Shower Heads, Green Bulbs and $5 Trillion in environmental damage per year.

Nature loss 'dwarfs bank crisis'
The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study. It puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion. The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide. The study, headed by a Deutsche Bank economist, parallels the Stern Review into the economics of climate change. Speaking to BBC News on the fringes of the congress, study leader Pavan Sukhdev emphasised that the cost of natural decline dwarfs losses on the financial markets. "It's not only greater but it's also continuous, it's been happening every year, year after year," he told BBC News. "So whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today's rate we are losing natural capital at least between $2-$5 trillion every year."

Nice to put it in context isn’t it, while the Masters of the Universe pop their corporate bubble of greed we are damaging our environment almost three times more than the cost of that deregulated romp has cost us – EVERY YEAR. The Stern Review still makes the very pertinent point that capitalism fuelled by unending consumption and consumer culture simply is not sustainable and makes no economic sense, the cost of change is a fraction of the cost of the consequences of not changing. I wonder if that message is actually getting through in NZ? We are a nation of hypocrites when it comes to the environment, we sell our clean green hobbit credentials to the globe, yet we pollute and damage the eco system beyond it’s ability to repair and because one of the main drivers of our economy, Agriculture, happens to be one of our biggest polluters we don’t really push the issue do we? I wonder if we are actually mature enough to have a discussion about sustainability, look at the near rage induced strokes from discussing something as petty as eco-bulbs or shower heads! It’s almost as if some NZers feel being forced to change to more sustainable ways of using energy and water is akin to the sexual molestation of their pets, watching Paul Henry huff and puff about shower heads on Close Up last night was the new low for me, hey Paul is there anything else a current affairs show might want to be covering at the moment, say the fucking election by any chance? Oh no, we had to have a discussion about the latest Nanny State Dykocracy legislating political correctness by meddling in the showers and reading light spaces of NZ! What the fuck is going on? Sometimes in NZ I feel like I’ve woken up at a KKK rally wearing a Barack Obama supporters T-shirt. If we are going to be the necessary agents of change this selfish bullshit needs to be called out for what it is and rejected with the same passion one puts into rejecting Jehova Witnesses access into your home. We need top grow up, and with up to $5 Trillion in damage by deforestation each year, it is a growing up that is needed now because there won’t be much latter if we continue unsustainable economic activities.