Part of the Green movement's underlying philosophy is that cultural and societal structures need to be constructed such that they are sustainable. One of the key components of sustainability is the ability for all parts of the whole to pass through a cycle of life and death. One is born, grows, reaches maximum productivity and usefulness and then eventually dies, decomposes and is returned back into the system for future use.
This is the way of nature. When something dies it is decomposed and with it's nutrients broken down and released back into the roots of the living it will be synthesized into something more useful, complex and beautiful.
Just imagine a world in which fungus, and bacteria didn't break down the dead and waste of the living...
There is one component of our society (of many) that not only does not die, it grows without bound: money. It is perhaps the greatest barrier to a sustainable and otherwise green economy.
A proper, sustainable view of money needs to be embraced in the Green Movement as it will provide the economic base for the movement's ultimate goals.
Money is not the paper that we hold in our wallets, nor is it the gold that backs it in the treasury. Money is the common faith medium of exchange. And as a medium of exchange it needs to flow around like blood in the body. It should be born when a product is created and sold to a customer and then put to death when the producer turns consumer and spends his wage. When money is spent it comes back to life. It is this cycle, the death and rebirth of money from consumer to producer, producer cum consumer to the next producer etc. that keeps a society flowing and functioning. It is the opposite, when money is stuck in the bank, or the sock drawer that a society becomes depressed and ill-functioning.
So what happens when the money fails to die? If money sits in the bank collecting interest it can only be growing and growing, like a virus or a cancer. Soon it becomes so large that the owner couldn't even spend it all in a lifetime if he tried. And like garbage in a landfill it serves no purpose... unable to die and return to life through the roots of the living consumers and producers. The living consumers and producers starve while the money is locked away in some remote reserve...full of life... but locked and hidden away.
There are several means to accomplish the death of money, the easiest one is to schedule it's devaluation in order to make it unattractive as a means of hoarding wealth. When we eliminate the immortality of money, then we eliminate it's future purchasing power, creating a level playing field for all. If the playing field were level I believe that the best, most efficient and productive technologies would be the most sought after and thus the world would necessarily become Greener and more sustainable.
If we want a sustainable world, one where our children don't have to face the imminent dangers of a toxic ecology, or food shortages or natural disaster then we have to try to make every part of our world sustainable, including the money system.
From gaurdian.co.uk.
