{"id":1618,"date":"2020-05-07T19:10:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T23:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dflgrouptest.local\/?p=1618"},"modified":"2020-05-07T19:10:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T23:10:32","slug":"is-covid-19-a-predictable-outcome-of-rampant-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/designed-for-life.org\/GMtCh34S\/is-covid-19-a-predictable-outcome-of-rampant-capitalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Is COVID-19 a Predictable Outcome of Rampant Capitalism?"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1586723807313{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” offset=”vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_column_text]We are in the middle of a crisis. A crisis that has put on pause many aspects of our lives. This pause makes us think and perhaps question things around us or look for answers on previous questions we had. One of the questions that I often ask myself is how broken the state of modern capitalism is, and what can we do to redefine it. This is of the main questions behind the Designed For Life philosophy<\/a> that I created a few years ago as an attempt for this necessary redefinition\u2026<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1586723789663{margin-top: -100px !important;}”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” offset=”vc_hidden-lg vc_hidden-md”][vc_column_text]We are in the middle of a crisis. A crisis that has put on pause many aspects of our lives. This pause makes us think and perhaps question things around us or look for answers on previous questions we had. One of the questions that I often ask myself is how broken the state of modern capitalism is, and what can we do to redefine it. This is of the main questions behind the Designed For Life philosophy<\/a> that I created a few years ago as an attempt for this necessary redefinition\u2026<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1\/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1586723850760{padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-2-percent” column_padding_position=”right” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” offset=”vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]One of the key \u201canti-theses\u201d to the Designed For Life Philosophy as we see it is what we refer to as \u201cun-conscious capitalism.\u201d In other words, the version of capitalism we experience in our everyday life. The version that promotes short-term growth as the ultimate goal, without considering strategies for sustainable growth. To be clear\u2014even though Designed For Life may feel \u201cearthy\u201d or progressive, the DFL philosophy is not anti-capitalistic. I am an entrepreneur and an unapologetic capitalist\u2014totally in support of free market practices, (mostly) unbridled economic growth, and the good old-fashioned American dream.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is no accident, however, that even in America of late, socialism<\/a> has emerged as a legitimate approach that is increasingly attractive to many, and that there is a growing backlash toward all things \u201ccapitalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Greta Thunberg<\/a>, who has recently garnered tremendous international attention as an outspoken champion of environmental concerns has been sharply critical of the modern world\u2019s complacency with the state of things\u2014arguing that it is the very concept of never ending economic expansion, which, which is the unspoken baseline assumption or outcome of this modern capitalistic society we have created for ourselves. According to her (and many who share this point of view), it is the root of all evil and the driving force behind climate change, socio-economic disparity, and a thousand other ills of our time. [Checkout the book Natural Capitalism<\/a><\/em>, one of my favorites on this topic.]<\/span><\/p>\n

Some say that Greta is simply wrong. Growth is good, and aggressive, ambition-driven, economic growth is the ultimate driving force for good in the world. Economic and technological growth the driving force behind human evolution in the recent centuries? But how did the pursuit of growth brought us to this version of capitalism? Others see it as self-evident that Greta is right. Unchecked capitalism (un-conscious capitalism) is undeniably to blame for many of society\u2019s ills today. It is my passionate belief that the only way to have both\u2014robust economic growth and a healthy, sustainable world where all can improve their condition together, will be achieved by shifting to a more conscious form of capitalism<\/a> and allowing human ambition to be the driver of innovation, creativity, improvement, and growth it is naturally meant to be. [Checkout the book Conscious Capitalism<\/a><\/em>, one of my favorites on this topic.]<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-2-percent” column_padding_position=”left-right” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”]

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Photo by Christian Alder<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1586723850760{padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-2-percent” column_padding_position=”right” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” offset=”vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]So what does any of this have to do with the COVID-19 outbreak?<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many who point to the fact that endless human expansion has pushed our society ever closer to the boundaries of nature, and that as we continue to encroach on the habitats of wildlife, we will be continually subjected to new viruses, health, and ecological ramifications that come from this proximity. I don\u2019t fully accept this explanation\u2014but I do<\/em> accept the basis for it. Since the age of the agricultural revolution, when humans traded in our hunter-gatherer existence for a more sedentary and communal way of life, people have been clearing fields for farming, expanding dwellings, building cities, digging sewage systems, and generally taming nature successfully to support the growth of our species. Evolution in every possible way, sometimes even in bad ones is integral part of human beings. Evolution is an unstoppable process that defines our lives from a micro to a macro level. [Checkout the book Homo Sapiens<\/a><\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

