This is a short précis of the upcoming book by Econation founder, Michael Lockhart, called One Life: Sustainabilism and the Art of Living Only Life.
We only have one life, and we only have one planet; they are both precious and it is crucial that we don’t waste either of them on things that don’t matter.
By focussing on only what matters we will improve our well-being and reduce our consumption footprint which will therefore improve the well-being of nature. This is a win-win for people and our planet. The question then is what matters and what doesn’t.
The things that matter are the vital and essential things that are proven to create well-being, including: relationships, meaningful and rewarding work, memorable experiences, personal development, generosity of spirit, creativity and healthy living. Interestingly, none of these things have very much to do with consumption, if anything. The best things in life are not things.
The things that don’t matter are the trivial, superfluous things that don’t create well-being, and usually detract from it. They are often to do with passive over-consumption or other dissipative behaviours.
The predicament is over-consumption.
Firstly, over-consumption leads to resource depletion and the degradation of nature. The earth cannot sustain humanities’ current level of consumption. As a whole, humans are using 1.7 times more resources than the earth can renew each year. In affluent countries we are consuming much more than this global average. The only way we can take more than the renewable supply of resources is to deplete natural capital.
There simply is no alternative, we have to reduce consumption to sustainable levels, to ensure the ongoing health of nature and therefore the benefits we derive from it.
Secondly, over-consumption is not just unsustainable, it is also bad for all people for two fundamental reasons:
- over-consumption is unnecessary and therefore is a waste of our precious time on Earth
- over-consumption diverts us from what we really need, which is to be authentic and fulfilled beings
Authenticity is about being true to yourself and not a pawn in the rat race that we call modern life. Like animals in a zoo, people live in an artificial reality where we can’t be our natural selves. By untethering ourselves from the ‘produce and consume’ rat race we will become more independent and more able to be ourselves.
Authenticity involves doing what is right for ourselves, but also what is right for the common good.
For well-being every person needs to consume enough, that is, not too much and not too little. Every person has fundamental needs like food, clothes, shelter and the ‘tools’ that are instrumental for our development as authentic beings. After that consumption cannot provide more well-being. When you are full you are full. When you are comfortable, you can’t be more comfortable.
Enough consumption is surprisingly little, but the problem is that people don’t stop consuming once they reach this level. As a society we conflate consumption with well-being. However, well-being and consumption are not the same thing, ever more consumption does not lead to ever-more well-being. At some point consumption becomes harmful, to individuals, to society as a whole, and to nature.
In order to alleviate over-consumption we need to think about why we do it, there is no one answer but the causes might include:
- We like to look good and be respected
- We want to have what others have, and do what others do
- We are compelled to consume by commercial, political and cultural forces
- We want to fill an existential void
- We don’t know a better, alternative way
None of these things are a given. Our drives, both internal and external, can be allayed if we choose to simplify our material lives, be more self-sufficient and take the non-material path of personal growth and fulfilment.
We are not primarily consumers, we are people. We are not defined by our material wealth but by the richness of our experience of life. Once we consume enough for our physical and security survival needs, we can use that as the springboard for self-fulfilment. I call the process of self-fulfilment, ‘thriving’ – in contrast to just surviving.
The economist E.F. Schumacher wrote “since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption.” This is what I call ‘thriving at least cost’ and is the overarching goal of sustainabilism.
With the goal of naturally sustainable human well-being in mind, there are a set of ways that will help anyone practice sustainabilism, namely:
Avoid the consumerism trap. This is about understanding the difference between what is and isn’t life. Once you are surviving comfortably you can’t survive any more comfortably. Over-consumption is therefore a waste because it stops people moving on to the next thing which is to thrive.
Be true to yourself. Thriving is about active agency, as opposed to passive consumption, and becoming who you can potentially become. The psychologist Erich Fromm called this giving birth to the Self, and it is a lifelong project.
Live naturally. We live increasingly artificial, and therefore abstract, lives. People are increasingly inside in front of screens and phones, doing work that is abstract, specialised and removed from the real, natural world. To live naturally is to reconnect with our natural selves.
Do what’s right. Morality is essentially balancing the individual good and the common good. It is the way to create social cohesion which ultimately benefits everyone. Morality also extends beyond people; we also have a responsibility of care to all other life and to nature as a whole.
A sustainable system is a natural system. Our economy provides too much of what we don’t need, and not enough of what we do need. Nature itself provides the template for a sustainable economic system that is circular, local, solar and steady-state.
Living simply is to live an essential life. This is the practice of sustainability i.e. reducing your ecological footprint to a sustainable level by only consuming what you really need for your well-being. This is the basis of thriving-at-least-cost.
Embrace self-sufficiency. After reducing your footprint, producing as much as possible yourself is next. This independence provides greater resilience and certainty, as well as a sense of achievement and self-worth. Mutual self-sufficiency is when we help family, friends and neighbours to thrive as well, and they help us.