There are not many ideologies today, it seems, that encourage consuming less in order to reclaim more of one's free time for oneself. Yet I think this is a necessary plank in our transition to a greener future. I feel this could be helped along by encouraging simple, maximally inclusive communal activities. Much of our consumption today seems directed toward compensating for a loss of non-consumption-oriented community.
I say this as one living in a relatively affluent Western country, granted.
1 year ago 路 馃憤 kevinsan, tigercarnival, eph
@eph @marginalia However, I'm wary of any ideology that romanticizes the past or seeks to return to it wholesale. We should certainly learn from the past, but never seek to return to it. There is certainly plenty good in what we've built and learned these past few hundred years. One of the really nice things we've discovered, for example, is that improving standards of living, education, and human rights (especially with regard to autonomy and procreational health services for women) seems to be a way out of Malthus' population trap.
There's certainly a gemlog post or two in here, but I don't think I've yet got a clear picture of everything I want to say. 2/2 路 1 year ago
@eph @marginalia I think there is some looking back to do, as humans have lived perfectly contented lives all over the world in ways that were less environmentally degrading than the ways we are living now. I've enjoyed Thoreau, Plato, and the Stoics, though I think I resonate more with Epicurus than Aurelius. I'm presently reading "Just Enough," an account of how people in Japan lived during the Edo era, with special attention to how they managed their relationship with their environment. It's been enjoyable. 1/ 路 1 year ago
I think you need to look back, not forward to find such ideologies. You need to look at Henry David Thoreau, at Diogenes the Cynic, at Plato's metaphor of the leaky jar. 路 1 year ago
I'm in favor of village dances and no tiktok lol 路 1 year ago
@bencollver Yeah, this would fit within the notion of reducing the impacts of one's consumption habits, and seems related to the notion of finding means of fulfillment that are less materially/environmentally expensive. I think it's important that we find a form for modern life to take that is both lighter on the land and more fulfilling and enjoyable. Appreciative inquiry sounds like a road into exactly that. 路 1 year ago
One approach would be appreciative inquiry. To make a food analogy, instead of trying to cut out the bad food, try to put more good food into your diet. Coincidentally, consumption is the name of a disease. In the diet metaphor, a consumption lifestyle is the junk food. Rather than trying to cut out the junk food, one could consider just what is it that is wholesome and healthy? How do you tell the difference? How can you put more of that into your life? And how will your life be different when you do? 路 1 year ago
Consumption offers a path of least resistance, especially since consumption is itself central to so many social activities. Most people never get bored enough to make their own entertainment, there's so much pre-pack to consume. 路 1 year ago