Focus on Life™

We seem to be very efficient, but unfortunately this does not mean that we are doing the right things. Saving the environment is the next new trend. Everyone wants to get involved and be part of the latest fashion. But below the hood not much have changed after all. The methods are the same and the results may be less than impressive.

For many of us it is not about saving the planet but reducing the guilt. We are bluffing ourselves and trying to be good citizens. However, this does not change the underlying facts and the ongoing destruction of the planet. Still, we are carrying on with our lifestyles and ways of working without changing anything radically. By our actions we are saying that we are concerned and I can do this and that but I don’t want to go any deeper. I’m not willing to do major sacrifices. This is my life—no matter how twisted or destructive its impact might be.

Buying carbon credits is easy. Following your carbon footprint and compensating it may sound like that you’re helping out in a big way. But what is it exactly that you’re trying to do? First you consume (destroy and pollute) and then you feel guilty or concerned about it and compensate by buying some credits that may either be someone ‘rights’ to pollute that have been sold to you or you are planting something back to nature that will take decades if not centuries to heal and compensate the loss you made. How can you be so sure that there is enough time left for future generations and your credits to ‘payback’ before the whole planet has been destroyed? You did not stop the destruction and pollution in the first place. What you said was that you’re continuing to do your mess now and you will fix it later somehow. And who has said that carbon credits or any other single concept is the right solution for the damages we are causing?

Regulators are keen to impose new taxes and restrictions on various items and processes. Energy is ‘bad’ in general and needs to be highly taxed. Some ‘alternative’ energy forms are preferred over others and there are sanctions and incentives for certain activities and actions. In an overall level we are forced to act in a unified and specific manner but in reality we may help out someone’s business interest more than save the planet—we just continue the destruction in another way that is more ‘socially’ accepted. How does it help the environment that governments impose taxes on energy? It certainly helps the government to get more revenues by appealing to our ‘responsibility’ to our living environment. At the same time the very same government is telling us that growing crops and other biomass for fuel are saving the planet and these forms need to be subsidised. What happened to the overall impact and energy input-output efficiency? We are just recycling the money and boosting business, not saving the environment. Guilty revealed and the new fashion trend harvested, mainly supported by coercion.

Money does not buy love. Neither can it buy nature. By looking around us it’s obvious that we have not learned this lesson. No matter how much money you have still you cannot undo the damage for rain forests, polluted water and land, corrupted crops and extinct species. We are good at destroying but very poor at creating. What has taken tremendous amount of time by nature to build we are destroying almost in seconds compared to the overall time perspective. We are irresponsible and ignorant of our support systems. What else can be said when we prefer short term at the cost of our children?

Guilt does not solve the issue, neither paying more. Something more profound is needed. We need to reconsider our priorities and values. We need to reassess our relationship with this planet, with nature. Now we consume. We use, utilise, and throw away. This is a one-way relationship that is not sustainable. We are living in a closed system called the planet Earth. We cannot pile up things forever and expect that our trash and pollution are well hidden and do not come back to us. Who do you think are already eating, drinking, and breathing hazardous waste? So far things have not gotten better. Our current solutions are not working. More regulation, more penalties, more subsidies, more forced ‘one right way policies’ are not the answer. The question is not what you do but why you do it. Everybody can do his or her own share. There is more than one way to live in this planet. Now it is time to explore and experiment other approaches that are based on a more balanced way of existence. What is it that you’re paying for?

Something totally exceptional occured today: strangers were talking to each other and helping each other out to get their cars moving in the snow circus. Hard times make people come together. The same happened in 9/11 and in many other occasions.

I wonder when the times are “bad” enough for all of us to put our act together. If you cannot see any reason here’re a few reminders of our totally perfect world:
- every day some 24.000 people are starving to death
- hundreds if not thousands are killed every day for various causes (terrorism, anti-terrorism, death penalties, murders, wars, politics…)
- huge number of world’s population is living in poverty, fear and constant struggle of everyday life
- the environment is exhausted at ever increasing pace without caring about the global consequences:

- rain forest are teared down by the rate that cannot be replaced by any plantations (it takes time to grow!)
- seas are overfished by all the possible coastal nations
- agriculture is using more and more chemicals to boost the production
- animals are fed with antibiotics and other chemicals to grow faster and become better food products
- manufacturers are moving their production to the third countries where the environmental restrictions are lighter or non-existing
- our consumption is dumped to wastelands which are getting bigger and bigger every year
- wild life is destroyed and killed for living, for fun, and mainly by pure ignorance

I feel so proud to be part of the human nature. We live so naturally!

I know - you have heard this over and over again. This is not the point. My main concern is why we are allowing all this to happen. Why are we closing our eyes and pretending that none of this is happening? Actually we are resisting and fighting against everything and everyone who is telling purely the objective observations. Those are called the activists and scientists with wrong results (i.e. almost like terrorists)… Indeed they are. They are the main threats for our current irresponsible life style and profit making machine (governments included). In economics these effects are called as negative externalities. Those are the things that fall between the interest groups but concern everyone: clean air, sea with fish, secured daily bred and butter for everyone, peace…

Next thing you are going to say is that I know all of this but I’m powerless, I cannot do anything. Well, miracles happen. And usually they happen when enough people have had enough of the current state of affairs. You simply start from the square one and change your own behaviour. One has to do the difference, and be an example. Others will follow - one by one. The only thing that we have to change is our own thinking. We just thinking differently (see the world differently), and act accordingly. This can happen fast. Look Atkins Diet it’s starting to change even industry dynamics.

At least I’m shamed of our behaviour. We are creating the future everyday and just look the legacy of our children. It does not look that rosy. Lots of waste and troubles ahead. In addition we’re spending more than we are earning - next generations will also pick up the bill for the increased social and healthcare expenses as well as the pension costs for baby boomers

I wonder when has it come to this point that the truth is the evil, and the betrayal and self denial have turned to the greatest truth. We are living longer and having more possessions than ever. Still we are not enjoying ourselves - totally the opposite. Maybe the happiness does not come with owning more? Here’s an example of a potential paradigm change: Let’s get rid of the concept of ownership.

Wait - I’m not out of my mind. I’m still in the business and want to make money (actually lots of it). But I want to make it the right way. The way that I can say hello to the guy looking back to me in the mirror every morning. Ownership is only the means, not the objective. But the concept creates a lot of bad effects. Look back in the history and see the white man owning the black men as slaves. How about owning animals …wife and kids…etc. De facto we don’t own anything, it’s just an illusion. We just take care of things (like the Patek Phillippe ad says). A bank manages the depositors money, they don’t own them (at least morally that is). If one does not like the management company and its policy you withhold the rights and shift your business elsewhere. We don’t own the nature. We just take care of it. This is exactly what goverments should be doing. They should be the project managers and licensors for issues that concern our common good and mutual benefit (externalities). They set the rules and overall responsibilites. It’s always good that there is someone who’s monitoring one’s behaviour. That’s why the company structure consist of shareholders, board of directors and operational management. Currently this is not happening. Our perception of the concept ‘owning’ is twisted. It’s an illusion that will not last. Gradually we are destroying ourselves, everyday. And still we are the ones who can make the difference. Who’s behind the goverments, the companies, and the consumers? It’s us, individuals, together - as a group, aggregated.

BTW, who would be so crazy to eat artificial and synthetical chemicals, even poisons, day in and day out causing health problems in the long run which in turn will be cured by more artificial drugs? Our eating habits of agricultural products and live animals are exotic, even strange by some standards…