Guest: It is better to play the role of the ant than the cicada

Imagine: one morning, you see your neighbor, who you know is of rather modest means, parking a brand new sports car in front of his house. A little later, when you meet him in the street, he asks you if you can take care of watering his plants while he is away, because he is planning to go to a hotel with his whole family for two months in the Maldives. luxury. Before you can even find a way to politely ask him where this sudden wealth comes from, he tells you that he is going to finance all of this with a loan of several hundred thousand francs, which he used to buy his new car, to completely change the furniture in his apartment and to install a jacuzzi on his balcony. He goes on to explain to you that he has no idea how he’s going to pay it all back, but that he’ll find something when the time comes.

Your reaction would most certainly be surprise at the very least, probably concern and probably a bit of annoyance. It is in fact in no way reasonable to go into heavy debt and squander the money borrowed without knowing if and how we will one day be able to repay it.

But what is true for a household’s finances is also true for our planet’s natural resources. Humanity has in fact been living on credit for many years, consuming far more resources than the environment can regenerate. We are thus drawing on “natural capital”, gradually depleting forests, soil fertility, drinking water resources and so on. Of course, we are not yet experiencing the full brunt of the consequences, but it is future generations who risk paying the high price, a bit like the heirs of the character imagined above will one day have to assume his debts.

It is therefore an understatement to say that the “For Environmental Responsibility” initiative on which we will vote on February 9th is a knock on common sense! It indeed requires us to include in our Constitution the principle according to which economic activities only use resources and emit pollutants to the extent that the natural bases of life are preserved. In other words, we stop degrading our environment to keep the economy running.

At the forefront of progress

Establish a “natural debt brake”, in the same way that we have put in place a “debt brake” for federal or cantonal finances. This is an idea that would allow Switzerland to once again be at the forefront of progress, and to turn its economic system towards real sustainability.

At a time of climate change and resource depletion, it seems preferable to play the role of the ant rather than the cicada of La Fontaine’s fable, and a yes vote at the ballot boxes on February 9 would clearly put us on the path to success. this way.

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