People have always placed value on what they exchange and receive because exchange, as a social contract, improves the lives of the giver and receiver in many ways. Prior to the use of bank notes and credit as forms of money, most transactions were carried out through the exchange of owned goods or services for lacking ones. This tradition endured until the world entered the modern industrial era, which prioritised the use of advanced technologies.
However, this advancement, which does not abandon the use of water, energy, and fuel in the production of paper bank notes and coins, has resulted in mixed benefits for humanity. The world is paying the price for minting notes and mining coins. Several studies have found that the production and use of bank notes and coins emit a significant amount of CO2. This is the environmental cost of having money instead of barter and resources sharing. And, if we are truly serious about resolving the effects of overusing natural resources, we need to reconsider how we prioritised money as the only means of obtaining the necessary value in life.
We need to think about a society where everyone’s needs are met without the need for money. We need to see it as a matter of urgency to embrace sustained communal resource sharing to reduce efforts expended on depleting natural resources towards satisfying interest in holding bank notes and coins. By embracing the benefits of shared resources while also managing their challenges, everyone can reap the rewards of a more collaborative and efficient world. In other words, efforts towards going cashless across ages, races, and continents should be vigorously pursued while we cheaply produce what we want without deploying sophisticated technologies to diminish natural resources to the extent of causing greater environmental damages.
We work for money because we want to achieve certain social and economic interests. We want our family members, colleagues at work, and friends to see that we are better off when we are at social gatherings with the materials, we have acquired from working tirelessly. Sometimes, situations like this push people with low incomes to feel unwelcome in society and think that life is meaningless. In a moneyless society, there are many ways to achieve sustained success and fulfilment. We do not really need money to make a positive impact on others or find fulfilment in our careers or personal lives.
To reduce the chase for money towards psychological and emotional fulfilment, we need to embrace universal basic income, which provides “a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement,” that helps families stay afloat and also reduces inequality in our society. The cash payment should be done electronically. When this happens, we will not only save the planet, but we will also protect ourselves from the effects of carrying bank notes and coins around.
