Consumption | The Bigger Picture

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Discussion #13 - Consumption

Here are a few examples (total energy GJ/per year/per person):

United States - 301 | Afghanistan - 4 | United Kingdom - 137
China - 76 | Bangladesh - 9 | Japan - 164 | New Zealand - 175
Australia - 235 | Austria - 170 | Canada - 310 | Germany - 168
India - 24 | Qatar - 538 | Switzerland - 141 | Peru - 28

As you can see, climate does play a part, but the main driving force behind energy consumption is the wealth of the average citizen. The more we have (on average), the more we consume. The obvious exception is Europe. Many countries in Europe have been leading the way in renewable energy & conservation for a very long time! WE DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOREVER! JUST UNTIL WE SWITCH OVER TO RENEWABLE. After that, if you want to spend your millions on energy, enjoy (guilt-free)! Go ahead & cruise the strip in a monster truck, it will no longer harm our environment.

The reason why the world is choosing not to lift all humans out of poverty (the #1 issue on Earth), actually has nothing to do with money at all, there's plenty of money, it's mainly about consumption. While some may think this to be infinite, there is actually a human carrying capacity of Earth, and it's in the neighborhood of 10 billion people (and this number is actually based only on food availability). If you factor in other forms of consumption, that number goes down.

Three of the first things that people begin doing, when their affluence begins to climb, is drive a car, use air conditioning, and eat meat. It's easy to see, that this number is much less than 10 billion if we were to lift all out of poverty, and we are currently sitting at 7.6 (and rising fast).

It's not all doom & gloom however, as there is a fairly simple solution. We need to take this limit, and work with it. Another key thing that people start doing when they become more affluent is begin using more birth control. This is, of course, the best way to cap the global population on Earth. Then, we need to start maximizing the quality of life for everyone, not just the financial elite. This may seem overly simplistic, but the crazy thing is, it would not be tremendously difficult to pull this off. All it would take is a true belief in basic human equality, and a bit more worldwide organization. Since the world is globalizing anyway, this would actually be much easier to accomplish than most think.

All it would really take, is a global choice to do it, and the entire world would benefit economically, politically, and in every other conceivable way. There would be far less frustration, anxiety, stress, desperation, crime, suffering, and senseless premature death across the entire globe. It takes stepping back and looking at the really big picture, which puts things into focus and makes them simple and clear. The problems of world poverty and hunger were solvable eons ago, but the clarity of thought and political will were just never there. I'm not saying that we're all going to be flying around in our own private jet, but decent to amazing quality of life (depending on our ambition), for every last living soul on Earth is not just doable, it's easily doable almost right away.

So, as you can see, this entire issue is not really about economics, but actually about the sustainability & attitudes of humanity on Earth, and by far the biggest and most damaging form of consumption is the burning of fossil fuels. The major challenge is that it's not possible, even the way things are now, for us to survive much longer on Earth if we choose to remain addicted to these forms of low-tech energy. We must turn up the volume on energy transition immediately, (way up).

The generations alive today are definitely (by far) the luckiest since humanity has begun. There has never before been a better time to be born and live a human life. Obviously things could also be much better, and it's my opinion that they will be, (much) better in the years to come. As consumers however, we need to pay far more attention to the limits that this planet has of supporting our collective activities. If we do not, then obviously the opposite will soon be our reality. Right now, it's all about elitism and ego. People use consumption partially to feel/appear important, and most are just not all that concerned (deep down inside), about the realities that don't seem to affect them directly (right away). It would be the single best thing that could happen to humanity, if the majority of us could get a much better handle on this. What trips people up, again, is that we would universally have to truly believe in human equality for any of this to really change.

There is indeed a certain form of satisfaction & excitement from pining away for (or possessing) the prestige of that private jet, yaught, mansion, sports car, or generally a big shot, flashy, high consumption life. There is, however, a much bigger sense of satisfaction from treating (& viewing) everyone as being equal in overall significance. The reason why is because this is in fact the reality, the other an illusion, and reality is always far more satisfying than fantasy. Also, in many cases, the stuff ends up owning you instead of the other way around. Many are discovering that the minimalist lifestyle is often far more freeing & enjoyable than being stuffed up to the gills.

The more you possess (& consume), the more things & property you have to babysit, protect and maintain. Then, when you factor in that absolutely none of this stuff is coming with us in the end, it seems pretty ridiculous to obsess over it all through life. Many extremely affluent areas of the world are, in fact, low consumption already. In much of Europe, for example, most people actually walk as a method of getting around town. Virtually no one in these areas is overweight, and the resulting health (& lifestyle) benefits are enormous. Our bodies were obviousy designed for far more productive physical activity, and far less consumption overall.

It makes me laugh when people say that we need to save the planet. Planet Earth does not give a flying flip what we do. If we choose to destroy ourselves, the planet will go back to normal in no time. It's us that needs saving.

