Home » Opinion » Book review
Plundering the planet produces painful problems
By Wang Yong |
August 6, 2011, Saturday
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WHILE stuck at home earlier this week with a sprained knee I was spared the ills of modern offices.
My wife and I rent a dilapidated, ground-level apartment of about 50 square meters in downtown Shanghai, too small even for us to display our book collection. We have only one table - a shaky one - at which we eat, read and write.
In terms of space, it's certainly much more crowded than our glassy office, but in terms of comfortableness, it beats the latter in no small measure. There's no secret: At home, I open the windows to let in balmy breezes; at the office, I succumb to a collective craving for air conditioning.
On Tuesday, my wife asked for a day's leave to buy a pair of crutches for me. As we sat in the quiet of the summer afternoon listening to the tune of cicadas and basking in a balmy breeze, she said she felt as if her childhood had flashed back, when opening windows would often push away summer heat.
My mind did not dwell upon personal comfortableness, though. I thought of modern life at large - and all sorts of ills associated with its core idea of convenience.
It was not just about health hazards - runny noses or sore bones caused by constant air-conditioning - it was about energy waste, or, in author Paul Collier's words, the plundered planet.
In his 2010 book, "The Plundered Planet: Why We Must - and How We Can - Manage Nature for Global Prosperity," professor of economics Paul Collier from Oxford University laments: "Politically, foregoing consumption in favor of the future is not easy."
The public has long been conditioned to favor consumption and convenience with "must-have" items such as air conditioners and private cars. Now that this massive conversion to consumption and convenience has morphed into an economic engine and a political "ism" the world over, we can see the dilemma of "prosperity and plunder" as professor Collier keenly points out.
Prosperity v. plunder
You plunder, you prosper.
Collier mainly writes about the use and misuse of nature at the state level - some countries are wise enough not to deplete natural resources while others squander them for immediate consumption. For example, he says, the Dominican Republic possesses rich forests, yet on the other side of the same island, Haiti features mile after mile of denuded hills because former generations plundered the trees.
Looking out of my office window at the 38th floor, I see a concrete forest of high-rises above downtown Shanghai. We have done our fair share in plundering the trees of the planet.
Collier has good reason to discuss the plundered planet at the state level as individuals mostly follow the tide.
Indeed, can we blame ordinary Chinese for flaunting their fine plumage as our state tells them it's glorious to be rich?
Now that consumption of things - from cars to air conditioners to electricity - has become a state economic policy, can we blame the masses for driving a car into traffic jams or freezing summer into winter?
Our office has a floor space of about 1,000 square meters, but most windows shut out the balmy breezes (no typhoon yet) and many of my colleagues wear a sweater or jacket to fend off the man-made cold.
A few steps from our office stands some other glassy monsters on Nanjing Road West. They are worse: they have no windows that open, only glassy walls.
A top central government official predicted at the end of July that China would likely suffer a power shortage in the summer, mainly in late July and middle August. Nationwide, air conditioners were expected to consume a quarter of the total power supply, but in Beijing and Shanghai, these machines were forecast to use about 40 percent of their respective power supplies.
I am not unconditionally against air conditioners, but when constant use of them threatens the health of you and the planet, why can't you turn them off for a while, say half an hour?
You're not to blame.
"Harnessing natural assets for sustained development depends upon a chain of decisions, and the outcome is only as good as the weakest link in that chain," concludes Collier.
Individuals indulged in materialistic pleasures are certainly a menace to planetary health, but the weakest link is a state-sponsored chase for consumerism, be it in a corrupt country or not. It's here that I would respectfully disagree with professor Collier, who says corrupt governments plunder the planet more.
Corrupt or not, we're all in the same boat of consumerism. We all want a car so we don't have to walk; we all want an air conditioner so we don't have to sweat; and we all want an elevator so we don't have to climb the stairs. Our minds have been conditioned as such.
