Capitalism and consumerism have brought the world to the brink of economic and environmental collapse, the Prince of Wales has warned in a grandstand speech which set out his concerns for the future of the planet.
The heir to the throne told an audience of industrialists and environmentalists at St James's Palace last night that he had calculated that we have just 96 months left to save the world. And in a searing indictment on capitalist society, Charles said we can no longer afford consumerism and that the "age of convenience" was over.
The Prince, who has spoken passionately about the environment before, said that if the world failed to heed his warnings then we all faced the "nightmare that for so many of us now looms on the horizon".
Charles's speech was described as his first attempt to present a coherent philosophy in which he placed the threat to the environment in the context of a failing economic system.
Coherent?
The Prince, who is advised by the leading environmentalists Jonathon Porritt and Tony Juniper, said that even the economist Adam Smith, father of modern capitalism, had been aware of the short-comings of unfettered materialism.
Delivering the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture, Charles said that without "coherent financial incentives and disincentives" we have just 96 months to avert "irretrievable climate and ecosystem collapse, and all that goes with it."
Charles has recently courted controversy by intervening in planning disputes, most notably the battle over the Chelsea Barracks design in London. It is also known that he writes privately to ministers when he wishes to put his concerns on record.
Now, he seems more willing to embrace much wider political issues in a much more public forum. He confided last night: "We face the dual challenges of a world view and an economic system that seem to have enormous shortcomings, together with an environmental crisis -- including that of climate change -- which threatens to engulf us all."
Despite his attack on the materialism of the modern age, the Prince has been criticised for his own indulgences, including dozens of staff to run his homes and hundreds of thousands of pounds spent travelling around the world. While his private estates on the Duchy of Cornwall generate record profits his tax bill was lower than the year before.
Last night the Prince said: "But for all its achievements, our consumerist society comes at an enormous cost to the Earth and we must face up to the fact that the Earth cannot afford to support it. Just as our banking sector is struggling with its debts -- and paradoxically also facing calls for a return to so-called 'old-fashioned', traditional banking -- so Nature's life-support systems are failing to cope with the debts we have built up there too.
"If we don't face up to this, then Nature, the biggest bank of all, could go bust. And no amount of quantitative easing will revive it."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/10/2009 13:11 Comments ||
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#4
To paraphrase the Perfesser, I'll believe consumerism is a crisis when the people who say it is a crisis start behaving in their personal lives as if it is a crisis.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/10/2009 13:12 Comments ||
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#5
Did Princey run out of Grey Poupon?
Posted by: ed ||
07/10/2009 13:27 Comments ||
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#7
I'm sure Prince Charles will set an example by closing down all his Estates and Castles and turning them into bird sanctuaries. He will then move to a flat on the East End of London.
The only way he could draw tourist is with his head on a pike outside the Tower.
#8
Sure, Princey. Tell me all about the evils of "materialism"....
Taxpayers funded the work of the Prince of Wales to the tune of £3m last year - an annual rise of almost a quarter, according to Clarence House accounts.
A 48% rise in spending on air and rail travel, which grew to £1.71m, accounted for much of the hike in official costs. He travelled more than 50,000 miles to attend 658 official engagements during his 60th birthday year.
Charles's private income increased by just 1% to £16.4m during the last financial year.
He also paid less tax, with his bill falling almost 10% from more than £3.4m to just under £3.1m.
The prince's non-official expenditure fell by 23% to £1.7m, with the drop being attributed in part to his decision to holiday in the UK last year.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/10/2009 13:59 Comments ||
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#10
"Camillaaaa. The barbarians at the gate keep prattling on about glass houses. Be a dear and ask Jeeves to call in an air strike, would you? That's a good girl."
#11
The Prince, who is advised by the leading environmentalists Jonathon Porritt and Tony Juniper
At the risk of coming across as a conspiracy nut, do not I repeat DO NOT - dismiss these people simply lunatic dirt worshipers. Climate change is the motivation, Cap and Trade schemes are the means, and a Marxist/Fascist model is their endgame. Make no mistake; Free Market capitalism is antithetical to their ideology. Jonathon Porritt has long encouraged his fellow Enviro-activists to adopt an Alinsky model towards capitalism. He advocates for the soft landing of capitalism rather then direct confrontation with the prevailing economic system. Now that people with wealth and influence, such as Prince Charles, are openly denouncing capitalism it may signal a new chapter in their quest for control.
