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President of the European Commission

Dear Ms von der Leyen,

There is a solution to the planetary ecological problems.

It is simple; all consumers must spend their money only on goods and services that leave the environment in good shape.  When they do, they not only live in harmony with Nature but they also maintain a very basic business relationship with each other because they spend their money to achieve a common goal.  Such a relationship is in principle successful when all partners have a financial interest in realising the desired result, in this case, keeping Nature sound. 

Consumers can be paid to maintain ways of living that leave their surroundings impeccable with the money which is now being spent on repairing the damage to the environment caused by mankind’s present ways of living.  Since it is less costly to keep anything in good condition than having to repair it continuously, there is enough money to reward the consumer for living in harmony with Nature.  

It will be in the financial and personal interests of consumers to search for and buy products that left the environment unharmed when they receive 30 % of the ecological value of any purchase they make in reduction of the price to be paid.  –  The ecological value of a product is the percentage of its costs of production that was made for goods and services that used natural resources in a sustainable manner.  –   If one buys a 100€ shirt with a 50% ecological value one receives 15€ in reduction.  –  Such a reward motivates consumers to look for and demand products with the highest ecological value.

The practise of rewarding the consumer with a percentage of the ecological value of each purchase, eventually establishes a balance between the financial and personal interests of the consumer and the similar interests of the producer in developing an economy in which only products are traded that are increasingly hundred percent ecological

The solution is presented at www.biosustainable.org Ethical Market Economy together with the three new concepts I founded in the science of economy.

Think about it and when you realise that the solution is sound and effective you give the order to launch this economy in which mankind lives in harmony with Nature, without hunger and in peace that can become permanent.  

If this does not happen, then the economy will be kept going by maintaining growth in its development which implies that billions of people must continue to consume more of the limited resources of the planet.  That is not possible as the Earth Overshoot Day proves by happening almost every year earlier in the year. There is a link between that growth and natural catastrophes. By maintaining growth in development natural catastrophes, which are already increasing in number and destructiveness at a remarkable rate, will wipe out large parts of the human population in the lives of this or the next few generations.   

Respectfully yours,

Willem Adrianus de Bruijn

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It is no longer possible to ensure mankind’s survival with the macroeconomic practice of maintaining growth in the development of the economy. 

That practice can be replaced with the one of preserving the integrity[1] of Nature in the development of the economy.  It is one way to ensure a sustainable development defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need”[2].  

Only the consumer can effectively and efficiently keep the Earth in good condition, because he can spend his money on products that do not harm the environment.  

Give the consumer a financial interest in maintaining ways of living that safeguard the integrity of Nature and he will do this consciously, with pleasure and out of self interest.  Realizing that living in harmony with Nature is a good way of living, he will want to continue living in this way. 

The macroeconomic practice of preserving the integrity of Nature is then bound to appeal to the consumer because he is interested to guide the advancement of the streams of commodities towards progressing within the green borders of Nature.  

[1] Merriam Webster definition of integrity https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/integrity

[2] IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development) https://www.iisd.org/about-iisd/sustainable-development

The ethical market economy that evolves from consumers caring for the environment is explained under Ethical Market Economy (EME) Report  at www.biosustainable.org/Ethical Market Economy.  

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