I am watching the sun rise. Pure joy. The magic of the transforming horizon amazes and lifts me ever time despite my having witnessed it many thousands of times over my 60 years spinning around on this rock. I am enjoying a coffee as I do so not an entirely consumption free activity but pretty close. “Less stuff, more joy” is a wonderful philosophy. I have been working to embrace it for several years now. It is not an easy or quick journey to move away from succumbing to the nagging voice telling me that “if only I had (insert latest manufactured need here) my life would be complete”. The forces fighting that shift every step of the way, internal and external, are strong and know well how to push the buttons of my primitive “grab what you can now it may not be there tomorrow “ mind. And, a casual glance around my place would probably have you questioning my commitment to my new guiding principles. I still have a lot of stuff. But look a little closer and you will notice that almost all of it is not my stuff, it is yours. Things that you tossed aside long before their usefulness expired to chase the latest shiner version or substitute. Look even closer and you may start to notice that much of it is stuff that was built to last and that can be repaired and reused, often for generations. Much of it had already served at least one generation before it found its way to me. Look even closer and you will start to see that much of it was chosen because it will help allow me to get to a place where I and those I share this place with will need to consume less in the future. I make no claim to the moral high ground. I have a lot of making up to the world to do before I will have paid my debt to the future but I am trying to be better. The remarkable thing I have found is that with each step I take toward the idea that there is such a thing as enough I find more joy, not less. Less time chasing stuff leaves a lot more time for watching sunrises.
Less Stuff, More Wealth! My dad was not an environmentalist, but he taught me the value of not internalizing the consumerist culture. He was an immigrant who believed in saving, ie he would pay cash for something like a car which loses value the second you buy it. And when I was growing up I realized our consumerist friends and family were not any happier. And now I have the ability to work less buy what I really want have money for an emergency and no consumer debt.
Yes! This is what I want to be doing more intentionally. I hate that we have so much stuff and that we keep buying more. I want to buy less and be more intentional about what we buy. And that can actually mean living better.
Nobody forced anyone to get a COVID 19 vaccine - isn't that the line?
There has been zero marketing for increasing natural health, growing your own food and reducing your carbon footprint, that's how we know this is pure evil and all about control
Suffice it to say that I think you are wrong with respect to pretty much every conclusion you come to. If you think there is such a thing as absolute freedom in a social group I am very curious as to where you grew up. It has certainly not been my experience. If you are prepared to deny that human activity (yours included) is impacting the climate and more generally the planet’s ability to sustain diverse life despite the data, I won’t try to change your mind by writing in all caps. I will encourage you to look again. The numbers get more convincing pretty much on a daily basis so maybe you will see something that you missed before. The “stealing my freedom is not disingenuous” because it comes from people who are in the “haves”. It is disingenuous because it is not really a call for freedom at all but rather a call for tyranny by a minority at the expense of the rest. I do agree with your conclusion that the world is not fair. I just happen to think that one of the most important things that distinguishes a civilized society from a barbaric one is level to which it manages to make it more fair. Fair does not necessarily translate to equal outcome. It is more about equal opportunity. Hope we can convince you that there is something better about creating a decent world for everyone. Peace.
"The most important lesson of the report is its emphasis on consumption rather than production."
OK, but if everyone consumes less, not only will production be less but there will also be fewer jobs—and in an overleveraged world in excess of $330 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities that will eventually need to be paid off, where is the revenue going to come from to pay the taxes that feeds the beast of government and its entitlements?
Lloyd, you say that no one is telling you that you HAVE to give up hamburgers and new pants, but we all know that governments around the world are clearly working towards making those things more expensive as well as scarce. It will be imposed through one form of coercive fiat or another because the ONLY way that we collectively meet our 1.5°C goals is by draconian tyrannical diktat, no exceptions.
You also write that JUMP says, “Live for joy, not stuff" but it still takes stuff to enjoy doing things that EACH of us enjoy, in our own way. I live in Phoenix; every weekend driving on the freeways I see quite a number of people hauling their boat out of the city towards Lake Pleasant, Lake Powell, or Lake Havasu; I see a good number of others that are hauling their sand buggies and campers to rip it through the dunes of the Imperial Sand Dunes with friends and family. Just think—all that embodied carbon in those boats, sand buggies, RV's, trucks, and toy haulers, to say nothing of the gas to get there (because EV trucks aren't going to cut it with the mountainous terrain) or the many other things like food, perhaps lodging, safety gear, and more. Those are but two small examples of what could be seen as "unnecessary" indulgences that should be banned (sorry, "gotten rid of") yet for those people it bring them GREAT joy to have all that "stuff" and use it as frequently as possible.
