People are filled with avarice, and in a system that hides
the truth, in a society (for a host of reasons) that doesn't care about the
effects of their lifestyle on others, mere knowledge is insufficient to
regulate the market. In a culture that is highly complex and frankly beyond the
comprehension of most people, even imagining a media which reveals the truth
and contextualizes it, (a fantasy to be sure)... reporting and consumer
knowledge are not enough.
Do I relish regulation and restriction? Of course not, but I
also dread the depraved and covetous nature of fallen man and how he will
disregard others in the pursuit of wealth and power.
Forget the 'green' aspect of this. This is affecting people.
Many try to divorce environmental questions from society and try to contrast economic
and social stability with environmental viability.
Granted this example is extreme, but it touches at the heart
of the struggle. While your industry may employ people, it still does harm, and
the harm is often multi-generational and in the end the destruction exceeds the
temporary benefit. People may be employed for a generation, but the harm lives
on for multiple generations and in the end (ironically) costs more. But the
company and the greed that made the mess, they're all too often exempt and the
costs fall on society. That's wealth redistribution on another level. That's
profits at the expense of society, a form of welfare on the macro-scale.
This is not true in every case but it must be weighed.
Looking at these pictures should be a reminder that the extreme positions in
any of the economic or political camps cannot properly deal with the multiple
variables at work in modern techno-industrial society.
