Four Changes
(Page 3 of 4)
III. CONSUMPTION
RELATED CONTENT
The Condition
Position: Consumption is also a matter of balances and the
problems that arise with excess. "The Wanton Boy that kills
a fly shall feel the Spider's enmity."
Situation: Man's use of dozens of "resources" and his total
dependence on certain of them (like dependence on fossil
fuels) exhausts certain presences in the biosphere with
incalculable results on the other members of the network:
while rendering mankind vulnerable to the consequences of
the loss of major supplies. In fragile areas animals and
birds have all but been extincted in pursuit of furs or
feathers or fertilizer or oil: the soil is "used up" and
all of this to feed outrageous excesses like war, or a
phoney consumption-oriented economy.
Goal: Balance, harmony, humility, the true affluence of
being a good member of the community of living
creatures.
Action
Social/political: Seek out new self-renewable energy
sources. And: it must be taught ceaselessly til it sticks
that a continually "growing economy" is no longer healthy,
but a Cancer. Restructure business corporations so that
they can function without presenting a contunually growing
profit; stress responsible, controlled production. Soil
banks, open space, phase out logging on federal land.
Protection for all predators and varmints. Absolutely no
further development of roads and concessions in National
Parks and Wilderness areas; build auto campgrounds in the
least desirable areas. Develop consumer-boycott and
consumer research power in the areas of irresponsible and
dishonest products. Thus: expose the myths of capitalism
and the cold war. & Communist myths of growth and
production by the by.
The community: Sharing and conserving; boycotting the
wasteful. The inherent aptness of communal life, where
large tools are owned jointly, and personal objects are
private. If enough people refused to buy a new car for one
year, it would permanently alter the American economy.
Re-cycling clothes and equipment. (Goodwill and Salvation
Army are useful: they should perhaps be confronted and
straightened out on their pricing and wage policies.)
Support local handicrafts in shoes and clothes. Learn to
break the habit of too many unnecessary possessions - a
monkey on everybody's back - but avoid a self-abnegating
anti-joyous self righteousness. Simplicity is light,
carefree, neat, and loving-not a self-punishing ascetic
trip. (The greatest Chinese poet, Tu Fu, said, "The ideas
of a poet should be noble and simple.")
Don't shoot a deer if you don't know how to use all the
meat and preserve that which you can't eat; to tan the hide
and use the leather - to use it all, with gratitude, right
down to the sinew and hooves. Simplicity and mindfulness in
diet is perhaps the starting point for most people.