The truth, is that if our species ever did become extinct, it would likely take a few hundred thousand years for Earth to fully recover from our damage due to climate change. A few thousand to recover from the nuclear meltdowns. And a few million years for the biodiversity to recover from all the species that are quickly becoming extinct under our influence.

But recover it would, and thanks to the incredible healing powers of nature, it would not just survive, but thrive. In the Jurassic period, for example, CO2 levels were approx. 5 times what they are now, and oceans were incredibly acidic as a result. But nature found a way, and certain species did survive. This period in Earth's history was around 200 million to 145 million years ago, and it was hot, extremely hot.

Many climate change deniers use these ancient periods in Earth's history as ammo, to defend their argument that we are not causing climate change. However, the obvious truth, is that 145 million years is a very long time ago. The creatures that roamed the Earth back then were very different from those in more modern times, and we simply were not in the picture (at least in any recognizable modern form) anywhere near these periods in Earth's history.

Since at least the past 800,000 years (experts believe 14-33 million years), Earth has experienced incredibly stable environmental conditions. This has allowed our species (along with many others), to thrive and multiply. The CO2 in our atmosphere was around 280 ppm, and since just the 1900's it's shot up to past 410 ppm, and rising fast. This is how scientists know that we are causing this damage, not nature.

What this all means, is that saving the planet is not something we need to waste time worrying about. What we need to be worrying about is saving us. Our species, along with many others, are very close to being on the edge of extinction. And it would not be a lot of fun along the way. We have options, and most experts believe that we can find the ways to prevent this from happening. In fact, for the most part, we already know what to do. We just need the will to do it.

The scars we are creating on Earth will start to heal, if we just stop punching it, but this means our priorities need to change. Transitioning to renewable energy, recyclable packaging, and other similar methods, need to kick into high gear. And in fact warp speed, or the extinction of our species along with many others, will be the result. It would be nice to be able to sugar-coat this, but it's simply not possible. If this does end up happening, it won't take long, and we'll only have ourselves to blame. It's not too late to reverse this, but we need to do it now.

This means that the obsession which many of us share, of becoming (or remaining) extraordinarily wealthy, is not what we should all be pining for. Simply because higher wealth, means higher consumption. This obsession is the result of brainwashing, from decades of marketing intended to make companies more profitable.

The limits of how much human consumption our planet can handle are already being exceeded. This may just be the reason why natural mechanisms are currently attempting to reduce our numbers, with all of these virus variants that keep popping up.

What we SHOULD all be obsessing over, is figuring out how to make our lives sustainable. We'll still be able to have just as much fun as we do now (or did), in fact eventually even more. We can still get ahead financially, and retire early if we so choose. And we can still show the world what a big-shot we are, by competing with our fellow human beings in the prestige department.

The big difference however, would be our continued ability to survive on this (or any other) planet. Don't kid yourself, we're not just talking about future generations here. We're talking about us, in our lifetime (for most).

We're all starting to witness first-hand the beginnings of what will come to pass in the not-too-distant future, if we do nothing but stay the course. It's happening right now, today, not just in the year 2100 and beyond. The good news, is that nature is powerful, and the Earth will heal if we let it.

I personally believe that if we can transplant this consumption & wealth obsession over to a global passion for sustainability, we have a really good chance for this to happen. If not, well, we can take some comfort in knowing that many have given it a really good shot.

The problem, and it's a big one, is that most of this issue is tied directly to the human ego. This monster of a force in our species must be fed. Therefore, we must continue to feed it in order to solve this problem. This is where companies like Tesla really have the right idea. While their vehicles are currently too expensive for everyone to drive, this prestige factor does in fact accomplish this mission.

Now we just have to bring the price down on some of the models, so that most can afford to drive one (or a different brand). Also, the fuel and maintenance savings should NOT get burned up in the extra cost of the vehicle. This will happen eventually, due to the natural evolution of the technology, but we need to speed this process up dramatically.

As most are fully aware, electric cars are also far more fun to drive as well. They have much quicker acceleration. However, there is no need for these vehicles to always cost at least twice the price of their equivalent fossil-fuel-powered counterparts. This needs to stop now, or the transition will never happen quick enough.

There is no point in car companies coming out with a million different electric models, if the price of them is always far more than what we're used to paying for a vehicle. There will be a few who will buy them to make a statement, but we need everyone driving these ASAP. This is a really good example of how corporate greed may just do us all in.

The adoption of this, along with other technologies, has got to accelerate at warp speed (globally), for us to start reversing the effects of climate change in time. The longer we drag our heels on energy transition, & reducing our overall consumption, the worse our chances of survival become. We can't just stop burning fossil fuels immediately, but the shift must happen at a much faster pace than what's going on right now.

Similar to what Tesla has done with the electric car, we need to make sustainability in all areas of life prestigious & sexy. If we can do this, then most would agree that we'll start reversing these deadly trends almost right away. If we go too slow, we'll pass the tipping points.

Sure, we can vaccinate the living daylights out of ourselves to deal with the pandemic(s), which so far seems to be working to a degree. Whether this solution will work long-term remains to be seen, but my personal sense (along with many others) is that globally, we need to reduce our consumption of Earth's resources. Only then will nature start to calm down.