"We've wasted the best part of 20 years pursuing to the point of utter exhaustion a model of capitalism that can only succeed by liquidating the life-support systems that sustain us, and systematically widening the 'inequity gaps' upon which any kind of social cohesion depends in the long run."
Jonathon Porritt
#15
CHucky's problem wid the Year 2018, NOT 2017, is notsomuch RUSSO-CHIN, 1990's "WAR AGZ THE USA IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE BUT DESIRED" [Pro-OWG-NWO, anti-US WAR OF ANNIHATION/MUTUAL DESTRUCTION iff need be], but that "IT" struck the Earth yarns prior.
And its NOT even "KAMALEN".
But-t-t BBBBBUUUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPPP, as a MADONNA FAN I digress..........
#16
Pray for Her Majesty's health, even if you're an atheist and a (British) republican, at least long enough for Charlie to step aside in favor of his son William.
#1
Shocked! I am shocked...that it wasn't a small boy.
Otherwise I am reminded of a story written by I believe P.J. O'Rourke, right in the final days of the Soviet Union, where, sitting in a bar in an international hotel, he watched half-prostitutes, half-KGB agents, go around asking to illegally exchange currency or other services.
He noted two large Texas businessmen, sitting at a table and enjoying their drinks. When approached by a woman, they would look off and loudly say, "I kin hear them jail doors clangin'!"
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev illustrated his call for a supranational currency to replace the dollar by pulling from his pocket a sample coin of a united future world currency.
Here it is, Medvedev told reporters today in LAquila, Italy, after a summit of the Group of Eight nations. You can see it and touch it.
The coin, which bears the words unity in diversity, was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations, Medvedev said.
The question of a supranational currency concerns everyone now, even the mints, Medvedev said. The test coin means theyre getting ready. I think its a good sign that we understand how interdependent we are.
Medvedev has repeatedly called for creating a mix of regional reserve currencies as part of the drive to address the global financial crisis, while questioning the U.S. dollars future as a global reserve currency. Russias proposals for the G-20 meeting in London in April included the creation of a supranational currency.
#1
nobody is prevented from using Russian currency for deals or national economies, other than prudent investors with a knowledge of history and fiduciary responsibility. I pray I can say the same by the time Obama's ejected from office
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/10/2009 19:57 Comments ||
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#2
With uplifting messages in Esperanto.
Posted by: ed ||
07/10/2009 20:10 Comments ||
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#3
Totalitarians everywhere (in other words pretty much every politician on the face of the Earth) are salivating at the thought of a competition-free fiat currency.
Irish atheists are horrified by new legislation making blasphemy illegal, and punishable by a 25,000-Euro fine. Christians of all stripes should be, too.
As part of a revision to defamation legislation, the Dail (Irish Parliament) passed legislation creating a new crime of blasphemy. This attack on free speech, debated for several months in Europe, has gone largely unnoticed in the American press.
The text of the legislation:
36. Publication or utterance of blasphemous matter.
(1) A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding 100,000. [Amended to 25,000]
(2) For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if (a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.
(3) It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates.
(2) A member of the Garda Siochana may (a) enter and search any premises, (b) seize, remove and detain any copy of a statement to which an offence under section 36 relates found therein or in the possession of any person, in accordance with a warrant under subsection (1).
(3) Upon final judgment being given in proceedings for an offence under section 36, anything seized and removed under subsection (2) shall be disposed of in accordance with such directions as the court may give upon an application by a member of the Garda Siochana in that behalf.
#3
if he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion,
Dollars to donuts, the first aggrieved parties under this law will be Muslims. And just when it seemed like Ireland was becoming a civilized country...
#8
IMHO, although this legislation seems to be politically motivated (Muslims, atheists, etc.), I am appalled at this craven boot licking by the people of Ireland. My Irish father is spinning in his grave.
Posted by: James ||
07/10/2009 21:30 Comments ||
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#19
Wow, they just outlawed the Church of the Subgenious.
From the charter...
