The Tyranny of Growth – How Raising Our Standard of Living Destroys Our Quality of Life

In 1972 the world respected Club of Rome issued it’s report, Limits to Growth which concluded:

Conclusions

After reviewing their computer simulations, the research team came to the following conclusions:[2]: 23–24 

1. If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached sometime within the next one hundred years.[c] The most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity.

2. It is possible to alter these growth trends and to establish a condition of ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future. The state of global equilibrium could be designed so that the basic material needs of each person on earth are satisfied and each person has an equal opportunity to realize his individual human potential.

3. If the world's people decide to strive for this second outcome rather than the first, the sooner they begin working to attain it, the greater will be their chances of success.

— Limits to Growth, Introduction

The introduction goes on to say:

These conclusions are so far-reaching and raise so many questions for further study that we are quite frankly overwhelmed by the enormity of the job that must be done. We hope that this book will serve to interest other people, in many fields of study and in many countries of the world, to raise the space and time horizons of their concerns, and to join us in understanding and preparing for a period of great transition – the transition from growth to global equilibrium.

We can contrast this with the general societal term for economic disaster, referred to as a recession, although in reality it is more a matter of economic decline rather than disaster, but mention the word and wait for the ensuing panic.

The Canadian Encyclopedia defines recession as:

A recession is a temporary period of time when the overall economy declines; it is an expected part of the business cycle. This period usually includes declines in industrial and agricultural production, trade, incomes, stock markets, consumer spending, and levels of employment. In purely technical terms, a recession occurs when two or more successive quarters (six months) show a drop in real gross domestic product (GDP), i.e., the measure of total economic output in the economy after accounting for inflation. In this sense, recessions are broad and can be particularly painful and challenging times for a country.

It is ironic that we have a problem, unrestrained growth that we know is not just bad for the planet environmentally but also a threat to our economic system and yet we consider the solution, degrowth as the worst thing that can happen to the economy.

The middle class of western industrialized countries have been taken in by the myth of raising one’s standard of living being the be all and end all. The point of an increased standard of living is to increase one’s quality of life which is about more than just producing and consuming more stuff at the expense of the habitat we have to live in. Indeed this myth is used to promote an anti-taxation theology that leads to the under-funding of the very things that increase a society’s quality of life, health care, education, social safety nets and environmental protection among others.

Yes a certain level of income is necessary for a good quality of life and this can be provided by raising minimum wages to a living wage and providing a guaranteed annual income (universal basic income) for everyone.

The problem is that we measuring the wrong things when we want to measure how successful our economies are. A strong economy must be a reflection of a strong society. If we want to measure the success of our society it is not by measuring how rich the wealthiest people are or even so-called per-capita GDP numbers that are distorted by excessive wealth and income levels of a minority of privileged people. If we want to improve the quality of life of a society we must improve everyone’s economic status and build a society that provides everyone with more than just more stuff.

We need to start by measuring poverty and inequality and setting our economic goals at reducing those rather than increasing abstract measures of stuff acquired.

The Ten Commandments vs The Five Commandments

 

So the all powerful god of the Bible issued 10 Commandments, The first four are devoted to telling you to worship him and the fifth to worship your parents. The last five are the Shalt Nots, fine as far as they go but should we not expect something more positive from a so-called loving god.

So I propose instead:

The Five Commandments

1. Love thy neighbour and strangers alike, without discrimination.

2. Accept and respect other people for who they know themselves to be.

3. Devote yourself to building a better community and society.

4. Using critical thinking skills and the scientific method base your decision-making on facts and reason.

5. Do no harm to others (except in exceptional circumstances and only if absolutely necessary to prevent greater harm).

 

What’s With Jagmeet Singh

New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh is receiving a great deal of criticism for saying the NDP will vote non-confidence in the Liberal government in the New Year and that this will bring on a Poilievre Conservative government. Of course it is the voters who will decide who forms the next government and the only thing the NDP voting against the Liberals can do is bring on that legally required election six months sooner.

But that six months is very important for the Liberals who, now in a leadership crisis, need that six months to resolve it and select a new leader. In fact that six months is probably important enough for the Liberals to make the NDP an offer they cannot refuse.

That offer could be electoral reform, and although bringing in a Proportional Representation system before the next election may be impossible, implementing Ranked Ballot Voting may well be within Elections Canada’s capability, followed by the next Parliament implementing Proportional Representation.

