THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

· And financial interest.
Over the past decades, as people started focusing on the issues of
the environment, the first two ways have been emphasised almost
exclusively.
History has shown that whenever financial interests contradict
regulations, financial interests almost always end up as the winners.
The permanent and mostly losing battles to enforce and-smuggling
or anti-drug regulations provide many case histories of what we
should expect from relying exclusively on a regulatory approach.
Similarly, whenever financial interests run up against moral
pressure, the battle is often even harder. Many people just decide that
they either cannot afford, or do not care enough, to follow the moral
advice when it personally costs them something.
It is apparent that large-scale changes in behaviour should only be
expected when all of these motivating forces are lined up in the same
direction. For instance, recycling glass bottles or aluminium cans has
become really effective whenever there were simultaneously:
· Regulations requiring people to recycle;
· A public information campaign about the reasons to do so;
. And last but not least, a small refundable deposit per unit.
In short, the realigning of financial interests with long-term
concerns is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one, for a truly
successful sustainability strategy.