Seite 110 [110]
108 | Tue PaicosoPuy or Eco-Pozrrics
Whoever mentions ecological self-restraint merely reveals thereby that
at the bottom of his/her heart, they holds good to be bad and that they
would prefer what they must sadly now call bad. In contrast, the basis
of the ecological worldview is the conviction that good is truly good and
bad is really bad. The struggle against what is bad requires no self¬
restraint from us. Quite the contrary: it liberates. Whoever does not feel
this should not worry about it and, above all, should not attempt to
convince others of it.
2.... and how can they achieve it?
Let us have no illusions: the glaciers are melting, the drinking water is
being polluted, debt is mounting, jobs are decreasing and the number
of hungry, uneducated, ill, hurt and therefore desperate people is
increasing worldwide — and it is all for nothing, for the overwhelming
majority maintains its steadfast belief in the validity of the common
explanatory theories, i.e., in the necessity of the existing social order.
‘They view the increasingly alarming disorder around them as a mere
technical mishap; inconvenient obstacles on the difficult road towards
the established good goals. The plentiful choice of means is guaranteed
by the increasingly dazzling development of science and technology and
for their fair distribution no better solution is known than a combination
of some sort of free competition and the welfare state.
This belief is based on three preconceptions: that material plenty can
be increased ad infinitum, that the democratic state and the operation
of the market economy correspond to their original purpose and finally
— and above all — that plentiful choice and the democratic institutions
make it possible for everyone to decide what goals to follow; reaching
them depends primarily on the individual. As regards the illusion of
infinite growth, its refutation is today quite widely known. We have
encountered it within this book; the perspectives of the ecological critique
of the market economy were also examined. Now we take a closer look
at the basic principle of free society, the autonomy of the individual — or
what is meant by it; that is, independent choice. ‘The conclusions will be
of use in clarifying the relation of the Greens to democracy. We seek the
political conditions, the fulfilment of which will enable the realisation
of the green goals outlined in the previous chapter.
We must return to the point that living beings are able to give a
sovereign answer to the challenge of nature from a system-based