not, please realize that he's suggesting a veritable monopolization of industry by major companies and, essentially, a one-world government. Large companies will help to create regulation on production of products. This leads to increased cost for production, which large companies can more easily distribute among their large consumer base. Of course, that won't be enough. We'll need a single government to regulate who gets resources and who doesn't. Forget the idea that the US consumes more than other countries because the US produces more than other countries. Forget that those other countries benefit from this production – often times at no cost to themselves.

The moral of his story is that if we all sat around and ate ants with sticks 12 hours a day than the earth could support 3X the current population – YAY! No, my friends, the answer is to promote freedom of thought and industry. Promote research in nuclear fusion and, as Stephen Hawking suggests, migration to and population of other planets. That is the only way we will survive as a species.

[Tim Smith]

I don't see what the difference is between his message of sustainability and what has been predicted in books like "The Population Bomb" for 40+ years – which couldn't have been more wrong.

Catman, I get the impression you're looking at this video like a hammer to whom everything is a nail.

Jason Clay and Paul Erlich don't have much in common aside from acknowledging the reality of an expanding population and limiting resources. Apparently you accept that idea too (unless you and Mr. Hawking are planning to colonize space just for the heck of it?) It doesn't appear you have any objections rooted in reality here.

Whether you agree or not, please realize that he's suggesting a veritable monopolization of industry by major companies and, essentially, a one-world government. Large companies will help to create regulation on production of products. This leads to increased cost for production, which large companies can more easily distribute among their large consumer base. Of course, that won't be enough.

Completely false and more than a little paranoid. Clay isn't promoting the expansion of large companies. He's working in the real world where large companies use most of our resources. Whatever overbearing influences those have (and we probably agree that they are too great) that influence needs to be sustainable. So for instance, Walmart may be crushing local businesses, but they still exist. If you go there to buy shrimp and you buy sustainable shrimp instead of badly polluting shrimp we're all better off.

We'll need a single government to regulate who gets resources and who doesn't.

Quite the opposite is true. Jason's main thesis is that the market can help sustainability by providing advantages to efficient, sustainable producers.

In fact, he's quite unpopular with socialism-oriented environmental groups who see the free market as environmentally unsalvageable.

The moral of his story is that if we all sat around and ate ants with sticks 12 hours a day than the earth could support 3X the current population – YAY! No, my friends, the answer is to promote freedom of thought and industry. Promote research in nuclear fusion and, as Stephen Hawking suggests, migration to and population of other planets. That is the only way we will survive as a species.

Yeah, you need to go back and try again. No one is promoting 3X the population or eating ants or the exclusion of research or freedom of thought.

Not everything's a nail.