I don’t want to live with a cow called Mabel
Daily, people are bombarded by conflicting messages. On the one hand, we are told the economy is in a dire position and that what we need to do is get our wallets out and spend.
Conversely, we are told about the perilous situation the environment is in, and that we should stop buying things we don’t need, take fewer (long distance at least) holidays and generally go easier on the planet.
No wonder so many people seem somewhat confused and permanently stressed.
I can see both sides of the argument and to extent find myself agreeing with both of them. However they are such conflicting objectives, such diametrically opposed ideals, that it’s hard to come to a final position on the matter. In fact by the time your work for the day is done, and you finally have a few moments to meditate on these matters, it’s all to easy to just go for some form of escapism in TV, books or computer games.
Our economy is largely based upon people consuming things they don’t need. We actually NEED very little. Food, shelter, warmth, clean drinking water…that’s about it really.
You might enjoy a new car but will you actually be happier? Probably not.
So how do we square this circle? How do we achieve an economy that can sustainably employ people without using up every last resource Earth has to offer?
There are those who advocate a return to a pre industrial society. This is simply not going to happen. Yeah let’s all sleep in one big room, along with all our pigs, goats and a cow called Mabel – the ultimate in open plan living….
There must be some middle ground where we get to keep the good things which have been invented over the past 300 years, without seeing it as a catastrophe if we begin to consume less, year on year.
Your thoughts?
Gav, you make a heap of good points! I hope you and family are well!?
The world we live in is addicted to growth. Why? How do we got off the drug?
I listened to an interesting chap on the radio down here in NZ the other day. He lives in a community (http://www.atamai.co.nz/) that aims to work on a steady state economy. He made the point that with finite resources, we will eventually be forced into a steady state economy. Being forced into this state of affairs would of course be a much more painful process than if we were to accept this and even to start making small adjustments.
http://steadystate.org/I haven’t looked at this yet, but it I thought you might find it interesting if you haven’t seen it already?
Take it easy. T
December 7, 2011 at 10:25
Hey Tim, thanks for taking the time to reply.
I had a look at those links – that community looks very interesting, even living there would not be my cup of tea. The important thing is that people are talking and trying to figure things out.
Very few people I speak with these days argue for the status quo. Those that do seem to be the extremely wealthy with vested interests and the politicians they subsidise. What I find odd is that they cannot get their heads around anything which would hurt profits, even though they must know we are on an unsustainable path. Are they not concerned about fouling the planet their children and grandchildren are to live on? There will come a point where money won’t be able to buy you out of the consequences. It’s almost like they think there is somewhere other than Earth they can go!
December 8, 2011 at 14:13