Saturday 26 March 2011

Task 5 - Sustainability and Capitalism

Sustainability is essentially defined as a response to an environmental crisis. Balser says that it is an
"inter and intra-generational equity on the social, environmental, economic, moral and political spheres of society."(Balser, E (2008) 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability & Hamilton Ontario')
Thus, it is a subject that crosses many boundaries as it can potentially impact upon all aspects of our lives. So then, it should be something that everybody takes an interest in as we have a duty to act in a responsible way to ensure that ourselves and future generations are able to meet our own and their needs respectively. Sustainability is also explained as, ideologically, 'a communal concept'. However, in the modern age it has become centred around the conscious decision of the individual  along with their ability to access the supposedly appropriate environmental technology.
Capitalism has moved to cover the recent ethical hysteria ever since sustainability became an environmental buzzword. The capitalist culture is a perpetually expanding, capital absorbing cycle that obsessively searches for new things to commodify for the masses.
"It's a diverse web that is continuously expanding and trapping things . These crises can vary in size, expression and materialisation."(Balser, E (2008) 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability & Hamilton Ontario')
Crises present themselves - regardless of scale or subject - as opportunities for capitalism to offer people temporary escape routes from the problems they are informed about. Every crisis is a chance for capitalism to reinvent itself and thrust upon the consumer a new product or service that will enable them to buy their way out of distress. A crisis of capitalism occurs with change, since when a production route is first invested in, it then develops through different stages and into financial expansion which requires further commodities to sell and thus, starts the cycle all over again. This is how capitalism continuously supplies itself.
One example of an attempted solution discussed within the text is one of the BIOX bio diesel production plant in Ontario, Canada. Another one is that of the Toyota Prius; one of the world's best-selling hybrid cars. Perhaps due to the Prius being one of the first of it's kind to enter the mainstream market, it has now earned a reputation through nostalgia as being one of the most environmentally friendly cars. When advertising a car, one of the consistently promoted features is the vehicles' fuel consumption rate - if it is attractive! But actually it's one one the last factors to be considered when measuring the environmental impact of the car.


"It's actually the production of the car that matters. The raw materials' sources, the manufacturing effort, and the shipping costs all have an impact on the environment. And apparently, those of the Toyota Prius are not having a positive impact."(http://hubpages.com/hub/Prius)
Components of the Prius that are mined, refined, manufactured and transported end up swelling the overall environmental costs of the car. However, a low gas consumption per mile gives an attractive headline whilst it is something more tangible for the audience to digest. The example of the Prius sits comfortably within the description of sustainability being driven by the individual and technology. Toyota are essentially offering a solution of peace of mind to the consumer that can be bought in the form of this particular vehicle and continues to feed the capitalism cycle. This sentiment is well defined by Victor Papanek - "most things are not designed for the people, but for the needs of the manufacturers to sell to the people" (1983, pg.46)
Theoretically, almost anything could be skewed in a manner to become compatible with capitalism, as that is the way it manages to commodify things, accumulate capital and ultimately supply itself.  In truth, commodities promoted under the sustainable concept  banner are fundamentally flawed since, as soon as new technologies or different crises emerge, a new product or service will float onto the market that is designed to attract the gaze of the consumer making decisions with too little information and too much emotion.

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