How the Global Economic System is Gradually Destroying the World

Climate change is a challenge we are facing in the 21st century. With global temperatures increasing day by day, frequent floods, droughts, and famine, melting of snow caps and emission of carbon dioxide have impacted our lives negatively. The global economic system has contributed immensely to the degradation of our environment over the decades and measures to curb this menace are necessary.

Globalization of the economy after the Second World War saw many countries rise from poverty-ridden societies to affluent societies. This can be attributed to the capitalist system of economy which was widely embraced by many after the World War 2. However, this capitalist system came with its shortcomings ranging from inequality in the distribution of resources, exploitation of natural resources and discharge of waste to the environment posing a great threat to the world ecosystem.

According to Rees, there are economic problems caused by the capitalist system. These problems have common economic expectations. Exploitation of non-renewable resources like natural gas, coal, and oil has devastating effects on the environment hence posing threat to our ecosystem. Similarly, the final products of the manufacturing process and the waste finally end up being disposed to the environment which according to the second law of thermodynamics, remains in a state that is unavailable for reuse. This situation according to Rees states that mostly depending on non-renewable sources of energy and material, the economic activities continually consume and degrade the very resources that sustain them. Another claim is that that recycling does not help to conserve the resources since the waste discharged is usually in a form that has no meaningful use and usually, the recycling process has a negative impact on the remaining stocks of energy and raw materials. Rees argues that contrary to the assumptions of the neoclassical theory, there is no balance in the material relationship between the economies and the environment. This imbalance contributes much to the ecosystem challenges we are facing today. Discharge of waste products to the natural resources has interfered with the lives of many organisms. Increase in the amount of Carbon dioxide being emitted in the environment has increased the global entropy disorder resulting in constant flooding.

Ecosystem depends on fixed stocks of resources. However, these material resources are constantly being transformed by the recycling process which serves as the self-renewing property of our ecosystem making it a valuable resource in our modern economy. However, although it is potentially sustainable over any time scale, it is limited to the amount of amount of solar flux emitted hence might not respond indefinitely. The ever-expanding economic system hence poses great danger to our ecosystem since the later does not expand in the same rate as the industrial economies hence threatening to exceed the sustainable rates of biological production and survival. Advertisement is a tool that provides us with information about goods and services in the marketplace. It is a property of the capitalist economy. Advertisers use tricks to entice and manipulate sentiments of the prospective customers on a certain product or services being offered. Ads thus play a great role in promoting the consumptions of goods in today's capitalist world. Ads promote and improve the patterns of consumption, makes investments pay and to expand profit margins thus making it a crucial part of the capitalist society.

Ads have increased at high rate thanks to the advancement in technology. Social media forms a base where most ads are run to reach millions of people around the world. With this ease of passing information to any part of the world, Ads have revolutionized business and increased consumption rates of goods among people living in affluent societies causing earth threatening situation in the less affluent societies. According to Durning, increased consumption rates of goods results in increased exploitation of natural resources both renewable and nonrenewable ones. Durning asserts that increased consumption of natural could have a devastating impact on our environment which comes in the form of erosion of informal neighboring sharing networks that has and continue to accompany the rising mobility of our time. Durning says that the toll this has on our environment includes but not limited inequitable sharing of resources, the proliferation of convenience goods and services and national economic policies that favor consumption over conservation and recycling. Durning informs that these situations plus the sheer purchasing power caused by ads defines one of the most pressing challenges in our ecosystem since the consumption pattern created takes a lion's share of the output of the world mines, petroleum refineries among other.

