Learning To Live Sustainably - Why Should I?
Despite the growth in media coverage and numerous national and global forums - Kyoto, WWF etc environmental damage is still accelerating - it is not under control.
The main reasons are that (a) per capita consumption is growing and (b) the global population is increasing (6.5 Billion now, 9 Billion in another 25-35 years on the current growth curve).
And within this scenario there is one big truth that as a civilisation we are not willing to face. What we collectively don’t want to acknowledge is that the current growth in consumption and population is sustainable. Quite clearly it is not.
Fundamentally we are sacrificing the future sustainability of our civilisation in its current form for consumption, growth, profits and comfort.
You might think this is "tragic" or "unbelievable" but in fact it’s how human history to date has played out. The difference this time is that technology and use of non-renewable energy sources (oil, coal etc) have enabled the civilisation to grow much bigger than any previous one.
Unfortunately this means that the disruption and collapse that will occur when the energy sources (or arable land, or water sources, or forest, or necessary bio diversity etc etc) run out will be more severe.
The economic and social mantras of our time are (a) grow and (b) consume.
However, consumption is already beyond the ability of the planet Earth to sustain. Examples:
- For the last few years less grain has been produced than has been consumed.
- You may have read about "peak oil". It appears very likely that the maxiumum amount of oil that can ever be produced by all the oil fields and refineries around the world has been hit around about now. It may have alreasdy happened, it may occur in a year or two.
- Few new oil fields have been discovered in recent years - there’s no expansion in oil reserves.
- Yet China wants to quadruple its number of cars from 30 million to 120 million in the next few years. India wants to join the party. It just doesn’t add up.
Ultimately, sustainability does not mean choosing the air conditioner with 5 stars instead of 4, it means choosing to go without the air conditioner. And this applies to many of the so-called comforts of modern life. It means other things too such as using public transport more, driving less, flying less and so on.
- Is this easy to do? No
- Will your neighbours and kids think you’re crazy? Probably
- Will anybody thank you? No, not today.
Cuba has already gone through its own peak oil experience and has gone back to a more agricultural society where a much greater proportion of the people work on the land.
So the imperative is to learn how to survive at a lower, sustainable level of consumption.
Will many people do this? Unlikely, its too hard, we’re too addicted to comfort and convenience and our economic and societal systems are set up to reward consumption.
It boils down to its your choice whether you learn to acquire the skills to live sustainably.
My prediction is that you’ll need these skills, probably in the next 5-15 years, but hey I could be wrong!