And that's the crux of the issue—how do you not only define what joy is, but also convince others to sign on to your own personal vision of what joy should look like? Everyone is different; everyone is unique; everyone has their own interests, goals, dreams, and ideals of happiness. How, then, can anyone tell everyone that their happiness is wrong unless you force them to comply through coercion, either direct or indirect by way of regulation? Are we not free people? Yet every day we read about there being less freedom thanks to government intrusion in the form of regulation compliance: energy production, light bulbs, gas stoves, A/C, water heaters, ceiling fans, meatless school meals ... the list goes on. What of the market and building a better mousetrap that will beat a path to those winners because they have the superior product? I guess if you remove any alternatives, then the free market isn't really free—it's going to be made up of companies that sell exactly what the government tells them they're allowed to sell, i.e. communist dictatorship.
Having said all that, let me thank you for keeping comments open here on Carbon Upfront! because TreeHugger management are a bunch of weak, echo chamber loving wussies and eliminated all comments. They've lost all respectability ever since new management did the shake-up last year, and it's showing. It's a shallower, uglier version of HGTV.com and I am sorry for their incompetence affecting you and Sami and others.
My "Less Now, More Later" mantra. Now, embrace a Less lifestyle – less heating and cooling (GreenBetween 13°C-30°C/55°F-85°F, https://greenbetween.home.blog), less driving, less flying, less meat-eating, less population-growth (2 children max). Later, we can embrace a More lifestyle made carbon-free by implementation of green technology and infrastructure.
No apologies for my mantra. Minimizing the unprecedented and increasing human suffering of global warming is about promptly minimizing our greenhouse gas emissions. The mantra focuses on the heavy hitters. Consumption as usual - the alternative to Less - means our greenhouse gas emissions continue. We each decide - be the problem, or be the solution. One or the other. Nobody is entitled to be shielded from reality.
Tenaciously promote the consumer message. Chat with relatives, friends, strangers on the street… . Pitch it at community events - picnics, car shows… . Find files for promotional materials on the Promote page of the above mentioned GreenBetween website.
Expect resistance from many climate activist leaders - they will attempt to actively suppress you for fear your consumer focus will distract from their supplier focus. Sad, the greenhouse gas emissions of demand continue.
Caution against premature reversion to More. Progress implementing green technology and infrastructure (e.g. electric vehicles, heat pumps…) is wonderful and essential, but the need to conserve energy remains while totally-green electric grids are a work-in-progress. And then there is the upfront carbon cost of replacing green infrastructure worn out by extensive use.
Great piece as always! I think one of the problems is that we’ve built our entire economy to be dependent on mining raw virgin materials, manufacturing, and consumption.
I interviewed author Sandra Goldmark on my podcast recently and she has some really smart ideas about creating marketplaces for used goods and the economic activity that can come from offering repairs. Both still generate revenue but are far less destructive. Reducing our clothing consumption requires an attitude shift but also viable alternatives to fast fashion for example.
The first step is to get the data correct, such as carbon emissions from animal farming when you ask people to adopt a plant-based diet. I think that some of the data that we have are vague estimations and not very vetted. For instance, it's possible to have farm operations that are carbon negative. Same with emissions saved with solar panels and other major technologies--those emissions figures need to be open and verified.
It's very optimistic to think that people are going to adopt an extreme minimalist lifestyle at this point in time. Lloyd, the evangelist, can't even do it himself, it seems, such as in the long flight category.
So, we need a plan B. I think a solution will be to try to get as minimal in consumption as possible, and converting to clean energy as much as possible also (while updating and making precise the emissions data for solar panels, which are often produced in China with coal-powered energy). Then, for the remaining fossil fuel that we use, we need a global agreement on offsetting--that all or a high percentage of the carbon is offset at the production stage. This means we also need to get precise with carbon sequestration techniques and data. Thus, the price of offsetting would be built into all goods and services, making them net-zero but also more expensive, thus lowering consumption. All of this will take time, education, scientific excellence, and political agreement.
