There are a ton of people downsizing their lives, and their careers to match. I don't work much, live off of very little, and have never been happier. Nobody lays on their death bed and says that they wished that they had worked more, or bought more shit.
This is a great article. "Can’t help but wonder: what if we could keep the invention and quit the consumption?" I think going forward we (humans) need to define economic terms, accounting for current externalities. What does consumption and production mean? Should it be GDP? Primary energy/exergy use? Some other thermoeconomic measurement? Happiness index? Once terms are defined, what functions do we want to optimize both in relative terms and absolute terms? i.e., GPD per capita, energy intensity per happiness unit, environmental pollution per capita per life satisfaction, GPD per exergy destruction or entropy production, etc...
Zactly. will kick that around in future posts/book. I'm going against my normal grain and chunking these posts down to one measly idea at a time instead of firehosing the whole argument ;)
That's funny. I love your writing, firehose effect and all. I was shocked when I came to the end of this one though... my brain didn't know what to do with the simplicity. ;)
Good point. I think the main point to define is the real price, and cost, of the real, physical world. As long as we are still not realizing that economics is not a real science, despite the fact we threw some mathematical somewhere, we are still deep in trouble. Economics doesn’t take into account the most fundamental of things: the physical limits of the world. When cutting a tree is no longer free, resources‘ price no longer defined by the will of corporations, we will start realising the limits and true cost of our consumerism. Our paradigms are so fundamentally flawed and disconnected from the physical world, that we still buy that we realized economical `growth‘ as long as GDP goes up, not realizing that much of that growth is the same potato price just increasing in price compared to the previous year, while the absolute value (the potato in this case) is the same. Reconnecting with our physical world can us back to grasping potential solutions, much in the same that we are disconnected from our physical body, and embodiment can free us from our own demise.
Thought provoking… the key is why Denmark consumes less and enjoys a higher standard of living. It comes down to land use; creating healthy family homesteads or community complexes that bring people together. Here is America, there are few neighborhoods where people even know their neighbor, let alone treat their neighbor as themselves. We are suffering from isolation, only further exacerbated by technology and media. What we need is to get back to land, regreen our small corner of the earth, to create our own spaces of love, and to help others do the same. All else is just a distraction, an endless mental exercise.
I agree, YES - wholeheartedly YES - to regenerative agriculture in community, yet we must also address a social time constraint issue: working full time (or more) to keep insurance benefits so that one is not homeless after a medical procedure. I would so love to see our society “get back to the garden” to quote Joni’s song. Maybe our children and their retired grandparents can kick this off? I welcome thoughts on this.
Completely agree. After decades of deep considerations, I see the missing piece is the financial architecture and support structure. Many would love to transition from a J.O.B to something greener; we are living and trying to save “in order to… one day…” . As I say, we are never going to meet the millennial goals or the Paris agreement mandates by convincing Americans to take on debt to regreen america and regrow local sustainable communities… the system is not broken; the way people are engaging with it is. Solutions are being worked on in the background by many. The good news is that the deep desire is being born within us to make the transition, to come together as pioneers as we set out on our pilgrimage back to nature.
Totally on board and open to change, Alyson! I love your last sentence above. Truly, and I agree. Yet I don't know how to wrap my head around transitioning to greener, more sustainable communities while there are literally thousands of homeless individuals and families in my community dealing with profound mental illness, poverty, health issues, and addiction. I see it up close and feel pretty helpless… and at times, hopeless. Also - I wish I knew more about new economic approaches/possibilities like the commenter Tanner above. It is my understanding that Scandinavian countries have better education, social safety nets, healthcare, novel approaches to crime, etc. as a result of high taxes on corporations and individuals. Higher taxes = better quality of life for *all*. I can't see that happening here due to systemic corruption and rugged individualism underpinning the American psyche.
The heart of compassion. I feel you! And it’s awesome. I choose to focus my energy like a laser on cocreating solutions on a micro scale. While I am not naive to think that any one solution will fix all the social issues we are co-responsible for, as one person, I do see a pathway for transforming myself and supporting and inspiring the same within my family, and close friends... recognizing that inside a new paradigm of hyper local sustainable communities (which is its own rabbit hole), much of the social inequities and injustices normalize and heal. It is a deep consideration. For me, when I focus on survival and on the injustices, the solutions seem unattainable. When I am aware of the injustices and choose to look through to the solutions from a space of love, if you will, or said differently, from constructive possibility, the solutions come into view for me.... sort of like a seed from which something new can blossom.
