An Ever-Changing Aurora
Heraclitus said “There is nothing permanent except change.”
Our lives and the world we live in change all the time. The doctor we trusted retires, our hairdresser moves on, our children grow up and leave home, or our best friend dies suddenly. Our once sensible politicians metamorphose into something inexplicable, our house is flooded out in a downpour, or they close our much-loved public library. Most of those factors are out of our control, and are simply a part of life.
These are things that we simply have to deal with in our own way.
Man-made Changes
The Earth now has over 8 billion people, and the population is destined to reach 10 billion by 2060. That huge number of people is having a devastating effect on the planet. We are destroying the climate, devastating the wild animal and insect populations, causing inequality, injustice, poverty, and generally polluting the Earth. Each of these is producing its own particular havoc in people’s lives. Our Democracy is weakening (for those countries lucky enough to have had one in the first place!) We are fighting endless wars, poisoning our food systems and our health, generating vast amounts of debt, and losing our ability to care about other people.
It is essential that we change to something better.
Much of the responsibility for these problems lies with our economic system, especially, but not solely, in the West.
Dreaming of Profit
It is the Economy, Stupid!
Many countries live under a Capitalist economic system, a system based on profit and private ownership. What is more, Capitalism has required the rise of Consumerism to really thrive and expand. To make profits, Capitalists need a ready market for their goods, and have developed marketing skills to make us believe that we need endless “stuff” to make us happy. So they encourage us to buy newer and bigger cars, houses, mobile phones, and fancy clothes and so on.
This article shows that by 2030 the global middle class (also known as the consumer class) is expected to reach 4.8 billion people. That is a lot of consumption, and a lot of degradation of the Earth to produce the goods.
This article from Voices of Capitalism shows that this economic system contains underneath the surface “a set of deep-rooted disadvantages that affect individuals, communities and the planet.” If you are interested in these drawbacks, it is well worth reading the article. However here is a short list to show you some of the problems that Capitalism brings:
- Income Inequality
- Exploitation of Workers
- Environmental degradation
- Boom and Bust Cycles (Economic Instability)
- Consumerism and Materialism
- Market Domination by a few powerful companies
- Lack of Access to Basic Needs
- Short-term Focus
- Social Dislocation (Disruption of traditional communities)
While Capitalism has certainly produced economic growth it has become a severe threat to our societies and to Democracy. It is clear we need to change both our economic system and our lifestyles.
Luxury Shopping
Are We Ready for Change?
As I look around me, I see no plan for change. Yes, individual governments are tackling specific problems, such as changing our energy systems or creating green jobs. Electric cars are doing amazingly well and Net Zero is definitely on the horizon for some governments.
But I see no overall plan for what our world needs for humanity to survive. How can we create a road map if we have no vision of what we are aiming for? It is essential that we have a picture of how we want our world to be. This should contain an agreed vision for the planet and for living and eating sustainably. That is vital.
However, we also need a transformational depiction of what we see as a better world.
What will we lose if we change?
Many people have complained about changing what they have right now. They don’t want to give up their big cars, their flights abroad two or three times a year on holiday. Their large house and garden are sacrosanct (complete with lawn sprayed to death with weedkiller) and they “must” have the mangoes flown in from Peru plus new fashion items every month.
To most of these people giving up these things would be a terrible loss.
What they don’t talk about, these people who don’t want to give up their present lifestyle, is the stress they are under maintaining their existing way of living. There is no mention of their children’s mental health problems because they are under pressure at school to excel. One doesn’t hear about the mother’s issues with loneliness because the family moved to a bigger house and the neighbours are snooty. Or perhaps the father has had a heart attack because he has had a high-pressure job to keep up their lifestyle.
There are endless figures available about the sort of trouble humanity is in. Some of them may have to be taken with a pinch of salt but it is clear that we are heading off very fast on the wrong path.
For example this article shows that almost a quarter of the global population is lonely or suffering from social isolation. This includes many young people.
Another example from the UN, who have published a report on non-communicable disease globally. It is amazing just how many of these are caused by our choice of lifestyles. These are diseases like heart disease, cancers, obesity, diabetes and lung disease caused by pollution etc.
We Don’t Have to Live Like This
We have a choice: we can change. Change is not loss in this situation. We can change to something that works better for almost everybody. Life can be happier and more fulfilling for very many people.
I saw a beautiful article this morning which illustrates very nicely for me how a thoughtful change can improve people’s lives.
Apparently 20 years ago young people in Iceland had a reputation for being very heavy drinkers. Research showed that sports and pastimes like music and art can have the same effects as alcohol and drugs. Based on that, parents, schools and the Icelandic state have worked together to give children the opportunity to participate in these things. It seems to have been highly successful.
That is one small example, however there are so many changes we can make that would not be a loss.
- Even if we have less “Stuff” we can still work as part of a community, belonging somewhere.
- If we return to farming sustainably then our health and biodiversity will improve.
- If our children play outdoors instead of glued to their screens then there will be fewer mental health problems in young people.
- If we stop eating fast food then our general health will improve.
- If we change our economic system we will stop destroying the planet and hopefully improve our children’s futures
- If we reduce inequality there will be fewer wars
We could make this a very long list of positive things that could be done to improve our lives. Yes, it is a change and there would be some things we would miss. But “that is the way of the world.”
We don’t need to go on as we are, we can change.
Einstein said “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
How can we as individuals change our thinking?
Looking back on a previous blog called Looking to the Future written in May 2022 I finished it by dreaming about how I would like our world to be. Those comments are still relevant but as the world’s problems have become bigger and more urgent perhaps my dreams would include living in a strong democracy, living in a world where inequality is becoming a thing of the past and girls’ education is as important as boys’. Billionaires will have been banished from politics. The dreams would feature us eating good, healthy food produced sustainably and would include humanity learning to live amiably and with compassion in communities.
These are my dreams. What would yours be?
Next, we must believe these dreams are possible and get out there and campaign for them. Each of us can make a contribution. But we need to move forward.
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Photos by Tretjak on Dreamstime.com, and by Natasha Hall and Artem Tryhub on Unsplash