The Church Of The SubGenius is an order of Scoffers and Blasphemers, dedicated to Total Slack, delving into Mockery Science, Sadofuturistics, Megaphysics, Scatalography, Schizophreniatrics, Morealism, Sarcastrophy, Cynisacreligion, Apocolyptionomy, ESPectorationalism, Hypno-Pediatrics, Subliminalism, Satyriology, Disto-Utopianity, Sardonicology, Fascetiouism, Ridiculophagy, and Miscellatheistic Theology.
Anyone driving around SF Bay on congested freeways full of pot holes can feel proud because at least the local varmints are comfortable.
The tiny mouse that became a hotly disputed symbol of wasteful spending in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill has returned to pester House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Obama administration revealed last week that as much as $16.1 million from the stimulus program is going to save the San Francisco Bay Area habitat of, among other things, the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse.
That has revived Republican criticism that the pet project was an "invisible earmark" in the massive spending bill for Mrs. Pelosi, whose San Francisco district abuts the Bay, and epitomizes what Republicans say is the failure of stimulus spending so far to help an economy still shedding jobs.
"Lo and behold, the government has announced that the mouse is getting its money after all," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said, standing beside a poster of the furry varmint. "Speaker Pelosi must be so proud."
Mrs. Pelosi's office was quick to dismiss the criticism. Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill called the attack on the mouse "a tired and tried tale of Republican desperation," noting that the mouse was never mentioned in the legislation and the project competed with other restoration jobs for stimulus dollars.
Mr. Hammill said the Bay project benefited both the economy and the ecosystem.
"Wetlands restoration projects, such as this one, not only create jobs, but improve the environment," he said. "Wetlands filter contaminants from the waters of the Bay, protect our shores against sea level rise, and provide habitat for a myriad of wildlife, including several endangered species."
He stressed that the salt marshes are not in the speaker's urban district and the harvest mouse never inhabited the city.
Two San Francisco Bay Area projects were among 50 marine and coastal habitat restoration projects undertaken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with $167 million from the stimulus, dubbed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. About $7.6 million went to restore more than 1,990 acres comprising three former salt ponds in the southern end of San Francisco Bay and $8.5 million went to restore wetlands in American Canyon salt pond, also in the Bay Area.
The Commerce Department, which oversees NOAA, said the 50 projects were chosen from a pool of 814 proposals totaling more than $3 billion in requests. The agency said it worked through a rigorous selection process to identify and set priorities for projects meeting the stimulus law's criteria.
However, even prior to the stimulus vote, Republican lawmakers said NOAA was indicating that saving the harvest mouse would be a top priority for any stimulus money it received.
#1
"I smell varmint poontang. And the only good varmint poontang is dead varmint poontang, I think."
"To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote."
#7
OTOH, I would support some advance funding for a Bay Area hippy reservation, so we can begin the process of restoring the rest of this scenic region to its natural pre-60s configuration.
#8
"Wetlands restoration projects, such as this one, not only create jobs, but improve the environment,"
The Romans spent resources to drain swamps to remove the source of illness. The first steps of modern sanitation and public health. The Donks spend resources to introduce more breeding grounds for vectors. The problem of 20/21st Century accomplishments is how quick the memory disappears on 'why' we did such things. I'd say a plague on their house, but it looks like they're actively working on that themselves.
Sen. John Ensign tapped his parents to pay out nearly $100,000 to the family of his mistress out of his private funds, his lawyer says in an e-mail.
The gifts, the statement says, are part of a pattern of "generosity" on the part of the senator's family to the Hampton family, which he nearly destroyed.
Statement on behalf of Senator John Ensign:
In April 2008, Senator John Ensign's parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. Each gift was limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts.
After the Senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time. The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others.
None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds nor were they related to any campaign or official duties. Senator Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules.
Paul Coggins
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Counsel for Senator John Ensign
Posted by: Fred ||
07/10/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Senator Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules.
All except one......keeping yur D!(K in yur pants.
#4
Payment for sex...doesn't that make it an act of prostitution? And if they wanna call it "hush money" how about blackmail? Does anybody see how something like this could be a security issue? Can we get the Justice Department to investigate? Naw. Didn't think so.
#5
Ugh, the elder Ensigns better be made of money, because otherwise that's just sickening. The crap that parents do to clean up after their rotten spawn...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/10/2009 13:57 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Capitalism and consumerism have brought the world to the brink of economic and environmental collapse, the Prince of Wales has warned in a grandstand speech which set out his concerns for the future of the planet.