Yes… wholeheartedly. Not quite there yet… but have a team working on packaging some solutions to streamline the path to land ownership and stewardship and hyper local community development. After decades of deep considerations, I see the missing piece is the financial architecture and support structure. Many would love to transition from a J.O.B to something greener; we are living and trying to save “in order to… one day…” . As I say, we are never going to meet the millennial goals or the Paris agreement mandates by convincing Americans to take on debt to regreen america and regrow local sustainable communities… the system is not broken; the way people are engaging with it is.
It's our mind over body sensory education coming back to haunt. We've lost touch with the greatest resource we have to guide our actions -- the wisdom of our desires. We've forgotten how to find and follow the arc of our pleasure to a sense of enough.
I don’t think so. I don’t think the capitalists would find it engaging or satisfying without the financial reward and they might wander from the mission. They will anyway.
I believe there are many among us that still engage in the innovation pursuit without the economic incentives as a driver.
It’s up to us to innovate regardless of what the “growth” system signals is the chosen path.
All we need is a new culture in the Anglo West, A.K.A., the global north. Do we have the imagination to create what's next, or wait for circumstances to dictate what happens? We are more interested in feeling good about ourselves than taking a challenging creative journey. This thing of ours is all-consuming. Collaborative creative activities within one's community are an excellent way to use innovative tools, spend critical calories, and avoid cheap-shyte dot com. Have "the conversation" when doing something productive with your people. Let's get used to sharing what we need to live well. We have the commons in common. Raise a barn and put the tools in it. We don't need a start-up or a market to have a collaborative workspace where we design and three-D print valuable things. We work because we work. Active is Attractive ;-)
Yes! Qualitative accounting, accounting for the intangible values of stuff, and the negative (or positive) impact of a given supply chain on our environment, our health, our social wellbeing, etc is the future. The global system is reconfiguring the financial architecture to account for the qualitative values, and they are defining the metrics, which may or may not be the highest and best metrics. We have an opportunity to steer this qualitative ship in the right direction, to fund and support projects that both fit into the emerging metrics being defined in real time and to form collaborative pods that begin to self govern and define qualitative metrics in a way that serves the highest and best.
There are a ton of people downsizing their lives, and their careers to match. I don't work much, live off of very little, and have never been happier. Nobody lays on their death bed and says that they wished that they had worked more, or bought more shit.
This is a great article. "Can’t help but wonder: what if we could keep the invention and quit the consumption?" I think going forward we (humans) need to define economic terms, accounting for current externalities. What does consumption and production mean? Should it be GDP? Primary energy/exergy use? Some other thermoeconomic measurement? Happiness index? Once terms are defined, what functions do we want to optimize both in relative terms and absolute terms? i.e., GPD per capita, energy intensity per happiness unit, environmental pollution per capita per life satisfaction, GPD per exergy destruction or entropy production, etc...
Zactly. will kick that around in future posts/book. I'm going against my normal grain and chunking these posts down to one measly idea at a time instead of firehosing the whole argument ;)
That's funny. I love your writing, firehose effect and all. I was shocked when I came to the end of this one though... my brain didn't know what to do with the simplicity. ;)
Enabling iteration from feedback. It's the way. And we, your adoring fans, are grateful for the early preview.
Good point. I think the main point to define is the real price, and cost, of the real, physical world. As long as we are still not realizing that economics is not a real science, despite the fact we threw some mathematical somewhere, we are still deep in trouble. Economics doesn’t take into account the most fundamental of things: the physical limits of the world. When cutting a tree is no longer free, resources‘ price no longer defined by the will of corporations, we will start realising the limits and true cost of our consumerism. Our paradigms are so fundamentally flawed and disconnected from the physical world, that we still buy that we realized economical `growth‘ as long as GDP goes up, not realizing that much of that growth is the same potato price just increasing in price compared to the previous year, while the absolute value (the potato in this case) is the same. Reconnecting with our physical world can us back to grasping potential solutions, much in the same that we are disconnected from our physical body, and embodiment can free us from our own demise.
Thought provoking… the key is why Denmark consumes less and enjoys a higher standard of living. It comes down to land use; creating healthy family homesteads or community complexes that bring people together. Here is America, there are few neighborhoods where people even know their neighbor, let alone treat their neighbor as themselves. We are suffering from isolation, only further exacerbated by technology and media. What we need is to get back to land, regreen our small corner of the earth, to create our own spaces of love, and to help others do the same. All else is just a distraction, an endless mental exercise.
I agree, YES - wholeheartedly YES - to regenerative agriculture in community, yet we must also address a social time constraint issue: working full time (or more) to keep insurance benefits so that one is not homeless after a medical procedure. I would so love to see our society “get back to the garden” to quote Joni’s song. Maybe our children and their retired grandparents can kick this off? I welcome thoughts on this.
