– A combination of simple living, anti-consumerism, self-work ethic, self-reliance, resilience, and applied capitalism

The teacher said: “Do you consider me a person who learns a lot and keeps everything in memory?”
Zi Gong replied: “Yes, right?”
The teacher said, “No, I’m using one string to tie everything together.”

– From the Analects of Confucius

Have you ever noticed that what used to be referred to as citizens or workers are now referred to as consumers? Have you noticed that the solution to our economic problems is to give people money so they can go out and buy something?

Our culture lives outside the story. A story based on man taking control of the world with full rights to take fruits, herbs and animals for his own consumption. This idea may have made sense 5,000 years ago, but now our demands are so great that we not only consume food, but also clear away other life to build homes, roads and golf courses.

“How about I move 20 miles from where I work and my colleague moves 20 miles in the opposite direction. Then we will both build big houses in the middle of the forest. We will build roads and cars, and every day we will get into our cars and spend two hours every day driving from In order to get back to work. We can build an entire economy around this concept and thus create more jobs.

Humanity currently controls 60% of the biosphere. This number cannot reach 100%. Since no one knows how to make a completely closed, self-sufficient system (the space station still needs supplies from time to time). This worries me.

Our culture is built on consumption and hoarding, but we have forgotten why. It was common for prudent people to save resources such as grain, wood, water, and minerals… for a rainy day. Rainy days occur when the system is seriously restricted. One critical barrier is the farmer’s inability to transfer his land. If the crop fails, it is best to have a backup plan. If resources are naturally abundant then there is no need to save.

Today we live in the most technologically advanced civilization the world has ever seen. It is not difficult to list all our achievements, but let me mention just one. Today we wear better shoes than the ones worn by royalty five centuries ago and we pay only $29.95. This is thanks to advances in technology, transportation, and trade. It’s really quite amazing. However, culturally, we are no more advanced than a group of Bronze Age peasants. So what do we do? Even though we don’t hoard grains, we still fill our homes with 15 pairs of shoes, 25 suits, new furniture (which we replace every time a new catalog comes out), 2 televisions, 3 computers, and enough tools to outfit a small house. Auto shop though we only use a screwdriver and maybe a hammer a few times a month.

With our amazingly advanced financial systems, it is no longer possible to hoard all of these things. So there is another solution that can be called eco-capitalism or eco-capitalism. Eco-capitalism takes advantage of our advanced technology to finish work that used to take days in less than an hour (think hand knitting a shirt versus machine knitting).

One chain links everything together
In our world it is possible to choose quality over quantity. It is possible to produce a lifetime’s worth of environmentally conscious consumption in just five years. This should be possible for any productive environmental activist who sticks to the word.To change and improve culture we must change the individuals in the culture. In order to change individuals, we must first change ourselves. I’m generally opposed to telling people what to do and what not to do as a decree. Instead, I try to show that it is possible by setting an example that we hope is worth emulating.It all starts with reducing oneself Environmental effects. Buy used instead of new. A used home does not require new land or resources to build. The used car has already been manufactured once and does not require additional factory resources and raw materials. It’s environmentally better to buy a used Hummer than a new Prius. The same goes for furniture. Develop a taste for quality rather than novelty. Get antique furniture instead of new plywood. Even in my lifetime, I’ve noticed that the furniture you buy these days isn’t as sturdy as it was 20 years ago. Buy quality rather than quantity. It will quickly become clear that this strategy is much less expensive in the long run.

By reducing one’s ecological footprint much less than that of its neighbours, it is possible to save a lot of money. This money should be invested in tools. The tools of this world are not forks, shovels, plows, and hammers. Our tools are financial instrumentsSuch as bonds and stocks (shares) which represent claims on the instruments and a share of the products of the instruments. This leaves the tools in the hands of experts, craftsmen, etc., where they are much more effective than in the hands of individuals.

It only takes five years of hard work to collect enough investments or claims on products to live an environmentally sustainable life. This in no way means that one has to live as an average consumer only with less plywood furniture, less plastic coat hangers, less plastic bowls, and less plastic toys. Instead, it means carefully selecting high-quality items that will last a long time (thereby reducing expenses) while making conscious choices regarding price, resource use and aesthetics.

If more people embraced this, we would see fewer factories producing endless miles of plastic waste. We will see the emergence of cars that are built to be maintained for a hundred years. Since people are no longer running around trying to fill their growing homes with cheap trinkets, people will have more time for friends and family, tinkering with projects, or conducting research on how to make the world a better place.

So who’s with me?

Originally published on 2008-02-03 07:38:07.