Governments rattle on continuously about GDP growth. It is a new religion, capitalism and consumerism, and we are all, to some extent or other, believers, even when we try our level best to minimize our destructive footprint.
What is clear is the drive to grow and consume is wrecking the planet. But there is another less popular but more sustainable path we can all take.
‘Small is Beautiful’
British economist E.F. Schumacher coined the phrase, “Small is Beautiful,” in a book he published in 1973 that focused on “economics as if people mattered.” As country leaders meet in Qatar at the UN Climate Change Conference to try to deal with the increasingly destructive fall-out from climate change caused by pumping far too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we need to revisit Schumacher’s idea.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan may be on the right track when it trumpets the idea of happiness as the real indicator of progress rather than economic growth. Admittedly, the country is small, with less than a million people, so relatively easy to control.
Growth of ‘transition communities’
At the same time, a movement is growing around the world based on a similar, local vision that tries to limit the destruction caused by modern-day consumerism. Transition towns or communities are growing, largely as the result of ideas that sprung up in the 1980s to early 2000s that focused on local self-sustaining communities as the way forward for society.
Leader in the field has been the Transition Network started by Rob Hopkins in Britain, which built on his work with students with permaculture.
The focus is on sustainable living and building local ecological resilience. It is happening now, and the ideas are spreading around the world.
Transition communities look to local sustainable solutions to living that include local vegetable gardens and food production, local energy solutions, reduction in waste, local employment, minimizing travel and energy-consuming travel, and even the use of a local currency to help local sustainable businesses.
Big companies and wasteful practices are out, small, local solutions are in.
And, it could well be the model for the future for many communities around the world if patronized and given support.
If this sounds a pie-in-the-sky dream, then check it out in action around the world. ‘Small’ works and it really is “beautiful.” There is even an example of a transition community operating in Brixton, a southern suburb of London.
Making this happen on a global level is a tough challenge, but it is one of many vital options that need to be pursued if man has any chance of getting off the suicidal and ecocidal path he is currently on.
Critics will of course try to tear the idea apart by claiming 7 billion people cannot live by growing their own food, exchanging a fossil fuel-consuming lifestyle, for a more sustainable one. They will raise issues of employment, comfort, and standard of living and champion their right to eat MacDonald’s hamburgers, drink Starbucks coffee, and buy flat-screen TVs.
Nobody is suggesting this is easy. But a start is being made.
Maybe Bhutan does really have an inkling where “nirvana” can be found!
Check out more at Transition Network.
Check out this website in the U.S. that promotes sustainable living, Transition Voice.
Earth Tribe – Activist News will revisit this way of living regularly in the coming months.
