I have read a lot about monetary reform in the last few weeks. You can read a lot about this topic at www.sustecweb.co.uk where you can download lots of essays on the matter and get some recommendations for some great books. However, I guess because the UK Green Party is behind that web site, it does contain certain sentiments that run along the following lines: we do not need most of the trappings of modern life, we only think we need them because marketing people create false needs through advertising, this drives the consumption that keeps the economy going and perpetuates economic growth, all this new stuff isn’t making us any happier. It is a litany you often read about in traditional Environmentalist circles. Indeed I have enormous sympathy for this view. No one, reading this, should ever think I don’t agree with them.
The only problem I have (and maybe it is only ME!) is that when I apply this logic to my life I find it hard to find examples. This either indicates a unusual set of personal values or I am completely blind to my own selfishness. Hmmm. Now, I can think of obvious examples of crap I could never conceivabley want in a million years but that isn’t really fair is it? We stopped buying Christmas Crackers years ago but surely SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE want this stuff?! To suggest otherwise is to suggest that someone else knows better. One great leap forward and you have communism. However I certainly agree that 4x4’s should be taxed and priced off the forecourts unless you are a licensed farmer, forester, etc. We certainly do not allow the market to govern child pornography. We always draw a line. So we can always agree with the sentiment but it always applies to somebody else and their bad choices. Not our own.
What are my bad choices? My car, certainly. It could be smaller and have a smaller engine. Then what? Umm… My house, errr, no, it couldn’t be any smaller for a family of four. My laptop computer? Well, I can’t write these words without it. Flying? Yes, I hate that but my wife has family 3000 miles away and friends all over the planet. Try telling her not to fly! I tried. We only replace stuff when it is broken and cannot be fixed. Mrs Post-Carbon Man bought a juicer cheaply from a supermarket. I told her it was junk and she would never use it. It is junk. It doesn’t work very well. She used it twice. We have an attic full of children’s toys but they are all second hand when we bought them.
Is this a problem of preaching to the converted? I would really like to stop buying stuff I don’t need. For this reason I stopped browsing EBay. It was a bad habit but I kicked it. I like buying books but I do read a lot of books! You can only get a small fraction of those books in libraries. I can donate them to the library of charities afterwards. And they are good books. Great references. Printed on recycled paper.
I am struggling here. When since have I ever seen a TV or magazine ad for anything and just HAD to have it? Hobbies maybe. I build model aircraft. Once in a blue moon I see a new product that perfectly fits that ‘itch’ I have had. Has the advert created my ‘want’? No, not really, it satisfies a requirement I already had. Could I live without it? Yes, but I can ‘live’ without cars, laptops, books and all the other stuff discussed here. Do I give up on the 21st century? Live in a cave? I am sure Mrs Post-Carbon Man would just love that idea. We’ll take the baby too! I love them both so that ain’t happening. I am sure those folks in the green party don’t intend for that to happen either.
So, we are still no nearer figuring out exactly what I buy that I don’t need – that stuff for which my 'wants' are 'manufactured'. The stuff that is BAD. The disposable stuff….. Maybe that is the point? You can certainly own a lot of great stuff but it is the utility you gain from it that makes it GOOD versus BAD consumption. Do you make your stuff LAST? Do you really use it?
For example, you could argue that no one needs a TV. I would happily give up mine tomorrow. However, if you are living out in the countryside in
However, if you are into fashionable consumption and just have to have the latest gadgets then it is a different story. Do you have twenty IPods just because you fancied the latest colour? An IPod is an interesting example of how everyone’s ability to consume great music is slowly dematerialising into tiny solid state electronics. I like my collection of CD’s. Before me my Dad liked his collection of Vinyl. The Carbon Footprint of an IPod is tiny. If everyone moved to IPods rather than buying 200 CD’s and a massive stereo then this would be a GOOD thing. Something that the 21st Century can deliver. Tremendous utility and efficiency and very little (and decreasing) impact. Tiny size. Tiny power requirements. GOOD technology. But do you need an IPod? Good turns to bad once you own 20 IPods. 20 IPods just so you can revel in the ephemeral notions of “fashion” or keep up with the latest fad?
Where does this leave us? Is modern life rubbish? No, it is not. Modern life can be great. It isn’t the stuff we buy that is bad. It is our personal philosophy. They say this stuff doesn't make us happy. My stuff makes me very happy. I like it. Without it I would be unhappy. It is WHY we buy it that is the problem. It is the use we get out of it that is the problem. It is the disposal of stuff that is the problem. It is disposability that is the problem. Built in obsolescence. Throwaway technology that doesn’t last. Inefficiency. Waste. Too many people. Too few planet Earths. Finite resources. Limited sinks.
Modern life is great. It is our attitude to stuff that is the problem. If you have a good attitude then you will rationalise your choices. You will pass beyond just ‘consumption’ (for its own sake) and move towards "sustainable-utility". Don’t forget that we can build some things to last with a low carbon footprint. These things can last for a hundred years and provides loads of usefulness. However, some of them are handguns. Now that is a different topic…..
