Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid
PAGBABAGO
This truth we already know – that economic growth is bound to end with or without the coronavirus.
It is said that the current global population would require the equivalent of five Earth-like planets to support the present global population. Which means that the carrying capacity of our planet had been severely compromised.
These are signs of the negative feedback or “yellow flags.”
Explosion of human consumption.
Gross human ecological dysfunction.
We are using nature’s goods and life support. The exponential growth of our economy entailed extracting natural resources and dumping polluting waste will eventually reach its limits too many people consuming too much stuff the coronavirus thrived because 3 billion people still lack basic hand-washing facilities and more than 4 billion lack adequate sanitation services
It is a fact that when any species of population balloons, it is always deflated by one of several forms of negative feedback – disease, inadequate habitat, pollution, food shortage, resource scarcity, conflict over what is left.
When COVID-19 came, our economic growth model shifted to public safety.
But how can we sustain the shift and still be able to feed 108 million people?
This is the challenge in the post-COVID-19 society where a need to balance economic growth with public safety, and to put a stop on the explosion in population growth, consumption, and destruction of our ecological system.
We will need experts on post-growth scenarios to prioritize these challenges, arrive at a design for the short-term and the long-term. As well as advocacy that will involve the public in determining the goals and values of our post-growth society.
For a start, here are some considerations that may be taken in the design of such a future.
One is a shift or move from a market state to the concept of “commons” or where the goal is not competition or interest in profit but in ensuring that people survive through cooperative means or are able to help each other.
The cooperative as an economic structure and similar enterprises could address these needs.
This will require a strong and competent state that is capable of taking action for the common good through collaboration and sharing.
Some models of governance include innovation such as enacting a Universal Basic Income or a government plan of providing all citizens with a given sum of money regardless of their income or employment status as the purpose is to prevent or reduce poverty and inequality.
The gradual shift to Gross National Happiness (GNH) as measure of wellbeing from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the promotion of a sharing economy and “green” governance which are gaining acceptance, should address climate change concerns as well as social and income inequality.
Most post-growth economists recommend the need to address the patriarchal ideology of dominance and the promotion of gender equality.
It will be recalled that women presidents and prime ministers in countries like Germany, Taiwan, Finland, New Zealand, and Iceland were comparatively more successful in addressing the challenges of the pandemic.
It will not be easy to make the shift given the existing structure of oligarchic ownership, political dynasties, and still, the tendency to put trust in the market economy despite its failure to address inequities.
What gives us hope is that the pandemic has shown the many flaws and weaknesses of the old economic system and thus, forces us to think of alternatives. As well as the possibility that millennials and the youth could take up this challenge as they take an active role in preparing for 2022.
My email, [email protected]