Human Development Index

One of the most frustrating things about the environmental movement is the number of anti-capitalism extremists who purport to speak for the environment. In my view, their views are counterproductive and harmful to the environment.

Here is the statistical index for the UN's Human Development Report for 2015:

http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr_2015_statistical_annex.pdf

Matt Ridley explains how prosperity is created. Because only prosperous countries can afford environmental protection, and only prosperous countries develop the technology that maximizes efficiency (which minimizes the use of resources), foolish socialist and centralized government ideology impairs both prosperity and environmental quality.

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-chan-zuckerberg-initiative/

"...technology can be the greatest leveller the world has seen: it can achieve what socialism promised but signally failed to deliver. (“Dot-communism”, it’s sometimes called.)

"The greatest beneficiaries, by far, of vast business ventures such as Facebook are not the founders, but the customers. When Lancashire entrepreneurs made cotton textiles affordable for all, it was all who benefited; when Rockefellers did the same for oil, or Carnegies for steel, again the overwhelming majority of the benefits flowed to the customers. One study, by William Nordhaus, found that entrepreneurs end up with less than 3% of the societal value that they have created. Some goes to financiers, but the vast bulk of the benefit turns up as consumer surplus.

"Likewise with today’s magnates: the fortunes amassed by the Messrs Gates, Jobs, Bezos and Zuckerberg are as nothing to the value that has been captured by their willing customers in the form of better services delivered far more cheaply and easily.

"So let’s ditch the zero-sum mentality and remember that an entrepreneur who makes something that was once a preserve of the rich cheaply available to ordinary people has done an act of philanthropy through his business, even if he also makes a fortune in the process....

"Zuckerberg thinks that “the only way to achieve our full potential is to channel the talents, ideas and contributions of every person in the world”. To that end he wants to get the four billion people who do not have access to the internet online."