Nick Palmer wrote:
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/
This organisation actually works on new economic models that include the
environmental and social costs of economies onto the "bottom line" of
the balance sheet. That is all one has to do to solve so many seemingly
intractable problems. A business/country that makes a ton of money but
is doing it by destroying environmental or social capital will be
measured, by indicators far more subtle than GDP, as less profitable
than others. If they want to be successful they will have to do the
decent environmental thing to improve their balance sheet
If you can change the laws such that companies must pay for the
environmental damage they do, THEN you can roll environmental damage
into the P&L statement. But unless that's done it's just handwaving to
claim their profits are other than what they are.
Pillage has always been profitable. Any claim that it is not profitable
is vacuous -- absent a change in the laws to (somehow) drain money from
offenders, it can only be supported by redefining the word "profit" to
something other than its commonly accepted meaning. You can measure the
value of a company any way you like, but if the measure isn't "profit"
then please don't call it "profit".
Words are useful for communication because we agree on their meanings.
Redefining a common word and then claiming that something has been
accomplished or some point has been made as a result just dilutes
communication. Trying to redefine the word "profit" will just obscure
the causes which led to the behaviors we want to change; it won't
eliminate those causes.
"Profit" is the amount you rake in minus the amount you invested. If
the United States (or Europe, or China, or Exxon -- take your choice)
lives high on the hog at the expense of the rest of the world that just
says that what they're doing right now is very "profitable".
"Good" and "profitable" are two different words. "Sustainable" and
"profitable" are also two different words. "Cash flow" and "profit" are
two different terms. Let's not mix these up.