Cobb, in his publication, ‘‘Toward a just and sustainable economic order'', believes that basic principles that govern the global economy today inherently lead to increasing injustices and unsustainability. He believes that national economic policies which are based on principles that concentrate wealth on the hands of few while the majority remains poor and destitute. The overexploitation of resources from poorer countries may be attributed to these policies. According to Cobb, the policies that govern national economic activities are the enemies of the global economic growth. Efforts to enhance globalization of the economy have been put in place since the World War 2 to ensure that every participant benefits from the economies. Globalization of the world economy has helped to increase the size of markets which helps in specialization in every level of the economy. This facilitates a free flow of goods and services in the national markets. However, this development has its share of challenges. The global market is faced with obstacles among them being restrictions placed on economic activity across borders, tariffs are imposed and control of exports among many others.

Globalization of the economy has also caused an unhealthy competition among firms. These firms mostly make decisions to make them stand out among the rest at the expense of environmental consideration. As a result, firms tend to produce more cheaply while disposing of waste in the least expensive way hence posing threat to the environment.

Proposed Solutions

According to Rees, social equality will be an important factor in planning for sustainable development. Some studies show that 26% of the population living in developed societies consumes about 80% of non-renewable resources. This leaves a whopping 74% of the population with a scarcity of resources. According to Rees, sustainable development requires that the rich reduce their consumption patterns so that the poor may as well have an equal share of the world resources. Reduced consumptions rate will also help to reduce overexploitation of the natural. Durning believes that several measures need to be taken into account in order to counter the challenges posed by rampant advertising networks. Durning asserts that advertising Achilles needs to heed to the willingness to push products dangerous for human consumption. Another approach to curbing high consumption rate of resources is to establish reforms to reduce assaults advertisers have on the younger population by putting in place strict regulations of the ads on social platforms. The efforts to promote green labeling should be embraced to ensure that manufacturing firms adhere to set standards of environmental conservation and also help steer consumers to environmentally preferable products. Durning also believes that that introducing courses of TV production to the public would help citizens to recognize tricks used in ads to manipulate their sentiments and hence avoid them. TV production course would also raise awareness of the environmentally preferable goods and help people to do away with those products that degrade the environment.

The alternative method to revolutionize the global economic system, according to Cobb, is to mobilize policymakers to draft policies that would make for justice and sustainability. Cobb asserts that various natural constituencies such economic movement, Labor constitute, communication and humanitarian constitute should be established.

Personal Critical Discussion

I strongly agree with Rees assertions that the expanding economic system usually has a negative toll on the environment. The ever-increasing amount of emission of poisonous gases to the biosphere contribute immensely to global warming which in turn results climate change manifested in the form frequent flooding, famine and rise in global temperature. Various measures aimed at controlling the use of natural resources should be put in place if we are to achieve our global sustainable development goals.

Durning conception of the negative impact on our environment can never be overemphasized. Darning's claims support the fact that ads have increased consumption patterns of goods globally and especially among the affluent societies due to the advancement of technology. The increased sheer purchasing power directly influences the rate at which the non-renewable resources are being consumed. Since these resources are nonrenewable, recycling of the waste products is not attainable and this may weaken the ecosystem which does not expand at the same rate as global economic growth. In a general perspective as illustrated by Cobb in his publication ‘toward a just and sustainable economic order’ Economic policies and principles that govern the global economy order inherently lead to injustices and unsustainability. Various parameters used in calculating the wealth of a country like the GDP are misinforming since the notion that GDP of a country reflects the economic development of each member in that society is not always true. I therefore strongly agree and support Cobb's idea that an alternative global economic system needs to be established to help curb the current inequality in the capitalist world.

Summary

It is clear that many growing expending system are unsustainable and this has not only caused the breaching of economic boundaries but also loss of nutrients and biodiversity. This is however leading to increased inequality where the firms are making profits while the environment is degraded therefore more resources and time is used to restore environmental sanity. However, there are some of the things that the world can consider as to save the environment from degradation. First, a country can embrace innovations that will be adopted by firms and these technologies can help restore environmental sanity and prevent exploitation of the environment through sustainable measures. Again, Christians and other religions can take a step to advocate for environmental conservation as it’s their duty to care for the environment. In addition, the government can decide on measures that will recommend every firm to take care of their waste and prevent disposal to the environment.