Ecological Civilization Is a New Path of Civilization Imbued …
577
capital appreciation and consuming behaviors are dominated by the market. Industrialized production without consumption restraints falls into the abyss of unlimited growth and expansion, which results in a unique phenomenon of industrial
economy—driven by competition, the unlimited pursuit for GDP growth and for far
more material consumption than physically necessary becomes a global malady that
is beyond control.
In the modern system of industrial production, on the one hand, we are worried
about resource and environmental crisis; on the other hand, all our policies and
systems are designed to meet unlimited material needs and achieve high GDP growth.
In the industrial economic system with no consumption restraints, such actions are
understandable in developing countries where food and clothing sufficiency is not
guaranteed yet. But in fact, even in the United States whose per capita GDP exceeds
USD 40,000, the whole society would panic once economic growth slows down.
The obsession with economic growth has become a common social ailment, and
pursuing unlimited growth a culture in modern industrialized civilization. If this
morbid consumption mode aimed at capital increase is not reformed, clean and
energy-intensive production alone cannot fundamentally resolve the predicament of
modern industrialization.
3. Western industrialization is exclusively beneficial for a small group of
people or countries
The industrialized growth mode driven by market competition is a polarized one
that makes the strong stronger and the weak weaker. The competition-induced polarization and cyclic economic crisis posed tremendous obstacles to economic and
social development in developed western countries in the early twentieth century.
Having experienced the 1929 economic depression that started in the United States
and swept across all developed western countries, a new administrative system came
along featuring government-led macro regulation and public good supply, which
effectively rectified and solved the polarization issue. However, this system only
functions within national borders.
After WWII, as more and more developing countries gained independence and
the western market economy was spread to the whole world, the competition-driven
polarization effect also appeared worldwide along with economic and market globalization—the polarization, which was increasingly intensified, between strong industrialized powers and developing countries. It is currently impossible to establish a
global regulatory system to redress the competition-induced polarization, so industrialization actually becomes a civilization controlled and exclusively enjoyed by a
small group of developed countries and multinationals. But while the few industrialized countries have the benefits of industrialization all to themselves, they, leveraging their competitive edges, have not only excessively occupied energies around the
world, but also transferred energy consumption and pollution to developing countries
through industrial transfer. If earth’s resources and environment had the capacity to
support human development without limit, emerging industrialized countries could
join the industrialized club one by one following the western mode. But the fact is
that they are already on the brink of a crisis, so earth no longer has the conditions for
577
capital appreciation and consuming behaviors are dominated by the market. Industrialized production without consumption restraints falls into the abyss of unlimited growth and expansion, which results in a unique phenomenon of industrial
economy—driven by competition, the unlimited pursuit for GDP growth and for far
more material consumption than physically necessary becomes a global malady that
is beyond control.
In the modern system of industrial production, on the one hand, we are worried
about resource and environmental crisis; on the other hand, all our policies and
systems are designed to meet unlimited material needs and achieve high GDP growth.
In the industrial economic system with no consumption restraints, such actions are
understandable in developing countries where food and clothing sufficiency is not
guaranteed yet. But in fact, even in the United States whose per capita GDP exceeds
USD 40,000, the whole society would panic once economic growth slows down.
The obsession with economic growth has become a common social ailment, and
pursuing unlimited growth a culture in modern industrialized civilization. If this
morbid consumption mode aimed at capital increase is not reformed, clean and
energy-intensive production alone cannot fundamentally resolve the predicament of
modern industrialization.
3. Western industrialization is exclusively beneficial for a small group of
people or countries
The industrialized growth mode driven by market competition is a polarized one
that makes the strong stronger and the weak weaker. The competition-induced polarization and cyclic economic crisis posed tremendous obstacles to economic and
social development in developed western countries in the early twentieth century.
Having experienced the 1929 economic depression that started in the United States
and swept across all developed western countries, a new administrative system came
along featuring government-led macro regulation and public good supply, which
effectively rectified and solved the polarization issue. However, this system only
functions within national borders.
After WWII, as more and more developing countries gained independence and
the western market economy was spread to the whole world, the competition-driven
polarization effect also appeared worldwide along with economic and market globalization—the polarization, which was increasingly intensified, between strong industrialized powers and developing countries. It is currently impossible to establish a
global regulatory system to redress the competition-induced polarization, so industrialization actually becomes a civilization controlled and exclusively enjoyed by a
small group of developed countries and multinationals. But while the few industrialized countries have the benefits of industrialization all to themselves, they, leveraging their competitive edges, have not only excessively occupied energies around the
world, but also transferred energy consumption and pollution to developing countries
through industrial transfer. If earth’s resources and environment had the capacity to
support human development without limit, emerging industrialized countries could
join the industrialized club one by one following the western mode. But the fact is
that they are already on the brink of a crisis, so earth no longer has the conditions for