I have spent a big part of my life living and working in China. I am fluent in Mandarin Chinese and my love and respect for the culture and people of China is deep and lasts for more than 20 years since my first trip there. I have personally sat at hundreds of endlessly long, elaborate lazy-Susan meals<\/a> where the apparent goal of my host was to impress everyone in the room, with a smorgasbord of the most unique, extravagant, over-the-top, expensive, rarely experienced, and sometimes outright strange dishes and meats imaginable.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1586723850760{padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-2-percent” column_padding_position=”right” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/2″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” offset=”vc_col-lg-6 vc_col-md-6 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JFKqYbwIwfc” align=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/2″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Before I was in a position to attend such banquets, I ate on the streets, off of carts, and in people\u2019s homes every day for years there. The food that Chinese people eat day to day at home, or even in restaurants is incredibly good, generally simple, healthy, and interesting\u2014with all kinds of diversity in flavor and ingredients no doubt. Typical meats consist of chicken, beef, pork, and fish\u2014lots of fish. I love it. I still crave it.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1586723850760{padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-2-percent” column_padding_position=”right” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” offset=”vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]But it is<\/em> my observation that one fringe example of the type of mutated outgrowth from Capitalism running unchecked in the world, is the example of this almost competition<\/em> amongst the wealthy (usually business or government class) to one-up each other with the more elaborate meal, offering up strange meats, wild animals with exotic preparation methods that are frankly unnecessary and apparently downright irresponsible for the world<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Considering that many experts say that COVID-19 came out of a \u201cwet market\u201d in China making the rare but obviously possible leap from animal subject to humankind, I get to ask myself if we need to eat Peacocks? What about the hundreds of thousands of sharks ruthlessly slaughtered and dumped each year just to harvest their fins for soup? the Shark fins? We need not eat Peacocks. We need not try to cultivate bats, vipers, hawks, eagles, chinchillas, pangolins, or anything else we\u2019ve never heard of or seen outside of seafood and the few animals we\u2019ve carefully domesticated for thousands of years for consumption. Nobody does. I have seen these poor animals in cages, alive, ready for butchering outside of these specialty restaurants in China, and while it can be excused as quaint or cultural or perhaps even under the banner of tolerance<\/em>\u2014in real life, it is somewhat horrifying and simply unnecessary.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-2-percent” column_padding_position=”left-right” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”]

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Photo by Jon Tyson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left” css=”.vc_custom_1586723850760{padding-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-2-percent” column_padding_position=”right” background_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1\/1″ column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” offset=”vc_col-lg-12 vc_col-md-12 vc_col-xs-12″][vc_column_text]We certainly don\u2019t need the exploitation of these exotic species but most importantly we don\u2019t need the underlying greed for consumption of every thing, in every possible conceivable way. The \u201cWet markets\u201d of China might be the origin of Covid-19 this time, but China is not the problem here. On the bigger scale, the problem isn\u2019t even the \u201cwet markets\u201d. Wet markets, and all sorts of trades worldwide are the example of a problematic relationship between sellers and buyers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think of all the terrible trades there are everywhere in the world that exist just to support some human vice\u2014fueled by money and the personal freedoms that have become synonymous with capitalism and the \u201canything is possible\u201d attitude. I don\u2019t blame the poachers, or the sellers\u2014many of whom have unintentionally put themselves at great risk or even passed away now in the pursuit of this trade. I blame the pull<\/em>\u2014I blame the consumers<\/em>\u2014I blame this and a thousand other unplanned and unpredictable mutations of human ambition, desires, and capitalism run amok. I blame the need for overconsumption. I blame the push for quantity over quality. I blame the focus on unsustainable growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is time to ask the right questions. Even make a few suggestions. It is not about pointing fingers. It is all about identifying opportunities for improvement. It is time to rethink and act. It is time to reduce future risks. If we believe in a conscious version of capitalism, now is the perfect opportunity to get the conversation going.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please comment, criticize, or share\u2026<\/em><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]