Ahmed wrote:It is the peculiarity of civilizations to establish inequality between its members, from which this compulsive consumption arises in the most efficient of them. Nothing to do with any human "essence", as shown by many societies (which have made up most of human history) which under-exploit (rather under-exploit) their environment far below their capacity to action.
Closer to us, the claim of the workers of the first English industrial revolution who demanded the right to limit working time to only what was necessary for them ... and many other examples that timely negligence allows itself to be forget...
Ah! the romantic charm of the good savage, gentle, peaceful, respectful of the environment ... the charm has struck again.
It is the characteristic of civilizations to establish inequality between its members
Inequality is not a consequence of civilization. It already existed when "civilization" was limited to a group of good savages hunter-gatherers: the chief was the strongest.
This is also true in a pack of wolves, in a group of chimpanzees.
where does this compulsive consumption come from
What is the link between inequality and compulsive consumption? And between inequality and the desire to consume?
"The companies that under-exploit ..."
The romantic charm of primitive peoples. They would have done most of human history? No, they are ancient, but they are on the margins of history, they did not participate in it and do not participate in it.
In reality, the supposed wisdom of the men of old was nothing other than their small number and their mediocre technical means.
They had no idea of sparing wildlife, nor even the idea of sparing competing tribes.
The cod fishermen of a century ago did not exhaust the ocean's reserves; it was not the effect of early ecological awareness ... but the mere measure of their helplessness. They had no sonar, no trawl, no engines. They were going on sailboats, they were angling in their tiny dories… they just couldn't fish any more.
On the other hand, when their technique allowed our fathers to go all the way, they did so without restraint. They always considered that they were the best and the most beautiful, that even nature should submit to their law.
They started very strong, exterminating the mammoths;
… And the Neanderthals in addition.
Then the Romans wiped out entire populations of wild animals from Africa and the East, because they needed bread and the circus (500 lions exterminated at the inauguration of the Pompey Theater in Rome).
Then, with Buffalo Bill, they exterminated the bison;
… And the Indians on top of that.
The ancients also almost exterminated sea otters, seals, baby seals, elephant seals, elephant seals, and fur animals. [*]… And other peoples and tribes too. We know what happened after the discovery of the New World, the annihilation of peoples and cultures; we are less aware that war was always "the state of nature", even where we would not expect it:
“[The Tahitians] are almost always at war with the inhabitants of the neighboring islands. […] The war is waged among them in a cruel manner. Following what Aotourou has taught us, they kill men and male children caught in the fighting 1; they lift the skin of their chin with the beard, which they wear like a victory trophy; they only keep the women and girls, whom the victors do not disdain to admit to their beds. (Bougainville, one of the first to visit the newly discovered Polynesia, about the Tahitians)
(We will appreciate the delicate and refined style of the XNUMXth century: "that the victors do not disdain to admit in their bed" ... That in gallant terms these things are said ...)
[*] "Aristocrats, members of the high clergy, princes, kings or wealthy merchants buy squirrels [the vair], ermine, fox, white weasel, otter, beaver, and bring sables from the colder forests of central Europe. You need up to 2 squirrel skins or 250 sable skins for a houppelande. When the princes or the kings dress their "house" [their familiars], they can buy, like the king of France, over six months in 500 ... a million fine skins. »(The Middle Ages - Madeleine Michaud - Eyrolles)
workers in the first English industrial revolution who demanded the right to limit working time to only what was necessary
I am not aware. But I am surprised to learn that these workers were earning more than they needed. I was left with Germinal (even if it is not about England).
Nature and people