We've heard it so many times.
"Resources are scarce"
"There's not enough for everybody"
Yepp. We all have. I was on my way back home when this question hit me.
Are resources really scarce or is this whole idea just manufactured?
First off we waste a crap load of stuff. Think of all the gadgets we throw away. All the clothes we go out and splurge on only to find half of them still sitting in the closet waiting to be worn. Let's not even talk about the food we waste. Waste, waste, waste, and more to come. There's so much data that shows how unsustainable this is. The whole world cannot live the American Dream. Sorry I really meant the American Scheme. The Earth and our environment is already being strained under the pressure of the increasing lifestyles of consumption.
It is well known that Americans consume far more natural resources and live much less sustainably than people from any other large country of the world. “A child born in the United States will create thirteen times as much ecological damage over the course of his or her lifetime than a child born in Brazil,” reports the Sierra Club’s Dave Tilford, adding that the average American will drain as many resources as 35 natives of India and consume 53 times more goods and services than someone from China. -Scientific American
The machine tells us that being consumers is a good thing. The problem though is the fact that as humans we tend to be really greedy. How would you know where the threshold for "too much" was if someone told you to consume your little heart out. Point blank, you wouldn't which is why we are caught up in the discussion of scarcity.
When God created the world he knew we would jack ish up. Although there are many parts of the earth where food cannot grow he made sure that we still had exactly what we needed. Emphasis on what we needed. Not all we could ever desire, not unlimited supplies of resources, but what we needed. The idea of scarcity in my opinion is very closely related to greed. If a small amount of people hoard much of the resources then that will create an illusion of scarcity. I say it's an illusion because it's not that those resources are not abundantly available in nature, it's that a handful of people have chosen to be greedy with them instead of figuring out a way to allow everyone basic access to what they need. Remember I said need. The lines between what we need and what we want have been blurred since... well it seems like forever. We talk about helping people in third world countries but how are we helping by continuing to hoard and consume? Then the funny part is we blame those same people for not being in a "better" position in life even though we have more than enough for everyone in the world to benefit from the Earth's resources.
If everyone in the world can't live up to the standard of the American Dream Scheme then why do we keep pushing this idea to people across the world?
Someone mentioned that it's nearly impossible to provide people with the things they need because of logistical reasons. With the technology that we have, if we can ship people around the world in aluminum tubes, we can definitely find a way to get people basic needs. Getting people basic needs hinges on being benevolent. The idea that there's no way it can be done is false. Resources can be moved. Think about it, if people can move sand from the bottom of the ocean to create man made islands or if fruits and vegetables can be shipped around the world with ease then why is there scarcity? We move resources everyday. Are we moving them with the notion that someone else is going to benefit or selfishly moving them so that 'I' can get something out of it? We're able to move European cars all around the world but somehow "can't" move food all around the world to end world hunger. I go back to my point of scarcity being an illusion because simply people are denied access to what they need. Not having enough money isn't the problem. Not having enough clothes isn't the problem. Access, access, and more access is what people lack and I feel this is an underlying problem when we talk about things being scarce.
Saying that there are not enough resources on earth is like saying God didn't provide and have foresight of what the earth would need to produce. It's a matter of how humans have decided to be poor stewards of what he gave us. If I can ship fancy cars (for profit) to a whole different country, but I can't ship food (non profit), maybe we should reevaluate our priorities. Us humans have come up with some pretty genius ways to get what we need. For example there is an interesting article I read about the food crisis in Egypt and how they are trying to find solutions to help the situation.
The human condition is a sad state of affairs as shown by our greed and lack of concern for the environment. There are a select few people who have most of the money and power to influence major world problems and the rest of the people struggle financially while having to figure out these same problems. Scarcity is manufactured by greed himself. As a matter of fact, he autographed it. No one wants to be benevolent to the next person and many people are too worried about securing personal wealth which is why some laugh at the idea of what The Venus Project is trying to accomplish. I am not saying that a resource based economy is the solution but it seems a heck of alot better than what we have now. But will people come up off of their trillions, billions, and millions to fund projects that will move mountains to benefit other people without wanting to make a profit? Idk, you tell me.
The point I'm trying to make in this post is that we have to start thinking about things differently as it pertains to this idea of scarcity. No,it's not just that there are areas of the world that are not fertile or places that don't have enough water. It's that there IS enough money, technology and abundant resources in the world to do something about providing people with a higher standard of living. The onus is on us to do with what we have not just to benefit ourselves but to benefit others even if that means I have to spend millions of my "hard earned money" for people to eat in other parts of the world.
Enough.
Get over yourself.