It is increasingly clear, looking at the science, that many aspects of our current economic model are entirely unsustainable from the point of view of climate-change threat. Our patterns of consumption have led to a situation where the wealthiest 10% of households on our planet (that's you and me) generate between 34 and 43% of all greenhouse-gas emissions (depending on methodology used to calculate).
The current model is driven to a great extent by our mammalian desire to rise up the status hierarchy, buying objects that project our superior place in the pecking order. Be this over-sized cars or exotic holidays in distant destinations, the biggest emitters of emissions are people who have all their basic human needs in Maslow’s pyramid met – they are neither hungry nor homeless nor cold - but want to flatter their egos. Having attained a life of comfort, they now strive for a life of luxury.
Passing through the shopping mall by Kraków’s main station the other day, the multiplicity of baubles on offer worried me. So much of what’s on sale in shops today is no longer there to cater for basic human needs, but rather to project status. Clothes to be worn once, gadgets and trinkets.
Had it not been
for the escalating climate crisis, I probably would not have worried unduly and gone
on my merry way consuming as most folks do, so as to say “look at me, I’m important and worthy of
your respect, O lesser mortals!” I am not an enemy of consumerism and capitalism
for ideological reasons – we are not born equal, and though equality of
opportunity is vital to a healthy society, not everyone is equally hard-working and
focused, and those in the workshy community should not expect
the same status in society as those who do put in the hours, do add the value and generally contribute.
And some people are more intelligent than others – and that’s just a fact.
I’m no egalitarian, but our planet is now in peril, and we are the reason.
For several years I have been winding back my consumerist
footprint. I've not been a car-owner since 2013; many of my clothes are second-hand,
I’m a careful shopper; I recycle wherever possible and compost banana-skins,
coffee grounds and everything I can't consume (food I don’t waste). I’ve not been on holiday
since 2014, not flown since March 2020 (jet-zero). The pandemic has made remote work
easier, so less travel (my media appearances are now exclusively remote, as I won’t
waste taxi time travelling to studios any more).
At conferences I attend, I am getting the flavour from HR managers and corporate leaders that employees’ priorities (especially the youngest ones) are also changing. Poland’s demographic high was in 1982, with around 700,000 births; by 2002 this had fallen to 350,000. When Poland joined the EU in 2004, it had the highest unemployment among all member states (over 20%). Today it is the second lowest (2.7%). When today’s 40-year-olds entered the labour market, they had to have sharp elbows to get up the career ladder. Today’s graduate entrants are seen as spoilt, choosy and hard to motivate. Their parents are no longer poor; life’s not a struggle.
And yet depression is a bigger problem in society today than
ever – even though communist repression ended more than three decades ago and everyone has access to the
same range of consumer goods. Have we got too much? Having scaled the heights
of Maslow’s pyramid, we’re all looking around and asking ourselves “what should
we place at the very top of it?”
I’ve written many a time about the importance of living in
comfort but not in luxury – knowing when to stop acquiring. Comfort means
freedom from hunger, illness and fear – there is nothing noble about living in
a freezing-cold house because you can’t afford to heat it. Or in ill-health because you can't afford doctors' fees or medication. If you can’t afford
to eat properly or heat your home because you spend so much money on car that serves
little more than a status symbol – then you need to sort out your priorities. Jewellry, flash watches, fancy clothes, things you buy yourself because you feel you 'deserve' them, merely put off the day you can be financially independent.
Cars are a massive contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions.
Car ownership in itself is not the problem (even a car with a big engine that
spends most of its time depreciating away in a garage) – it’s car use. And buying new cars - ordering one that hadn't yet been made - is not good environmentally, even if that new car is electric. Worst car-use of all is short-distance one-per-car commuting when perfectly good public
transport alternatives exist.
My ongoing retreat to Jakubowizna is in part a reaction to
all this, my statement; my attempt at living a life with a smaller carbon
footprint. Contentment with small joys that are not bought – not flying around
the world, ticking off landmarks from my bucket list. A daily walk, meditation,
eating healthily, processing produce from my land, exercise. The cottagecore aesthetic, as I wrote yesterday.
But this modern age has its benefits. Above all, it is online access to
unlimited resources of knowledge. Watching YouTube videos about science,
philosophy and spirituality gives me plenty to contemplate as I go on my
strolls. The existence of Wikipedia gives instant access to articles about
almost any subject I wish to deepen my knowledge about. I believe that once our
current crises have been overcome, we will find ourselves at the dawn of a new
set of breakthroughs in human understanding of the Cosmos, of the fundamentals
of physics and biology that will rival the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.
A far richer inner life, surrounded by less of the gaudy baubles
of consumerism. Things will be built to last longer, the wasteful and ever-changing
nature of fashion (particularly in the automotive industry!) will be replaced
by standards and classic designs that have stood the test of time, rather than
novelties for one season or two and then disposed in landfill.
Capitalism (I don’t like that word – I prefer ‘the free
market regulated by a democratic society’) will be battered into a new shape by
new consumer behaviours and needs. Would you rather spend €40,000 on a car that
will last you five years, which you then sell for €10,000, or €60,000 on a car
that will last you fifty years, and will still have a lot of life and value in
it when you (or your heirs!) finally come to sell it?
Business needs to re-localise. Start with brewing. Let a million brewers flourish, each unique to its locality, catering to its own local market. If a product from one town proves to be good in another – excellent! But there's no sense in moving beer from one continent to another. I am delighted that Polish craft brewers are discovering brewing styles from other countries. Brew local - with global recipes, global know-how.
Clothing.
Clothes should be practical and hard-wearing, well-designed, well-made and good
for decades of use. Not for status display. Bespoke tailoring, alterations and repairs, classic styles,
muted colours, dyes made from local natural ingredients. Moving two atoms of hydrogen and
one of oxygen in half-litre bottles across continents, driven by slick
advertising, is nuts. Drink what's local. (Today I made myself half a litre of juice from my own grapes, and half a litre of juice from my own apples. Satisfying.)
Moving from growth to de-growth without mass unemployment is
feasible in the long run, the only question is whether we have enough time
left.
{{ Food-shop consciously - walk more – travel less – conserve water. }}
This time last year:
Warka's bi-weekly market
This time two years ago:
How's your samopoczucie?
[a local councillor's newsletter last week claimed we'll have one in 2025-26]
On relevance and irrelevance
This time eight years ago:
Poland gets anglicised as Britain gets polonised
This time nine years ago:
Ale, architecture and city politics
This time ten years ago:
The pros and cons of roadside acoustic screens
This time 11 years ago:
Moaning about trains again
This time 12 years ago:
Warsaw street names - Dolna, Polna, Rolna, Wolna, Smolna. Lost?
This time 13 years ago:
Ditches, landscapes, autumn
This time 15 years ago:
Golden autumn in Łazienki park
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