I came to doubt the security of the pensions that young people were being encouraged to save into, particularly if governments failed to take the climate action urgently demanded by the scientists. What would be the value of your pension if climate breakdown decimated the global food system or flooded your home? It seemed that the primary beneficiary of my work was myself, receiving a salary now for creating dubious future value.
In 2018, I read professor Jem Bendell's "Deep Adaptation" paper, in which he criticises professionals, especially those working in sustainability or for environmental NGOs, for their timidity, accusing them of peddling false hope. It resonated with me, making me realise that however 'ethical' the financial provider I worked for, it seemed hollow and not 'living my truth'.
That's why, in 2019, at the age of 52, I quit my job and used the savings my time in the City had afforded me to volunteer with the activist group Extinction Rebellion (XR) to do what I could to avert the disaster facing us.
Money is a unit of power
As a climate activist, I now had time to learn more about the many links between finance and climate change. It turns out that the banks really do create money. But that money has only been temporarily borrowed into existence by people, businesses or government, and the system depends on it being repaid and replaced with new loans.
The more debt my chums in the City issued, the more goods and services had to be produced and consumed in order to repay that debt with interest. Meanwhile, the rich were stashing that value in tax havens, preventing the borrowers from ever earning it back, meaning that ever more money had to be borrowed to replace what was being saved. I learned that the very design of this system makes it ever more wasteful, unfair and unstable.
I used to be suspicious of environmentalists who focused on inequality and advocated for wealth redistribution. I thought they sounded like socialists jumping on the climate change bandwagon – but now I get it. How can we ever tread more lightly on the Earth when the fat cats eat all the food? A systematically fairer distribution of wealth is necessary.
Now, I finally realise that the money I used to make was not really wealth, but 'claims' on wealth. Actual wealth is the visceral things we need to be 'well', such as good food, shelter, transport, health, opportunities for play, access to nature. Money is a claim—a unit of power—to bring these things into our life, thanks to the efforts of other people and the provisions of the natural world. Making money without making this true wealth serves only the money makers, not society.
There is much noble talk about how to make finance more sustainable. I agree with much of it: that banks and governments should not continue to finance fossil fuel extraction over renewable energy and increased efficiency; that international cooperation is needed to reduce the most wasteful emissions and begin the process of adapting to the effects of climate disaster; that farming practices need to be changed; that our remaining resources should be allocated wisely and fairly; that wilderness must be protected, preserved and regenerated. And so on.
But none of this ever happens because economic growth now is always deemed to be more important than any of these things. Some people hope that such growth will make those things more affordable 'in the long run'.
Financing economic growth is a recipe for disaster
The fixation on economic growth reflects the power at the top of society. When the climate crisis pops into the political agenda, most politicians respond by aligning with the interests of fossil fuel lobbyists and venture capitalists, rather than responding to the latest science. I have little confidence in grand-sounding sustainability schemes because they are based on self-serving fairy tales.
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Andrew Medhurst.
Andrew Medhurst | Radio Free (2022-06-14T06:26:43+00:00) Why I Quit Being a Banker to Join Extinction Rebellion. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2022/06/14/why-i-quit-being-a-banker-to-join-extinction-rebellion/
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