Opinion: The 8th, and final, deadly sin: Exploiting the EarthMarketWatch
By Paul B. Farrell Published: Dec 3, 2014 1:34 p.m. ET
A raft of logs floats through the Lagos Lagoon. Nigeria lost just over 2 million hectares of forest annually between 2005-2010. Reuters“When I look at America,” said Pope Francis during a recent address at a university in Southern Italy, also looking at his “own homeland in South America, so many forests, all cut, have become land ... can no longer give life.”
“This is our sin, exploiting the Earth and not allowing her to her give us what she has within her. This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: to convert ourselves to a type of development that knows how to respect creation,” the pope told an audience of “students, struggling farmers and laid-off workers.”
Challenge? Much worse. The relentless “destruction of nature is a modern sin.” says Pope Francis. Destruction of the planet’s great rain forests is the new sin of today’s humans. Capitalism has already converted half the world’s original rain forests and natural habitats into urban developments. Another quarter will be rapidly converted by 2050.
But for Pope Francis, the real sin is consumerism. In a recent ThinkProgress summary of Pope Francis’s annual letter to the G-20 leaders meeting in Australia, Katie Valentine put it this way: “Pope Francis to World Leaders: Consumerism Represents a ‘Constant Assault’ on the Environment.”
The pope relied on several studies, including a Worldwatch report commented on in National Geographic by Gary Gardner: “Most of the environmental issues we see today can be linked to consumption,” warning us that for “humanity to thrive long into the future we’ll need to transform our cultures intentionally and proactively away from consumerism towards sustainability.” Failure to do so means that “unbridled consumerism will have serious consequences for the world economy.”
Pope Francis has called consumerism a “poison.” Earlier this year he warned that “Christians should safeguard Creation,” for if humanity destroys the planet, humans themselves will ultimately be destroyed:
He added” ‘Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few” capitalists. “Creation is a gift, a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, with great respect and gratitude.” For exploiting the Earth by destroying forests, especially Amazonian rain forests, is a sin.”
OK, so we’re all sinners, killing rain forests with our relentless consumerism, materialism, capitalism, our insatiable self-indulgent demands for the next big thing in a competitive world where “more is never enough.” Also obvious: No papal encyclical is going to stop America, nor slow us down, not even on a planet of limited, nonrenewable resources ruled by capitalists and their bizarre and unsustainable assumption of perpetual economic growth.
So forgetting for the moment that, even the Catholic capitalists among us are unlikely to be concerned about getting more than “10 Our Fathers and 10 Hail Marys” even if they also confess they know they’re also committing suicide (Francis recently called it a mortal sin) while also killing the planet with excessive consumerism.
More and more, we’re convinced the principles of consumerism driving today’s capitalists are here to stay. Yes, they are destroying our planet. But, like any addict or alcoholic, we need our fix, more is never enough. So we can never really stop.
Still, maybe, just maybe, some of you will eventually change before it’s too late. The 12 investment sectors are based on Jared Diamond’s classic, “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed:” Review them, then take another look at what’s not working in the long run.
1. Water is the new gold for 21st century investors
Buffett says buy what you know. So buy water. It’s essential for drinking, industry, agriculture, transportation. Consider bottled water companies, soft-drinks, purification, desalination. Business media call water the new gold. For most, water is more valuable than fuel, will trade like oil futures. Water generated over a half trillion revenue worldwide recently, while more than one billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
2. Food: Buy hot commodities, become a gentleman farmer
Huge opportunities: “If you want to become rich, become a farmer,” wrote Jim Rogers in “Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World’s Best Market.” The United Nations, IMF and World Bank all estimate a billion of the planet’s 7.3 billion people are surviving on two bucks a day. Monsanto and other agriculture giants have a huge stake in the future of farming, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and GMO seeds. Money manager Jeremy Grantham says the planet can’t feed the 10 billion projected in 2050. Capitalists focus on these commercial opportunities.
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