Or it could be fast tracking a complete universal Pharmacare program for Canada or some other significant gain for the Canadian people that the Liberal government has shown they were not prepared to do so far.

The next move is the Liberal Party’s.

Five Point Plan to Save Canada from the Cons

1. Justin Trudeau announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister to the Liberal caucus and the Liberal caucus appoints an interim leader.

2. Justin Trudeau resigns as Prime Minister and asks the Governor General to select the interim Liberal leader as Prime Minister of a National Unity Government with Jagmeet Singh as Deputy Prime Minister and Elizabeth May in the Cabinet (in order to allow assured confidence and time for a new Liberal leader to be selected before the next federal election).

3. The Liberal, New Democratic, and Green parties announce they will not compete against each other in the next election, agreeing that whichever party (of the three) won the most votes in each constituency in the last election will not be challenged by the other two.

4. After the next election, if successful, the National Unity government will strike a special Parliamentary committee with expert researchers to consider expert and public testimony on electoral reform, followed by a report and legislation, with implementation of a new electoral system by Elections Canada.

5. The National Unity Government will be dissolved and a new election held under the new electoral system and a truly representative government that reflects the votes of the Canadian people will be elected.

Evolution of an Image – Photo Versions

I have been trying for a few years to get this photo of the vegetation by the Emerald Meadows pond in Bridlewood but have not been happy with the results.

These first photos were taken in November 2023 with my small Panasonic Lumix TS5 camera that I used to keep with me all the time on the bike. Unfortunately even when set for Vivid it’s pictures look washed out and need to be improved with software,

These images are the first one I tried, from the camera, and then edited with Simply Good Pictures. It did not turn out too bad but still was not what I was hoping for.

 

So I tried another one, but was still not happy after editing it with Simply Good Pictures. Then I tried enhancing the reds in Photoshop Elements 2023 and further enhancing it with Franzis Color Projects, which I think I overdid. These images are those photos in that order.

I tried again in October 2024 with much better results, likely a result of a bright day with better lighting and using my new Panasonic Lumix FZ300 camera. The first photo is from the camera and the second is enhanced with Simply Good Pictures and Franzis Color Projects. I am quite happy with that result.

 

Upon reflection I began to think that this photo would be a good candidate for playing around with in Franzis Color Projects as well as Franzis Black & White Projects to see what kind of variations and effects could be created. The following slide show, starting with the final version above, shows the kind of variations and effects that can be produced.

 

Why I Dislike Ranked Ballot Voting & Why I Support It

After four years studying Political Science at Laurentian University and over thirty years working for the House of Commons I tended to approach electoral reform more as a political scientist than as a typical voter. My preference has always been for a Proportional Representation system that provides that the political party preferences of the voters is reflected proportionally in the House of Commons or provincial legislatures.

I still believe that but I can see how voters that are used to selecting a single representative for each constituency would find a system of either multi-member constituencies or added representatives from party lists to be foreign to them and that Ranked Ballot Voting would be easier for them to understand and accept.

I had believed that we might only get one chance at electoral reform and so we should use that chance to fight for the best solution, Proportional Representation.

However I now believe we must look at the context of the current times and at what is necessary and achievable.

The current times include much of America’s embrace of Trump MAGA alt-right extremism and it’s overflow into Canada resulting in an opposition leader with no policies, whose only appeal is FUCKTRUDEAU, leading the polls and extreme right wing provincial governments elected with majorities when 60% of the electorate oppose them.

This is a situation where many of us are deciding that preventing the election of representatives and governments that are the people’s least wanted is imperative even if it means putting hopes for truly representative legislatures on the back burner.

What I do not like about Ranked Ballot Voting is that it tends to favour the centre. Liberals love it because they believe they are every other party voter’s second choice. They believe it will confirm the Liberal Party as the natural governing party. It will likely lead to less representation from the left and right,

I have always preferred Ranked Ballot Voting for municipal elections where political parties do not exist, because with large numbers of candidates on the ballots often councillors are elected with ridiculously low pluralities, such as 15% of the votes and often those elected may be most voters last choice.

Governments, especially extreme right wing radical ones, elected with a minority of voters support are now a clear and present danger and can potentially do irreversible harm. Our priority now becomes stopping that and doing it before the next federal election.

