Task Five: Sustainability & Capitalism

Read the text- Balser, E (2008) 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability & Hamilton Ontario'. We have copies in the CTS office, 115.

Write a 500 word critical summary of the text which explicitly adresses the following questions
How is sustainability defined in the text?
What are the main characteristics or tendencies of Capitalism
Define a 'crisis of Capitalism'. Offer an example.
What solutions have been offered to the sustainability question? Are these successful or realistic? - If not why are they flawed?
Is the concept of sustainability compatible with Capitalism?


Sustainability is defined as inter and intra generational equity in the social, environmental, economic, moral and political spheres of society by Donella Meadows within Erin Balser's text. However another definition, given by Brundtland, is that sustainability is 'the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.' When discussing the former definition, sustainability is ideologically a communal concept, but realistically within capitalist societies it often falls to the individual and through technology. When discussing the latter definition sustainability has become a 'buzzword', a movement that everyone wants to be a part of.

Capitalism thrives on creating, then subsuming the other and continuously expands and traps things within its diverse web. It requires money for sustainability and constantly looks for new things to commodify and profit from. It is not a simplistic linear system but instead a complex one that subsumes not-capital markets and intensifies internal markets.

Crisis of capitalism is a passage of phases, from initial material expansion to a second phase of financial expansion, with each individual passage seemingly reaching its limit. However capitalism overcomes the crisis every time in an environment of constant new technologies, policies and ideas, which allow for crisis deferral. In other words capitalism survives by reinventing itself and actually benefits from the crises as they help continue the cycle of capitalisation, an example of this being the environmental crisis and global warming issues.

One solution offered to the sustainability question is the bio-diesel fuel plant (BIOX) discussed at great length in the text. Although it represented the ecological integrity and economic prosperity that is deemed so important for sustainability, it was at a disadvantage to the community around it. Whilst the idea seemed to be well considered and had promise it actually did more damage than good and posed serious health risks to the residents of Hamilton, Ontario.

Not only is the concept of sustainability compatible with capitalism, but both Paul Hawken and Al Gore suggest that the current practices of a capitalist society are the solution to the sustainability crisis. Hawken notes in his book 'The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability and Natural Capital' that we have to work with who we are, which includes our strong instinct to shop the market, suggesting that capitalism is engrained within our lifestyles and changing it to fix the sustainability crisis would be near impossible. In the 2006 film 'An Inconvenient Truth' Al Gores further enforces this idea by seeking answers to sustainability through technology, democracy and of course capitalism.