Page 14 - Retreading Business N104 2023-1
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Whilst we can all agree that big chan- ge needs to happen if we are to pro- tect the planet for future generations, we must be careful about who ends up paying the price for so-called ‘green initiatives’. The average person is told to consume less while paying more for basic necessities such as food and elec- tricity, as real wages and subsequently the standard of living declines. - ten disproportionately affect the poo- rest and most disenfranchised sections of society, and target developing coun- tries that have arguably already been destabilised as a result of Western greed. It’s very easy to tell people to ‘make do with less’ when you’ve got no idea what it’s like to go without in the first place. Would billionaire philanthropists be so quick to preach about energy con- sumption and climate change if they didn’t know how they were going to feed their children and heat their ho- mes in the months ahead? Reducing the standard of living in or- der to ‘save the planet’ may seem like a small price to pay for the affluent living in Europe and America, but it becomes a question of basic survival for the poo- rest sections of society. My question is, why is the onus always put on everyday working people, ra- ther than those who are in a position to instigate real change? And why should developing countries, with already fra- gile economies, pay for the environ- mental problems created, in large part, by the Western obsession with over- consumption? And so the green policies currently favoured by Western governments P.14