I am watching the sun rise. Pure joy. The magic of the transforming horizon amazes and lifts me ever time despite my having witnessed it many thousands of times over my 60 years spinning around on this rock. I am enjoying a coffee as I do so not an entirely consumption free activity but pretty close. “Less stuff, more joy” is a wonderful philosophy. I have been working to embrace it for several years now. It is not an easy or quick journey to move away from succumbing to the nagging voice telling me that “if only I had (insert latest manufactured need here) my life would be complete”. The forces fighting that shift every step of the way, internal and external, are strong and know well how to push the buttons of my primitive “grab what you can now it may not be there tomorrow “ mind. And, a casual glance around my place would probably have you questioning my commitment to my new guiding principles. I still have a lot of stuff. But look a little closer and you will notice that almost all of it is not my stuff, it is yours. Things that you tossed aside long before their usefulness expired to chase the latest shiner version or substitute. Look even closer and you may start to notice that much of it is stuff that was built to last and that can be repaired and reused, often for generations. Much of it had already served at least one generation before it found its way to me. Look even closer and you will start to see that much of it was chosen because it will help allow me to get to a place where I and those I share this place with will need to consume less in the future. I make no claim to the moral high ground. I have a lot of making up to the world to do before I will have paid my debt to the future but I am trying to be better. The remarkable thing I have found is that with each step I take toward the idea that there is such a thing as enough I find more joy, not less. Less time chasing stuff leaves a lot more time for watching sunrises.
Less Stuff, More Wealth! My dad was not an environmentalist, but he taught me the value of not internalizing the consumerist culture. He was an immigrant who believed in saving, ie he would pay cash for something like a car which loses value the second you buy it. And when I was growing up I realized our consumerist friends and family were not any happier. And now I have the ability to work less buy what I really want have money for an emergency and no consumer debt.
Yes! This is what I want to be doing more intentionally. I hate that we have so much stuff and that we keep buying more. I want to buy less and be more intentional about what we buy. And that can actually mean living better.
Nobody forced anyone to get a COVID 19 vaccine - isn't that the line?
There has been zero marketing for increasing natural health, growing your own food and reducing your carbon footprint, that's how we know this is pure evil and all about control
Suffice it to say that I think you are wrong with respect to pretty much every conclusion you come to. If you think there is such a thing as absolute freedom in a social group I am very curious as to where you grew up. It has certainly not been my experience. If you are prepared to deny that human activity (yours included) is impacting the climate and more generally the planet’s ability to sustain diverse life despite the data, I won’t try to change your mind by writing in all caps. I will encourage you to look again. The numbers get more convincing pretty much on a daily basis so maybe you will see something that you missed before. The “stealing my freedom is not disingenuous” because it comes from people who are in the “haves”. It is disingenuous because it is not really a call for freedom at all but rather a call for tyranny by a minority at the expense of the rest. I do agree with your conclusion that the world is not fair. I just happen to think that one of the most important things that distinguishes a civilized society from a barbaric one is level to which it manages to make it more fair. Fair does not necessarily translate to equal outcome. It is more about equal opportunity. Hope we can convince you that there is something better about creating a decent world for everyone. Peace.
"The most important lesson of the report is its emphasis on consumption rather than production."
OK, but if everyone consumes less, not only will production be less but there will also be fewer jobs—and in an overleveraged world in excess of $330 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities that will eventually need to be paid off, where is the revenue going to come from to pay the taxes that feeds the beast of government and its entitlements?
Lloyd, you say that no one is telling you that you HAVE to give up hamburgers and new pants, but we all know that governments around the world are clearly working towards making those things more expensive as well as scarce. It will be imposed through one form of coercive fiat or another because the ONLY way that we collectively meet our 1.5°C goals is by draconian tyrannical diktat, no exceptions.
You also write that JUMP says, “Live for joy, not stuff" but it still takes stuff to enjoy doing things that EACH of us enjoy, in our own way. I live in Phoenix; every weekend driving on the freeways I see quite a number of people hauling their boat out of the city towards Lake Pleasant, Lake Powell, or Lake Havasu; I see a good number of others that are hauling their sand buggies and campers to rip it through the dunes of the Imperial Sand Dunes with friends and family. Just think—all that embodied carbon in those boats, sand buggies, RV's, trucks, and toy haulers, to say nothing of the gas to get there (because EV trucks aren't going to cut it with the mountainous terrain) or the many other things like food, perhaps lodging, safety gear, and more. Those are but two small examples of what could be seen as "unnecessary" indulgences that should be banned (sorry, "gotten rid of") yet for those people it bring them GREAT joy to have all that "stuff" and use it as frequently as possible.
