Where theres a will theres a way. Isnt there!? Reflections on life to come.

But growth, like power itself, cannot be infinite. These are some of the thoughts of Serge Latouche; and there is nothing worse, as the economist continues to tell us, than a society of growth without growth! If we do not halt uncontrolled growth – the so much cried for ‘sustainable development’ we crave for will never come about. And then, and in consequence for any coming together of things, we will seriously have to think about transhumance and escape from this planet on which we live. We’ll have to adapt to living in the oceans I guess, or will it be a future living in badger-like existence in an underground world, and perhaps getting by on Red Bull and energy bars, and we may as well resort to passing our holidays there too, limiting any travelling we do to a dose of LSD.
Intoxicated by an ideology based on production, carried away on a wave of excessive energy consumption, almost obsessed with a need to rape the land and ‘build, build, build,’ we no longer have either the time nor the desire to look to the future, to a different type of future, a future in which exists a democracy protecting the rights of all and an ecological approach which looks to protect our ailing planet. And yet the threat is imminent for we are already in dire ecological straits and it is as if we are in a war where we need to find an enemy and what do we end up doing? Well we turn our wrath on the environment, trashing it into submission, and we tread down on those who are worse off than we, and we do all this so as to produce at as low a cost as possible. But then the Lords of the Earth have other things on their mind. Our own ‘Bel Paese’, Italy, has failed in anything remotely approaching urban development. The traditional public planning role has been substituted by some sort of negotiated pact that is more concerned in protecting private interests than promoting the public good. Those in high places have succumbed to the power of the pound and the all powerful economy has devoured any valid political consideration.
Powerful lobbies have stepped up the pressure and those selected to administer our interests have surrendered any concern for the environment, realising that votes and re-election are at stake. As often before, the plight of the planet will not be a priority and such disregard will go on for years to come. Only we as ‘hard-core environmentalists’ hear the alarm bells ringing loud from the very bowels of Earth. But beware, horror the thought of mentioning our concern, to criticise the exploitation of many areas, to ask for reason and caution in our tourism developed yet highly polluted villages.
No, we do not realize at all that if we go ahead at this pace we risk an ecological coup d’etat, resulting in an authoritarian and totalitarian ecocracy: the situation will degenerate drastically when we begin to suffer water shortage as the glaciers melt and the fossil energy resources run out. An then what will happen? Well, the richest of the rich will be taken to task by the poorest of the poor and xenophobic movements of a totalitarian nature will take over in a type of planetarian eco-nazism; and the draconian cuts to our daily consumption will give rise to the cruellest of conflicts.
Generations to come will decry us for having played around with essential cultural values, for not having respected forms of life, for having wasted rich resources. I cannot help but think in pessimistic terms but I want to react as an optimist, for each and every positive human action is fundamental to a social and moral improvement. As such there is worthy motive, following the celebrated formula of Gramsci, to temper the pessimism of the mind with the optimism of the heart.
A change is possible. A different development is desirable.
The development however must fix limits, adopt a sense of measure and respect for the human dimension. We cannot contemplate a revolution by turning our back totally on the capitalist model which has, it must be said, brought about wealth and well-being. This said, the development model must be adapted holistically to the various requirements of we human beings and the environment in which we live. Quality of life is made up of culture, protection of the environment, and the beauty of the landscape.
We need to adopt a softer more delicate approach. Instead of talking constantly, exclusively and exclusively only of rooms being fully booked or not, of being one step from hell, of honourification of all things Tyrolian, of quantity expansion, of economic spread, of the ‘great and wonderful’ in general (and add to that the ‘great and wonderful’ disasters’ we so enjoy), we could incorporate into our vocabulary, and indeed into our actions, words and notions such as ‘education’, ‘sensitivity’, ‘tradition’, ‘community roots’, ‘moderation’, ‘harmony’. Learning and not indulgence in light entertainment TV programmes should be the order of the day.
In conclusion the conclusion is simple. Let’s set out on this process and in the course of time the devlopment model we propose will be a natural consequence of our actions and accepted as such rather than some crude and mighty imposition on us all.