Just before I finished this article, a colleague entered my small office and was surprised to find it comfortably cool with an open window - I had turned off the air conditioning for my office to save power.
My wife and I rent a dilapidated, ground-level apartment of about 50 square meters in downtown Shanghai, too small even for us to display our book collection. We have only one table - a shaky one - at which we eat, read and write.
In terms of space, it's certainly much more crowded than our glassy office, but in terms of comfortableness, it beats the latter in no small measure. There's no secret: At home, I open the windows to let in balmy breezes; at the office, I succumb to a collective craving for air conditioning.
On Tuesday, my wife asked for a day's leave to buy a pair of crutches for me. As we sat in the quiet of the summer afternoon listening to the tune of cicadas and basking in a balmy breeze, she said she felt as if her childhood had flashed back, when opening windows would often push away summer heat.
My mind did not dwell upon personal comfortableness, though. I thought of modern life at large - and all sorts of ills associated with its core idea of convenience.
It was not just about health hazards - runny noses or sore bones caused by constant air-conditioning - it was about energy waste, or, in author Paul Collier's words, the plundered planet.
In his 2010 book, "The Plundered Planet: Why We Must - and How We Can - Manage Nature for Global Prosperity," professor of economics Paul Collier from Oxford University laments: "Politically, foregoing consumption in favor of the future is not easy."
The public has long been conditioned to favor consumption and convenience with "must-have" items such as air conditioners and private cars. Now that this massive conversion to consumption and convenience has morphed into an economic engine and a political "ism" the world over, we can see the dilemma of "prosperity and plunder" as professor Collier keenly points out.
Prosperity v. plunder
You plunder, you prosper.
Collier mainly writes about the use and misuse of nature at the state level - some countries are wise enough not to deplete natural resources while others squander them for immediate consumption. For example, he says, the Dominican Republic possesses rich forests, yet on the other side of the same island, Haiti features mile after mile of denuded hills because former generations plundered the trees.
Looking out of my office window at the 38th floor, I see a concrete forest of high-rises above downtown Shanghai. We have done our fair share in plundering the trees of the planet.
Collier has good reason to discuss the plundered planet at the state level as individuals mostly follow the tide.
Indeed, can we blame ordinary Chinese for flaunting their fine plumage as our state tells them it's glorious to be rich?
Now that consumption of things - from cars to air conditioners to electricity - has become a state economic policy, can we blame the masses for driving a car into traffic jams or freezing summer into winter?
Our office has a floor space of about 1,000 square meters, but most windows shut out the balmy breezes (no typhoon yet) and many of my colleagues wear a sweater or jacket to fend off the man-made cold.
A few steps from our office stands some other glassy monsters on Nanjing Road West. They are worse: they have no windows that open, only glassy walls.
A top central government official predicted at the end of July that China would likely suffer a power shortage in the summer, mainly in late July and middle August. Nationwide, air conditioners were expected to consume a quarter of the total power supply, but in Beijing and Shanghai, these machines were forecast to use about 40 percent of their respective power supplies.
I am not unconditionally against air conditioners, but when constant use of them threatens the health of you and the planet, why can't you turn them off for a while, say half an hour?
You're not to blame.
"Harnessing natural assets for sustained development depends upon a chain of decisions, and the outcome is only as good as the weakest link in that chain," concludes Collier.
Individuals indulged in materialistic pleasures are certainly a menace to planetary health, but the weakest link is a state-sponsored chase for consumerism, be it in a corrupt country or not. It's here that I would respectfully disagree with professor Collier, who says corrupt governments plunder the planet more.
Corrupt or not, we're all in the same boat of consumerism. We all want a car so we don't have to walk; we all want an air conditioner so we don't have to sweat; and we all want an elevator so we don't have to climb the stairs. Our minds have been conditioned as such.
Just before I finished this article, a colleague entered my small office and was surprised to find it comfortably cool with an open window - I had turned off the air conditioning for my office to save power.
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