Climate Changing Communities

"Development" or "Exploitation"

After a hiatus...writing from a book called "Climate Change and International Politics" by Dr Narottam Gann.   Incidentally came across this book and the excerpt I am to write here is what I have started to believe in... the definition of "Development", "Developed", "Modern", "Civilized", " Sustainable" .. 

"The more the matter is explored, developed, harnessed and transformed into different forms for the commodious living, wealth production and inordinate life style of human beings, the more human beings and the nations are considered modern, developed and civilized. The different civilizations and cultures' ancient wisdom of looking at nature as nothing but a part of the larger self, a separate subjectivity woven into the coordinated whole of the entire being  were sacrificed at the altar of science's deification of matter. the nature and other living human and non-human beings and non-living elements are treated as "the other" to be exploited for the attainment of end set by both science and state. This gave rise to the emergence of power by which the rich propertied class remaining at the helm of affairs arrogated to themselves the rightness of authority in the form of the sovereign state to do so.. with this view dominating and founding the epidemiological coping stone of the western notion of what constitutes development. This became gradually the Bible of development for all nations of the world. As a primary requirement of this development, nature came under the fury human exploitation. Nature no longer remained the guiding determinant of human being's way of life, social,economic and political structure and functions. It remained subordinate and hostage to the western view of defining life and development. Translated into reality, this rightness of action over nature and others as the sine qua non of development became the synonym for power and when legitimized by the consent of the governed for the attainment of the goals, and confined to a territorial exclusivity became the modern sovereign state. The unimpeded right to abundant economic growth, wealth production and inordinate life style becoming  the premise of modern liberal state resulted in a dominant rich class having the reins of authority. This became the ruling class within a state and the imperialist power in interstate relations having the sole authority by military class and economic power to extract the resources anywhere in the world. When this class spread its liberal market economy and logic to all parts of the globe through its MNC and TNC, it resulted in globalization  By this process, the nature was exploited and despoliated as this could provide the raw materials for development based on fossil fuel technology and industrialization  Development thus understood in the western liberal lexicon constituted the benchmark and the ultimate lodestar for all the nations of the world."