Economics – Improving the Science
An improved science of economics is required that takes into account the true costs of our economic actions.
These true costs have been difficult to assess historically and therefore became easy to ignore. In fact many if not most economists would rather they were ignored. Why?
If these costs were borne by the producer of goods, those goods would become much more expensive, reflecting their real cost to our environment.
Currently, someone else always ends up paying for those costs, through public spending and through climate change and environmental destruction.
These costs are traditionally referred to by economists as externalities. We shall call them True Costs.
True Costs (Externalities)
Externalities is not an inspiring word. The word itself implies that these costs are not important, even irrelevant. Well they are extremely important. Ive got news for you; If they had been taken seriously 100 years ago we would not be in such trouble.
Climate Change is an Externality.
Here are some other examples of externalities:
Pollution, Noise, Ill Health,Rainforest Destruction, Biodiversity loss, Erosion.
How Would Economics Change?
A New Economics would change our world only if it were adopted universally. Countries not adopting the change would have some commercial advantages. If the EU and the USA adopted the improved system it could drive the world forward. There is no likelihood of the USA complying with Trump as president though. All the same lets look at the effects. Some key examples in the agriculture sector would be beef, dairy and Soya production. In industry an excellent example would be electric cars.
Soya used in our food 5%
Soya used in farm animal feed 75%
Aim to cut to Soya use in half
Biofuel, oils and other 5%
Soya is a staple food and a great source of protein
Feeding animals with soya to feed humans is incredibly inefficient. However we need to keep feeding chickens and pigs for now, just fewer of them and use much less soya.
- CO2 produced by shipping
- CO2 emitted by burning a hectare of rainforest
- Environmental cost of destruction of a hectare of rainforest
- Tax for destruction of former rainforest
How do we Implement Change? – if a New Economics is Required?
The Soy Moratorium
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/soybeans
We support the One Acre Fund www.oneacrefund.org
Click here to learn how to improve sustainability through economics
