Blog Action Day Post: Consumption

I’ve always felt in my heart of hearts that society as we know it isn’t right. There’s too much hunger, sadness, anger, and envy, leaving too many people using those negative emotions to clamor for more: more food, more happiness, more peace, and more satisfaction which we try to obtain through ownership of material things. After all, this is what is valued in our society. Why wouldn’t we do that?

This kind of values system, however, has wrecked havoc on our environment. Overfishing, clearing forests, mountaintop mining, SUVs that get 8 mpg and a thousand other things – all happen because we need more, to fill our voids, to make us feel happy, like we belong, like we’re important. Heck, I know all about filling voids: I’m an addict. Consider then, that, in a way, our society is an addict.

In our generation we need to see a massive change in the way we live our lives. Think, again, of the addict: if he sobers up, life becomes a wonderful place. If not, he dies. It’s the same for the environment. If we don’t stop overusing the planet’s natural resources, they will run out and as a result, we will die.

Here’s our problem: capitalism functions under the premise that there is always more to get. There is an infinite achievable more which will motivate competitors and markets to acquire it, thereby keeping the whole system rolling. It’s a great idea, but it is flawed. Every scientist knows perpetual motion does not exist.

When Adam Smith suggested such things, it was in an era of unlimited natural resources. The industrial revolution had not quite begun and gold, which still mattered, was still being discovered in free land in California! This makes capitalism a great idea – to encourage innovation, progress, forward motion. But as we now know, our natural resources are not actually limitless: they are in fact very bounded by the pace that the earth can reproduce them. These natural resources are the tools all of life needs in order to be sustained – including our industries, our food production, our modern way of life.

Capitalism is not working anymore and since we’re not going to be discovering any new continents any time soon, and mother earth does not function on Western society’s time clock, we need to change our ungrateful ways. Since 1961, humanity has outpaced its use of resources with the planet’s ability to recoup them by about 15%. You think credit card debt is bad? Folks, we’re in debt to the planet.

Now, I believe in people. We are not a hopeless lot. And we know socialism and Marxism also bonked so they are not the answer. I think the answer is to move from a global economy to a more local one (think “neighborhood”). Move from paper money to physical commodities (think a transaction at the store being a goods or skills trade for the things you need, like the carton of eggs I got for writing a solicitation letter). Move toward community, and away from individuality (think caring for the people around you, not only your close family but all those people in your neighborhood) – at all costs. As the most advanced civilization ever to inhabit earth, with the knowledge we have we should be able to live in a global community – the Internet connecting us all to share stories, experiences, information – without having to withstand a deadly (and dead-end) global economy – which is where the ever-forward model of capitalism has taken us. I’m not too sure the corn grown by a handful of farmers in the US should feed the livestock that goes into making hamburger patties for burger joints around the world making about two people (DuPont and ConAgra) rich. Yet it does.

We can all think what we want today. We can all have our opinions and solutions and no one will be wrong. But there is one truth to all of this we must remember: the planet’s resources are not limitless, and not only ours (all other species deserve to share them too). If not given the time to rejuvenate before we harvest them again, they will run out.

Some recommended reading for the choir and the moderates (e.g. not my brother):

The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto. Gives a great breakdown of Capitalism and why and how it works without making a judgment on whether it is good or bad. Honest.

The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman. Helps everyone understand the terror of a global market using our favorite store as an example. Even people who love Wal-Mart hate Wal-Mart.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Beautifully written book that takes you through a global industrial food economy, as well as a local one. Then you can choose which on you think is tastier and more environmentally healthy.

Deep Economy by Bill McKibben. This one was my gospel, basically. He is a great writer who puts complex ideas into simple terms: he got me to understand the need for a push to a local economy.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. He gives a nicely written account of how the earth would recover from all we’ve done to it we were to completely disappear as a society. Tons of great factoids and tidbits in this book – learned a lot of things I didn’t know. Best part: thinking about what would happen to a functioning nuclear power plant if people vanished and could no longer move the controls.

The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler. Whopping doomsday book about what will happen to people once the end of the oil era comes, like a rain of fire! I loved it! But did become severely depressed for weeks after reading.

Tags: blog action day, capitalism, community, environment, local economy