Capitalism is destroying the planet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Capitalism is destroying the planet - Essay Example Therefore, in line of with endeavors of capitalists to maximize their profits by intensive and extensive exploration of the natural environment, this paper shows that capitalists’ production is the root cause of environmental pollution that is posing serious dangers to survival of biodiversity, which for this case includes humanity. The driving force of capitalism has remained to be profit maximization. Serving social demands such as food, shelter, clothing and social amenities is just but a by the way. In their primary bid to maximize profits, in which none of them can shy away from being part and parcel, capitalists are driven to further accumulate wealth in any means that would give them a comparative advantage over competitors. Since their production is limited to exploring natural environment for their gains, hundreds of thousands of industries have been established. Examples include food processing, motor vehicle, and utilities that generate energy that is the driving fo rce of any economy (Sweezy 2). A capitalistic set-up is very vibrant in the sense that it has several players each pursuing their own economic goals. Such a place is characterized by closely packed business entities each engaged in some economic activity. For instance, in producing goods and services for the masses, the number of factories that have been established are increasingly occupying more space on the surface of the earth. This has the implication that more fossil fuels is being consumed to keep these factories running. Understandably, these fuels, example of which include coal, produces carbon (IV) oxide that leads to global warming. In another scenario, capitalism has encouraged unsustainable economic competition for different players in the market. For example, in the process of maximizing profits in the fish industry, capitalists have built up large fishing vessels that process fish immediately they are fished. This has the implication that the rate at which fish are be ing processed is faster that even the rate of their reproduction. The same case applies to forested areas where trees are being fell rapidly than they are planted. The unsustainable utilization of natural resources is what has raised eyebrows regarding the negative effects of capitalism. The wide spread destruction of the world’s tree population for the use of manufacturing goods for large scale corporations is just the tip of the iceberg. We have developed a culture that is largely in an â€Å"amnesic† state if you will. We are taught to consume and build a relationship with these products to where they are accepted in every part of our lives. These same products are increasing the CO2 emissions in the earth’s atmosphere to a recent all-time high of 400.03 ppm. This large increase is due to multiple things including globalized use of fossil fuels and the industrialization of production (Kempf 4). Capitalism has significantly increased the exploration of natural resources which in time increases manufacturing. This domino effect ends with increase in Carbon (IV) Oxide concentration which destroys the ozone layer by causing global warming. Increased temperature have caused melting of the ice carps thus increasing the water levels in the seas and oceans. In the event of a natural disaster such as tsunami, for example the one that hit the coastline of Indonesia in 2004, the effects are