I'm not sure consumerism or beliefs are the central issue. Jonathan Rowson’s eloquent piece reminded me of the ideas and movements in the sixties, which inspired many of us to experiment with communal living, cooperative working, community building & more. They helped to developed renewable energies and more open societies, but also inspired a backlash including activists of the Islamic Brotherhood, evangelical Christians, Tea Party, Trump & Bolsonaro. The intervening decades have added a few thoughts about how to address the aspirations of this piece:
1. Our debt-based money system drives our consumerist treadmill: change the rules of finance & you influence everything else
2. Our fossil-fuelled energy system, poor insulation of buildings etc., & meat-eating causes most damage from consumption – consumerism with a vegetarian diet & renewable energy would be environmentally sustainable
3. Many people on the planet can’t consume enough of what they need: distribution of income, wealth & consumption is a bigger issue
4. The rules governing energy, environment, land-use/ownership, the workplace, media, politics, etc. all influence what people do & the society we create: small changes to some rules can make a big difference
5. Rules often have unintended or damaging consequences, so we need to be smart with them (corruption & illegal trade flourish despite being against the rules)
6. Governments, run by political parties, have the power to change rules
7. Parties are people who seek power (with various motives) and can be persuaded by ideas, narratives, slogans that enable them to win elections
8. Winning elections is hard work, but parties listen to what resonates with voters in marginal / swing seats – this brought devolution to Scotland, Brexit, etc
9. Good examples have power to persuade, often more than words
10. It is worth recognising how much has got better (see Gapminder): humanity has ability to invent & improve as well as harm – our population has grown 5.5 billion since I was born, adding 2bn since the millennium, & may rise by a billion or so in the next 20 years, but each person has the potential to bring love & joy as well as ingenuity to the world
11. Being a parent is one of the most important jobs in the world, often undervalued and unsupported.
12. Ideas are important, but institutions & rules that amplify or modify the behaviours that follow are more important: for over a millennium the west was governed by belief in a god of love, yet its believers carried out the inquisition, burnt people alive, enslaved & sold people, and other horrendous practices that have been largely abolished through political action.
As Buckminster Fuller wrote “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics & Action Lab, mentioned by Rowson, is part of this as cities & others seek to transform their economies.
There are many different intervention points through which each of us can help to make the future better and address the fears of those who would create a backlash.
I'm not sure consumerism or beliefs are the central issue. Jonathan Rowson’s eloquent piece reminded me of the ideas and movements in the sixties, which inspired many of us to experiment with communal living, cooperative working, community building & more. They helped to developed renewable energies and more open societies, but also inspired a backlash including activists of the Islamic Brotherhood, evangelical Christians, Tea Party, Trump & Bolsonaro. The intervening decades have added a few thoughts about how to address the aspirations of this piece:
1. Our debt-based money system drives our consumerist treadmill: change the rules of finance & you influence everything else
2. Our fossil-fuelled energy system, poor insulation of buildings etc., & meat-eating causes most damage from consumption – consumerism with a vegetarian diet & renewable energy would be environmentally sustainable
3. Many people on the planet can’t consume enough of what they need: distribution of income, wealth & consumption is a bigger issue
4. The rules governing energy, environment, land-use/ownership, the workplace, media, politics, etc. all influence what people do & the society we create: small changes to some rules can make a big difference
5. Rules often have unintended or damaging consequences, so we need to be smart with them (corruption & illegal trade flourish despite being against the rules)
6. Governments, run by political parties, have the power to change rules
7. Parties are people who seek power (with various motives) and can be persuaded by ideas, narratives, slogans that enable them to win elections
8. Winning elections is hard work, but parties listen to what resonates with voters in marginal / swing seats – this brought devolution to Scotland, Brexit, etc
9. Good examples have power to persuade, often more than words
10. It is worth recognising how much has got better (see Gapminder): humanity has ability to invent & improve as well as harm – our population has grown 5.5 billion since I was born, adding 2bn since the millennium, & may rise by a billion or so in the next 20 years, but each person has the potential to bring love & joy as well as ingenuity to the world
11. Being a parent is one of the most important jobs in the world, often undervalued and unsupported.
12. Ideas are important, but institutions & rules that amplify or modify the behaviours that follow are more important: for over a millennium the west was governed by belief in a god of love, yet its believers carried out the inquisition, burnt people alive, enslaved & sold people, and other horrendous practices that have been largely abolished through political action.
As Buckminster Fuller wrote “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics & Action Lab, mentioned by Rowson, is part of this as cities & others seek to transform their economies.
There are many different intervention points through which each of us can help to make the future better and address the fears of those who would create a backlash.
wonderful read - thank you.
As stimulating read for my Saturday morning. Thank you!