Parable of the broken window
I hear a lot of concern that changing the way we make and use energy means that the economy will collapse and making those changes will cost so much more than we can afford.
On the other side, I also struggle with what it would mean if everyone consumed less. Would 1/4 or more of the people in our society be without jobs? Do we need to keep buying products so that other have jobs so they can buy products, etc.?
To help me logically reason through this minefield, I turn to The Parable of the broken window.
And so I think we can’t continue to allow things that destroy the world we live in or that are not beneficial. We can begin to think like the Green Party – tax the things that are bad to encourage the things are are good.
For example, in the building beside us, every couple weeks or so, they take out materials from the building, drop them in a dumpster, and we hear glass break. I believe that they do this because it is cheap to get rid of stuff. But is it garbage? If it cost more to discard the materials, they would take the time to separate and reuse what they can. This would drive up their cost, but would also provide for a new industry and would be better for our environment.
We need to change our thinking that any change that costs more is detrimental. The reality is that it brings more opportunities with it.