Q: Is there a conflict between Capitalism and the Environment Protection?
Ans: Capitalism aims at profits. Environmental Protection is not against Capitalism earning profits, as long as it in its efforts to maximise profits recklessly destroy environment.
Q: Capitalism satisfies wants. Don't you want that human wants are to be satisfied? Do you want people remain in a savageous state?
Ans: Wants are of three types. Necessities, Comforts and Luxuries. We have to chose satisfaction of necessities, if there is a conflict between environment protection and satisfaction of necessities. World Population needs to be controlled, if aggregate quantum of human necessities are going to destroy the environment to an irretrievable level. We can give some leeway for comforts. Where is the place for luxuries?
Q: You seem to have a negative approach, worse even than Buddha.
Ans: I am not against satisfying human wants. Humans cannot live happily with unsatisfied desires. I must say that Buddha was somewhat impractical when he formulated that desire was the cause of misery. We can add two adjective prefixes to this idea. Numerous insatiable irresponsible desires cause misery. Not the attempts to satisfy the basic needs of existence, security and self-esteem. What should worry us the most is: Capitalism is not just satisfying human wants. It is creating wants. It is stoking the fires of the wants created by it. During Buddha's days, there was not the menace of the Capitalism creating fresh desires.
Example: A person living in a village/small town/a developing country, may not be aware of the existence of a fancy air-conditioned car. The Capitalists not only create, but also advertise too heavily through the media, and tempt the gullible citizens to buy them. The citizens lured by the Capitalists crave to earn wads of currency. Their lives become miserable from that day. The Citizens ultimately satisfy the Capitalists' wants by buying all the cars. The Capitalists do not remain content. They create fresh wants and send them on prowling the Citizens. Thus the vicious circle goes on. Environment becomes the casualty in the sordid process.
Q: Do you think that there is a link between 'Capitalists creating the wants' and the World Recession of the 2008?
Ans: Certainly. When citizens do not have bundles of currency or drawing power in their credit cards, they can't buy. The Capitalists make a hue and cry that the fall in demand will lead to recession and unemployment. The temporary recovery being experienced by the American and Western Economies is attributable to the creation of 'fresh drawing powers' extended to the banks facing hardships and induction of fresh lending power and fresh purchasing power. But how long a Federal Reserve Bank / National Exchequer can undertake this recurring process?
Q: If National exchequers/Federal Reserves/Central Banks of countries do not support their banks and investment firms, there will be massive unemployment. Can we be callous to it?
Ans: The Governments can invest their resources for creating infrastructure to produce necessities which are sine qua non to human survival. This is different from stoking the Capitalist Fires. Kaama (Sanskrit word for desire and fancy) is to be replaced by avasya-avasara (imperative need).
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