Contribuição de Hugo Penteado
Biocombustíveis, energia nuclear, extração de petróleo nas reservas de vida selvagem do Alaska, na Amazônia e agora no Ártico: no modelo atual o problema nunca é nem será o excesso de demanda, o desperdício e a ineficiência e sim falta de produção, construção, investimentos… – com isso estamos contratando a nossa extinção.
Essa é uma carta em inglês que escrevi para o editor chefe da Bloomberg em Nova Iorque. Abaixo vai a tradução.
Dear Mr. Cox, There is no line in your article mentioning the biggest challenge that humankind is facing with the fossil fuel being continously burned in our tiny atmosphere. It is really possible that some people can disbelieve global warming, but that is undeniable: fossil fuels and other materials were cumulated in the crust during billions of years and that was the reason why life was possible in this planet. When we extract materials from the crust, like oil, we are introducing materials that can not be naturally recycled and it is a definite pollution and threat.
Those that do not believe in global warming, will find hard to deny the bad air we breathe in the biggest cities of the world. These anti-natural processes are spreaded not only in energy area, but in all economic sectors, because we forgot that we are an animal species and totally nature dependent. We also forgot that the countries territories are finite and that ecological services, that are irreproducible, are more finite than the tangible space. Oil is a problem. Growing demand is a problem. Economic growth that is not delivering social benefits mainly in the advanced nations is also a problem. Economic theory is false and the scientists know this very well since 1920. Economists assumed that the economic system is neutral to Nature and that Nature (or the planet with all natural services) are inexhaustible and infinite for growing and bigger productions and populations. This is our sin.
The only way US became so rich without causing a planet collapse, was because it did alone. When all the countries are trying to catch up, we are going to face collapses or wars. And, the only way US and other rich nations were able to keep their progress was importing natural resources and services through the global commerce. After reaching their local environmental collapses, the advanced nations started to export them to the poor countries, creating for the first time ever the risk of global collapse for the entire world. Without a change in our mindset and theories, we are lost. Anyway, I am very tired of seeing articles about new oil discoveries without even a word about what this means for humankind, that is, the risk of our own extinction.
It is the same to say that we are not happy in putting all forms of life in the biggest extinction process of the last 65 millions of years. We need to extend this extinction to us! Just a counterview for you to think, forgive me the intromission. I have reasons to be worried, during the last 13 years of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luis Inacio Lula da Silva mandates, using official data, Amazon forest destrucion increased 3.000% and during this short period we got 34% of cumulated destruction since 1500. We are just copyying US (that destroyed 99% of its natural forests) and Europe (that destroyed 99.7% of its natural forests). We are just copying the same wrong economic model based in false economic theories, that is the reason why US is in a mess with the housing sector: economists do not look to inventories, only to flows. Why the hell they should think about inventories if the environment is assumed inexhaustible? In 1900 US had 1.000.000 houses, in 2000 190.000.000 houses, the territory is the same, because is finite. One day someone will receive a nobel prize just to remember that country territories are finite…
Best wishes,
Hugo from Brazil
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