The answer is simple. Consume less. If you have to consume (you gotta eat) then consume better (sustainably, regeneratively) or get ready for a hard crash. Getting to a sustainable place is hard for a bunch of reasons but up front and centre is the reality that, essentially, the entire planet operates on a model that assumes perpetual gr…
The answer is simple. Consume less. If you have to consume (you gotta eat) then consume better (sustainably, regeneratively) or get ready for a hard crash. Getting to a sustainable place is hard for a bunch of reasons but up front and centre is the reality that, essentially, the entire planet operates on a model that assumes perpetual growth of consumption. The economy is a pyramid scheme of the first order. Works fine in an infinite world. Not so well once you come to terms with the fact that, for all practical purposes, we exist in a finite closed loop. Despite the moonshot dreams of Musk and his ilk to solve the problem by spreading our cancer off planet, at some point there will be a reckoning here on earth that will require us to find a balance or perish. That point seems to be getting nearer at an accelerating pace. We know the solution is accepting that, when it comes to “stuff”, there is a place, not that far beyond subsistence, where less is truly more. We also should realize by now that we have a deeply rooted psychological “defect” that causes us to judge our satisfaction by relative comparison. If we are starving we think, rightly I would suggest, that becoming the one with enough food to survive will bring us to a better place. When have enough food we surmise , perhaps still rightly, that having safe, stable shelter will bring us to a better place. When operating at this level, more may indeed be better. Unfortunately too many of us for too long have been operating at a level that is so far beyond this that we have emptied the larder. We know this intellectually yet we seem not to have the ability to suppress the drive that still tells us more is better, even when we are drowning in stuff and the evidence is staring us in the face that getting more stuff is about to kill us. The disconnect between our individual actions and the fate of the planet and the life it supports is vast. It is so vast that it allows almost everyone, no matter where they may stand in the relative order of consumption, to rationalize abdicating personal responsibility for the problem. Until those of us consuming well beyond the level of basic necessity acknowledge that we have done nothing of note to deserve the privileged place we occupy and agree to accept less as enough the hard crash will be our repeating fate until we ultimately bring on the crash from which there is no recovery. We are indeed our own worst enemy. Don’t despair. A new year is coming. Resolve to do something really hard. Stop blaming the other and work honestly to be the example of a better way.
The answer is simple. Consume less. If you have to consume (you gotta eat) then consume better (sustainably, regeneratively) or get ready for a hard crash. Getting to a sustainable place is hard for a bunch of reasons but up front and centre is the reality that, essentially, the entire planet operates on a model that assumes perpetual growth of consumption. The economy is a pyramid scheme of the first order. Works fine in an infinite world. Not so well once you come to terms with the fact that, for all practical purposes, we exist in a finite closed loop. Despite the moonshot dreams of Musk and his ilk to solve the problem by spreading our cancer off planet, at some point there will be a reckoning here on earth that will require us to find a balance or perish. That point seems to be getting nearer at an accelerating pace. We know the solution is accepting that, when it comes to “stuff”, there is a place, not that far beyond subsistence, where less is truly more. We also should realize by now that we have a deeply rooted psychological “defect” that causes us to judge our satisfaction by relative comparison. If we are starving we think, rightly I would suggest, that becoming the one with enough food to survive will bring us to a better place. When have enough food we surmise , perhaps still rightly, that having safe, stable shelter will bring us to a better place. When operating at this level, more may indeed be better. Unfortunately too many of us for too long have been operating at a level that is so far beyond this that we have emptied the larder. We know this intellectually yet we seem not to have the ability to suppress the drive that still tells us more is better, even when we are drowning in stuff and the evidence is staring us in the face that getting more stuff is about to kill us. The disconnect between our individual actions and the fate of the planet and the life it supports is vast. It is so vast that it allows almost everyone, no matter where they may stand in the relative order of consumption, to rationalize abdicating personal responsibility for the problem. Until those of us consuming well beyond the level of basic necessity acknowledge that we have done nothing of note to deserve the privileged place we occupy and agree to accept less as enough the hard crash will be our repeating fate until we ultimately bring on the crash from which there is no recovery. We are indeed our own worst enemy. Don’t despair. A new year is coming. Resolve to do something really hard. Stop blaming the other and work honestly to be the example of a better way.