Everyone is so desperate to get back to normalcy, but how normal is it if we have to pump ourselves full of vaccines on a regular basis, for this to happen. We are all now at a crossroads, where we have to decide whether we want to continue to pump ourselves full of drugs, or start to reduce our consumption. I really do believe that these are our only two options.

The term "environmentalist" really bugs me, because it infers that only a few fanatics should care about it. We should ALL care. This "environment" of ours, is our lifeline to survival in this mortal realm folks. Regardless of our religious beliefs, this is the deal. We've been getting away with this reckless consumption all these years, but now we're getting close to being at the end of the party.

We need to sober up, and fast, or the outcome will not be pretty. Drugs will not solve the root problem (they seldom do). They're just buying us a bit of time. It's no coincidence that this pandemic forced the entire human species to (temporarily) reduce our consumption more than at any time in history post WW2.

Be careful when you're judging your own basic level of consumption though. If you live in a very large house because you have lots of kids, or the house is performing double or triple duty in some other way, such as a home-based business, etc., then this should be massively factored into the equation. Same with vehicles as well. If you own and live on a farm, for example, same principle applies.

No one should feel guilty about running a business efficiently, and every business requires some consumption. In fact, running a business from home, even when it's a large home, is probably the most efficient way to do it.

When you factor in typical consumption levels of the rich, middle classes, and the poor, it's pretty obvious there are gigantic differences. If we lift all out of poverty, our overall human consumption level will climb dramatically. This is why the issues of global poverty, population level, and consumption, are completely intertwined. If we are at or past Earth's carrying capacity for our species, and nature is trying to keep us from exceeding this limit, then we should probably not deny or ignore this reality. We should work with it.

We humans, as consumers, absolutely love to consume. Many experts believe that our global obsession with it is in fact the main reason for this pandemic. Natural mechanisms attempting to reduce the damage we're doing to our environment, by reducing our numbers. So in true human fashion, what do we do? Why we consume even more of course. Billions upon billions of single use plastics and toxic chemicals from rapid tests, pumping ourselves full of vaccines, non-biodegradable masks littering the streets, people using hand sanitizer every 10 minutes.

We virtually always prefer to consume more, over solving the root or real problems in this world, because it's the easiest and quickest route to take, but it's rarely the wisest. Similar to how overweight people with high blood pressure much prefer to take medication, over solving the real problem by losing a bit of weight, this same principle applies to the pandemic. Instead of reducing the pace of our environmental destruction, we as always choose to consume even more. We simply LOVE doing this.

Instead of reducing the stress in our lives, we consume CBD, smoke, vape, or eat Tums. Instead of burning calories for transportation, we prefer burning fossil fuel. Instead of solving emotional problems for real, people prefer taking mind-altering medication. Instead of being creative to find entertaining things to do, many prefer consuming street drugs for the high or buzz. Or maybe just go shopping, and buy a bunch more crap that we really don't need. Kids are now taking drugs to focus better in schools, to compete for better grades. And the list goes on, and on, and on.

Whenever there is a major crisis or problem, whether it be global or in our own personal lives, we almost always desperately look for something to consume. It's how we're neurologically wired, along with caring far more about the short-term over the long. And this pandemic is obviously no exception.

Our obsessive human cravings for extreme consumption are not just shared by the vast majority of us as individual consumers, big business (and all business to be accurate) also share in our passion with this human activity. Obviously the more we consume, the more money they make. Not all of it is of the devil, we obviously need and want a sensible and reasonable amount, both for survival AND for fun.

But our obsessive over-the-top extremism needs to be reeled in, and we need to realize that this craving we all have deep in our soul is largely there to feed our own ego, or give us a false sense of security. The richer we are, the more likely we struggle with this. And in this pandemic, an unreasonable level of fear is driving much of it.

This is why globally, sustainability has got to become our new obsession, and fast. Transitioning to renewable energy is job #1, closely followed by recycling, and the reduction of all other forms of consumption. I'm thinking that "space tourism" should probably not be very high up on our list of priorities right now. At least not until we can do it sustainably. I'm generally a big fan of Richard Branson, but come on, there are still children starving to death in this world. $250,000 for rocket fuel to take a joy ride to the edge of space, is just not something we should be doing right now.

It's not necessary for us to all live like Mennonites (although it definitely wouldn't hurt), we just need to be smarter about what we're doing. The human brain is wired to care more about right now, and not as much about the future. We need to see past this flaw in ourselves, if we want to survive much longer. Money is not the devil, but it does motivate people in very high places, to make very unwise decisions.

A wiser outlook on life, will also make us far more comfortable with the idea of retiring sooner, since a less flashy, low consumption retirement costs dramatically less than a big-shot one. Globally, let's put the old ego in it's place where it belongs. We're teaching young children in schools the three R's, to reduce, reuse and recycle. Let's do it for the children, AND for us.

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