And that's the crux of the issue—how do you not only define what joy is, but also convince others to sign on to your own personal vision of what joy should look like? Everyone is different; everyone is unique; everyone has their own interests, goals, dreams, and ideals of happiness. How, then, can anyone tell everyone that their happiness is wrong unless you force them to comply through coercion, either direct or indirect by way of regulation? Are we not free people? Yet every day we read about there being less freedom thanks to government intrusion in the form of regulation compliance: energy production, light bulbs, gas stoves, A/C, water heaters, ceiling fans, meatless school meals ... the list goes on. What of the market and building a better mousetrap that will beat a path to those winners because they have the superior product? I guess if you remove any alternatives, then the free market isn't really free—it's going to be made up of companies that sell exactly what the government tells them they're allowed to sell, i.e. communist dictatorship.
Having said all that, let me thank you for keeping comments open here on Carbon Upfront! because TreeHugger management are a bunch of weak, echo chamber loving wussies and eliminated all comments. They've lost all respectability ever since new management did the shake-up last year, and it's showing. It's a shallower, uglier version of HGTV.com and I am sorry for their incompetence affecting you and Sami and others.
My "Less Now, More Later" mantra. Now, embrace a Less lifestyle – less heating and cooling (GreenBetween 13°C-30°C/55°F-85°F, https://greenbetween.home.blog), less driving, less flying, less meat-eating, less population-growth (2 children max). Later, we can embrace a More lifestyle made carbon-free by implementation of green technology and infrastructure.
No apologies for my mantra. Minimizing the unprecedented and increasing human suffering of global warming is about promptly minimizing our greenhouse gas emissions. The mantra focuses on the heavy hitters. Consumption as usual - the alternative to Less - means our greenhouse gas emissions continue. We each decide - be the problem, or be the solution. One or the other. Nobody is entitled to be shielded from reality.
Tenaciously promote the consumer message. Chat with relatives, friends, strangers on the street… . Pitch it at community events - picnics, car shows… . Find files for promotional materials on the Promote page of the above mentioned GreenBetween website.
Expect resistance from many climate activist leaders - they will attempt to actively suppress you for fear your consumer focus will distract from their supplier focus. Sad, the greenhouse gas emissions of demand continue.
Caution against premature reversion to More. Progress implementing green technology and infrastructure (e.g. electric vehicles, heat pumps…) is wonderful and essential, but the need to conserve energy remains while totally-green electric grids are a work-in-progress. And then there is the upfront carbon cost of replacing green infrastructure worn out by extensive use.
Great piece as always! I think one of the problems is that we’ve built our entire economy to be dependent on mining raw virgin materials, manufacturing, and consumption.
I interviewed author Sandra Goldmark on my podcast recently and she has some really smart ideas about creating marketplaces for used goods and the economic activity that can come from offering repairs. Both still generate revenue but are far less destructive. Reducing our clothing consumption requires an attitude shift but also viable alternatives to fast fashion for example.
https://heathracela.substack.com/p/106-author-sandra-goldmark-on-fixing#details
The first step is to get the data correct, such as carbon emissions from animal farming when you ask people to adopt a plant-based diet. I think that some of the data that we have are vague estimations and not very vetted. For instance, it's possible to have farm operations that are carbon negative. Same with emissions saved with solar panels and other major technologies--those emissions figures need to be open and verified.
It's very optimistic to think that people are going to adopt an extreme minimalist lifestyle at this point in time. Lloyd, the evangelist, can't even do it himself, it seems, such as in the long flight category.
So, we need a plan B. I think a solution will be to try to get as minimal in consumption as possible, and converting to clean energy as much as possible also (while updating and making precise the emissions data for solar panels, which are often produced in China with coal-powered energy). Then, for the remaining fossil fuel that we use, we need a global agreement on offsetting--that all or a high percentage of the carbon is offset at the production stage. This means we also need to get precise with carbon sequestration techniques and data. Thus, the price of offsetting would be built into all goods and services, making them net-zero but also more expensive, thus lowering consumption. All of this will take time, education, scientific excellence, and political agreement.