Completely agree. After decades of deep considerations, I see the missing piece is the financial architecture and support structure. Many would love to transition from a J.O.B to something greener; we are living and trying to save “in order to… one day…” . As I say, we are never going to meet the millennial goals or the Paris agreement mandates by convincing Americans to take on debt to regreen america and regrow local sustainable communities… the system is not broken; the way people are engaging with it is. Solutions are being worked on in the background by many. The good news is that the deep desire is being born within us to make the transition, to come together as pioneers as we set out on our pilgrimage back to nature.
Totally on board and open to change, Alyson! I love your last sentence above. Truly, and I agree. Yet I don't know how to wrap my head around transitioning to greener, more sustainable communities while there are literally thousands of homeless individuals and families in my community dealing with profound mental illness, poverty, health issues, and addiction. I see it up close and feel pretty helpless… and at times, hopeless. Also - I wish I knew more about new economic approaches/possibilities like the commenter Tanner above. It is my understanding that Scandinavian countries have better education, social safety nets, healthcare, novel approaches to crime, etc. as a result of high taxes on corporations and individuals. Higher taxes = better quality of life for *all*. I can't see that happening here due to systemic corruption and rugged individualism underpinning the American psyche.
The heart of compassion. I feel you! And it’s awesome. I choose to focus my energy like a laser on cocreating solutions on a micro scale. While I am not naive to think that any one solution will fix all the social issues we are co-responsible for, as one person, I do see a pathway for transforming myself and supporting and inspiring the same within my family, and close friends... recognizing that inside a new paradigm of hyper local sustainable communities (which is its own rabbit hole), much of the social inequities and injustices normalize and heal. It is a deep consideration. For me, when I focus on survival and on the injustices, the solutions seem unattainable. When I am aware of the injustices and choose to look through to the solutions from a space of love, if you will, or said differently, from constructive possibility, the solutions come into view for me.... sort of like a seed from which something new can blossom.
love what you're saying, Alyson. is this something you're working on right now? i'm keen to do so, and looking for collaborators in the space.
Yes… wholeheartedly. Not quite there yet… but have a team working on packaging some solutions to streamline the path to land ownership and stewardship and hyper local community development. After decades of deep considerations, I see the missing piece is the financial architecture and support structure. Many would love to transition from a J.O.B to something greener; we are living and trying to save “in order to… one day…” . As I say, we are never going to meet the millennial goals or the Paris agreement mandates by convincing Americans to take on debt to regreen america and regrow local sustainable communities… the system is not broken; the way people are engaging with it is.
I love this. I tried to do a version by myself in a local agricultural community and failed but I'm still attached to the idea - but not by myself.
Let’s connect... my cell is (310) 489-5032
Where can i learn more about your team and efforts? This strikes me as one of the least talked-about yet most necessary developments we people need.
It's our mind over body sensory education coming back to haunt. We've lost touch with the greatest resource we have to guide our actions -- the wisdom of our desires. We've forgotten how to find and follow the arc of our pleasure to a sense of enough.
Perfectly summed up! Keep the invention and quit consumption.
One thing capitalists always argue is that without capitalism, innovation would be stifled. Is this true?
I don’t think so. I don’t think the capitalists would find it engaging or satisfying without the financial reward and they might wander from the mission. They will anyway.
I believe there are many among us that still engage in the innovation pursuit without the economic incentives as a driver.
It’s up to us to innovate regardless of what the “growth” system signals is the chosen path.
All we need is a new culture in the Anglo West, A.K.A., the global north. Do we have the imagination to create what's next, or wait for circumstances to dictate what happens? We are more interested in feeling good about ourselves than taking a challenging creative journey. This thing of ours is all-consuming. Collaborative creative activities within one's community are an excellent way to use innovative tools, spend critical calories, and avoid cheap-shyte dot com. Have "the conversation" when doing something productive with your people. Let's get used to sharing what we need to live well. We have the commons in common. Raise a barn and put the tools in it. We don't need a start-up or a market to have a collaborative workspace where we design and three-D print valuable things. We work because we work. Active is Attractive ;-)
Yes! Qualitative accounting, accounting for the intangible values of stuff, and the negative (or positive) impact of a given supply chain on our environment, our health, our social wellbeing, etc is the future. The global system is reconfiguring the financial architecture to account for the qualitative values, and they are defining the metrics, which may or may not be the highest and best metrics. We have an opportunity to steer this qualitative ship in the right direction, to fund and support projects that both fit into the emerging metrics being defined in real time and to form collaborative pods that begin to self govern and define qualitative metrics in a way that serves the highest and best.
Common sense is what it sounds like to me