When you have, like me, realised that the strength of the capital economy is directly proportional to the amount of environmental damage caused on behalf of civilization, then the news looks very different. Last night, three headlines appeared in rapid succession, all of which brought a smile to my face. If you think about it, then all three of them are good news for the future of the planet.
1) Steel Maker, Corus, are cutting steel production by 30% and shutting down a number of blast furnaces
Europe’s second-largest steel company Corus has announced plans for a 30% cut in production over the next six months due to weakening demand in Europe.
Three blast furnaces, at Port Talbot and Scunthorpe in Britain, and one in the Netherlands, will shut temporarily.
Corus, which is owned by India’s Tata Steel, blamed the global economic downturn for the cuts.
According to the World Steel Association, each tonne of steel produced, also produces 1.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide, not to mention the physical and chemical damage caused by coal and lime mining. The headline cut in production will therefore lead to a reduction in emissions of about 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s good news.
2) British Airways’ profits have dropped by 90%
Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, said yesterday that the last six months has been the bleakest in his 30 years in the airline industry as the UK flag carrier reported that interim pre-tax profits had plunged 92 per cent to £52m.
The group will cut routes and capacity to stave off what Mr Walsh thinks could be a difficult two years ahead.
Low profits lead to low investment, and also cuts in both routes and flight frequency. With BA still fighting for a third runway at London Heathrow, but no one able to fund it given their shrinking coffers; plus the guaranteed rise in oil prices over the next year; plus the inclusion of air transport emissions in the UK government emissions targets, the overall reductions in greenhouse gases could be significant, not just for BA, but for many other airlines in the same position. That’s good news.
3) General Motors losing billions of dollars, faces bankruptcy
General Motors, the largest car maker in the US, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, said it will be bankrupt within months unless it gets government money to tide it over during the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The company has called off merger talks with its smaller rival Chrysler in order to concentrate on more urgent internal cost-cutting and on lobbying for a rescue from the US government.
The news, not surprisingly, showed images of a range of SUVs and pickups, which GM until very recently trumped as the core of its business. People aren’t buying these monsters any more and GM aren’t making them any more because they can’t sell what they already have. Nor can they do a massive volte face and move wholly to small car production – it would cost too much, and the Japanese already have that market cornered. The daddy of the super-polluting vehicle is dying. That’s good news.
You see, life is not about material wealth. The “gloom and doom” economic headlines reflect the fears of the global corporate super powers, fears that are being forcibly projected upon the population as a whole so we end up supporting every effort to keep the insatiable, polluting economy growing. Most people need very little money to live on, providing they turn their back on the lies that they have been sold. What do you really need? Food, shelter, water, warmth, company, love.
Steel, flying, cars: how important are they really?