Shirts that Change the World.
The main tenet of capitalism is to profit as much as possible using the minimum amount of investment. If you start to produce aluminum desks, for example, you need to make sure that the aluminum materials—the ores—and the processing techniques, as well as the production of the desks, cost as little as possible.
This is all well and good until you start considering non-economic principles such as society and the environment.
Countries throughout the world have laws to keep capitalists in line regarding social and environmental issues. However, the benefits of conforming to socio-environmental laws are not easily or immediately seen. Meanwhile, the hallmark of good capitalistic investment is that the investment pays off quickly—within the fiscal year, if possible. “Get profits fast” is the buzzword, instead of investing in something (e.g. trees) that would only pay off indirectly or after ten years.
Which is why we have the current global financial crisis. Which is also why we have illegal logging in Indonesia.
For the former, the Lehman Brothers’ goal was clearly to make profits fast, without any foresight of what it would do to the very fabric of society in the next decade. We had societal rules against what they did, but they ripped up the rulebook, used a loophole, and buried the next generation deep in pure shit. I’ll talk about this in a next essay I’m planning to write.
Let’s focus on the latter for the moment, because it is, after all, the title of this note. In the gigantic tropical country of Indonesia, illegal logging still runs rampant—we have the laws against it, but we also have major violations. Timber is one of Indonesia’s major exports, yet a substantial percentage of timber is taken illegally from the forests—even the rainforests. Law enforcement officials are bribed and (allegedly) turn a blind eye.
I’m here to ask you a question: “How can we stop capitalism from killing trees?”
Put your answers in the comments below. Then go join the group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64555595451&ref=mf , and show that you care about being the environmental conscience of the world.
