George Monbiot has a philosophical column this week dealing with Ostrander Point, and Ontario's tendency to allow developers to do whatever they wish as long as they promise to recreate the environment they are destroying somewhere else.
I may be projecting ...
Putting a price on the rivers and rain diminishes us all | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian:
Like other aspects of neoliberalism, the commodification of nature forestalls democratic choice. No longer will we be able to argue that an ecosystem or a landscape should be protected because it affords us wonder and delight; we'll be told that its intrinsic value has already been calculated and, doubtless, that it turns out to be worth less than the other uses to which the land could be put. The market has spoken: end of debate.Read the Entire article at The Guardian
All those messy, subjective matters, the motivating forces of democracy, will be resolved in a column of figures. Governments won't need to regulate; the market will make the decisions that politicians have ducked. But trade is a fickle master, and unresponsive to anyone except those with the money. The costing and sale of nature represents another transfer of power to corporations and the very rich.
It diminishes us, it diminishes nature."
...and after you do - or while you do, consider listening to Clay Shirky's Ted talk
"the fine broke the culture of the daycare centre"
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