For years now, I’ve had this idea in the back of my head that I thought could be world-changing, or at least nation-changing: Restoration Nation.
I even made a one-page website about it, just to hold the idea, here.
The tagline is “An Economy That Restores.”
If we are ever going to move away from an economy based on consumption, we need something inspiring to replace it.
So why not restoration, broadly conceived?
The kind of restoration I’ve been doing as a volunteer (here), that returns too-much-loved public lands to something closer to their natural state (and here on an international level).
But also restoration of rivers, farmland, ranchland, brownfields, parking lots, crumbling factories, landfills, dying first-ring suburbs, run-down schools…the list is endless.
And so is the process of answering these questions: How do we base on economy on restoration? What would that transition require?
Right now, most restoration is funded by governments. Private-sector environmental restoration companies do exist, but I would bet most of their money comes from the government (in other words, from you and me).
Here’s what I want to discover: How do we move restoration into the private sector without “privatizing” it? That is, without turning it into an activity that enriches the few?
On Fridays, I’ll post about my efforts to answer the questions I asked today.
I’d appreciate any advice you have on where to find answers to these questions. I have never studied economics, so good websites about basic economic theory might be useful too.
At my daughter’s school the policy is a 100% no-waste lunch. Bring all food in reusable containers, thermos’ etc. Boy, does that cut down on trash. Absolutely amazing.
So things like these, starting at home. Re-use, re-use, re-use. What more privatized sector than our homes??
It’s a basic scientific principle that matter is neither created nor destroyed, merely changes form. The less we can change things from their natural state, the better.
So, I think “where” to find answers to these questions is in our own minds, rather than looking outside, because we all know what to do, we just need to do it. If we all buy hybrid or electric cars, gas ones will go out forever. If we buy only Green homes, the other kinds won’t be able to compete. We get what we demand and set in motion.
Thank you.
Jannie,
those are all good ideas, and they’ll take us a long way, but there are structural, or infrastructural, issues that stand in the way. For example, the way we’ve designed US lives around cars in the past 50 or so years. Or the fact that most products are designed to be thrown away rather than recycled.
Design for the Environment (DFE) is one way to deal with the latter. And I think it would be profitable for companies in the long run. It’s just difficult to get them to believe in the short run–and I don’t blame them.
Jannie, you are right about one thing, though: the “market” is composed of people and their actions. If enough people change their actions, the market will change.
Even volunteers have to make a living. Restoration relies solely on privatization. Without profit, land, landmarks, etc. are at the mercy of whoever wanders by. Even government controlled lands, like Yosemite, or Yellowstone, rely on the money collected on charging the public visitors. The public satisfactorily spends whatever time allotted exploring; and in return, the government employs park rangers, clean-up crews, and toll takers to collect fees. Privately run reserves and restoration projects run in exactly the same way, only better; because unlike the government, private ownership knows the gates close if they don’t produce what they’re supposed to. I’m sorry, Beth; but over time, without profit, there is no ambition. Without ambition, there is nothing. It is no sin for ambitious people, filling a need, to make a profit. God bless ‘em.
You are way smarter than I on the topic but I appreciate the opportunity to learn from your blog and from your other commenters. Thanks!
Should be a law you have to work within 1 mile of your home – would cut out most cars. But seriously, I appreciate what you have to discuss here.
Bernard, I have nothing against profit–since I’m trying to make some moolah from my blog–but I disagree with the idea that profit is the great driver.
Unless you’re defining profit as something that includes money but also other things.
I don’t “profit” from my work with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, though I definitely get something out of it, especially when I go back and see how a meadow has regenerated.
And the public lands relying on fees–that’s a relatively new development. Didn’t that start under Clinton? I’m a big fan of using taxpayer money to fund reserves and letting the visitors keeping government accountable.
I’m not sure I’ve really gotten the gist of your argument here. Mine is not completely fleshed out, which may be the problem.
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