If Prime Minister Trudeau were to bring back his Ranked Ballot Voting proposal I hope it would get enough support to be implemented before the next federal election and we could stop right wing extremism from doing irreparable damage, at least at the federal level, and perhaps provide an example to the majority of voters at the provincial level so that it can be done there as well.

A side effect and benefit for future more representative electoral reform is that without voters having to vote strategically as their only choice, the results of voters first choices will tell us how political party support really is distributed by party overall and if the results of Ranked Ballot Voting do not reflect that it will provide evidence of why we need to move further towards true Proportional Representation at both federal and provincial levels.

To summarize, the main disadvantage of Ranked Ballot Voting is that legislatures likely will not represent voters political party preferences proportional to the number of seats (which they do not now). The main advantage of Ranked Ballot Voting is that it prevents the majority of voters last choice as candidates or government from being elected.

At the moment the imperative is to prevent Armageddon.

Bridlewood Hydro Lines Pathways Update

I have been reporting for a number of years on the deterioration of the pathways through Bridlewood, particularly the pathway along the smaller hydro line through Bridlewood, the latest being this spring’s report.

I finally have some positive news to report. Earlier this fall we noticed work being done on the paved portion of the pathway along the large hydro line through Bridlewood and were pleasantly surprised to find it completely rebuilt within a month. However, the gravel stone dust portion of the pathway remains the same.

Route of the Rebuilt Pathway

The following video follows the paved portion in both directions in order to highlight the fall colours along the pathways.

 

We also were happy to notice that work has begun rebuilding the pathway along the smaller hydro line through Bridlewood and are hopeful they will rebuild the full length of the pathway which is very deteriorated. The following shows were construction has begun along the pathway. We will report further when construction is completed. 

Small Hydro Line Pathway Construction Progress 

UPDATE 2024-11-03 

Portion of pathway indicated as under construction is now newly paved. No sign of work continuing on rest of pathway.

I can also confirm that the redone sections are considerably wider than the original pathways.

Orange Flowers Photo Variations with Franzis Projects Software

These are variations on a photo of orange flowers taken on the grounds of Boldt Castle along the St. Lawrence River with my Panasonic Lumix FZ300 camera, using Franzis Color Projects and Franzis Black & White Projects software.

The  Franzis Projects software is a collection of presets with variations on levels and sharpness, brightness and contrast as well as colour hue and saturation, etc., as well as some filter effects. Most of the presets are manually adjustable but I tend to just use use the extensive collection of presets.

You will notice I am not indicating which effect I used for each photo. That is because I am lazy and the intention of this post is not to teach you how to create these effects but to show you the wide range of final images you can create from one original photo. Just play with the software and see what you can create from your own original photos and a little imagination.

The variations are shown in the following slideshow (can be viewed full screen) with the Original Photo From Camera shown first followed by Franzis Color Projects Versions and Franzis Black & White Projects Versions.

Can Trump Save American Politics

No, not by winning but by losing.

If Trump and the MAGA nation suffer a massive defeat dragging the Republican party down with them perhaps it will lead to a reckoning among life long Republicans that something massive will be needed to save the party.

What about a search inward and a complete re-branding as a “progressive conservative” party, a party with conservative economic policies and progressive social policies that take from the individualism part of conservatism, a party that does not try to make everyone conform to their vision of the perfect American but accepts people as they see themselves with personal autonomy over their being and their bodies and one that welcomes newcomers.

Such a movement could encroach on economically conservative minded Democrats and rebuild the party.

And while perhaps a threat to the Democratic Party it could be the catalyst the Democrats need to move towards being a real social democratic party, a party that is no longer fighting to stop America from moving backwards but one that fights to move America forward.

Woke is Right.

So what does woke mean anyway ?

Accepting people for who they are.

Allowing people to love who they love and marry who they love.

Allowing women (and men) control over their own bodies.

Judging people by their deeds, not the colour of their skin or their religion.

Allowing people to practice their culture or religion as long as it does not harm others.

Not fearing or hating people because they are different than you.

Welcoming newcomers.

Giving everyone an equal opportunity by providing education and health care to everyone.

Practising conservation of the habitat we depend on to live.

Living within one’s means and as a society within the means of the planet’s resources.

Prioritizing people over property.

And sharing.

When you strip away the political ideology and look at these principles philosophically they are basic principles of conservatism.

Woke is Right.