One thought experiment was that of John Rawls and the original position. Imagine you know the basic facts of natural and human science, but you don't know who of the humans you are. What rules would you use to distribute goods and burdens? If we want to guarantee the result of this distribution is acceptable, we need unanimous agreement on the rules. While this is certainly a fair process, it might take too long to be practiced.
Secondly, the question was raised, who determines what you want? Is it marketing or other people? These days it seems many people have little time to think and make up our mind themselves, distracted by consumerism.
An emerging consensus from environmental pragmatism and sustainability revolves around 4 points:
- market economics alone are insufficient
- earth's productive capacity is limited
- environmental justice cannot be separated from social justice
- we have responsibilities for future generations
Again, there is many flexibility as to how this could or should turn into practical environmental policies.
Finally, there were some special recommended links:
- Ecological footprint - see what your footprint is by making a few clicks
- Interface - sustainable business
- Center for a new american dream
- Natural capitalism
- World population clock - open the page and come back to it after a while to see how many new people exist after you drink a coffee or read an article. Cities full of them!
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