Capitalism and Sustainability Task
Sustainability as a buzzword represents ongoing biological production in all spheres of society but when referring to 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability and Hamilton Ontario' Sustainability gains a new reputation. 'Sustainability is a communal concept, However, in practice, the attempt to engage in sustainable lifestyles and make environmentally conscious decisions has largely fallen to the individual and through technology' (Balser, 2008, 1). Here Erin Balser is saying that the perception of sustainability implies that if it were to work and succeed it is a communal activity when in practice in our everyday lives this is not so and that has fallen down to individuals and technological development. It then becomes an unrealistic concpet to pursue as an individual financially and 'isolates and ostracizes various populations' (Balser, 2008, 1).
Continuing this concept in this text there is an introduction of a relationship between capitalism and sustainability and the dependance they have with one another. It had just been said that sustainabilty is infact a heavily financial involved concept where money is needed to put it into practice but then can also have money made out of it. Capitalism operates on profit. In this passage it is referred to as thriving on 'creating, then subsuming the other' and is consistently 'looking for new things to commodify' (Balser, 2008, 1). That is to say that it is a consistently growing thing that is continuously 'expanding and trapping things' across the most most diverse field of subjects possible. This ranges from objects to problems. By capitalising from problems or reinvented problems, it means that Capitalism is an ongoing source of potential profit and is a never ending cycle, 'instead of ending this cycle, it has only perpetuated it' (Balser, 2008, 1).
The Green Market is an area of Crisis' of Capitalism where a green associated problem that has been trapped is being capitalised off of. Fairtrade is an example of a capitalised sustainable source. The brand is known as producing products that offer a better livelihood for it's manufacturers. However, even in it's list of objectives on it's main webpage profit and retailing aspirations is firstly mentioned. This is a great example as it shows the importance of profit in it's existence even though it started out as a problem that wanted to be addressed. So does making profit from a problem help? There is an argument that awareness of the problem is significantly increased. But this doesn't necessarily mean that something will be done about it. You could also argue that as we live in a society where it is down to the individual to tackle sustainability is it wrong to produce a profit involved company where the problem is solving itself by bringing it into our lives as individuals concerned by sustainability, rather than ours into theirs. Or are we just thinking that we are helping and just following a capitalist regime of false self satisfaction in doing something for ourselves by buying a fair trade chocolate bar and was set up for profit not for the problem.
The concept of sustainability is not compatible with capitalism but has to be as it is a financially driven concept. We are at the stage now in society where to create a universally sustainable community it has to be something that is universally appreciated. As a whole we are not all deeply concerned in sustainability so by creating these profit driven companies out of these problems interest is introduced. This may change in time but I hope the facts and figures of the green market will correspond making communal objectives united.
Balser, E (2008) 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability & Hamilton Ontario
Marie Claire March 2011 issue
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