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The economy is a mysterious thing. I really can't say that I understand it. Not that I'm an expert, my college economics class made my head spin. People continually talk about the economy as if it is an entity that lives and breathes, and I suppose some would say that it does. We hear the economy is doing poorly, and it makes us afraid so we stop spending, which in turn makes the economy even worse. A self-fulfilling prophecy I suppose - sometimes I wonder what would happen if no one ever told us things were so bad? It all seems a little arbitrary. Why did housing prices skyrocket for ten years before they bottomed out? Who decides that the stock market is booming before it drops 50% in a few months?
Perhaps I am oversimplifying, but isn't the economy fairly simple when you break it down? We all need certain things, so in essence we work to earn money to barter for those needs. In truth, our real needs are pretty basic. We need to be housed, clothed and fed. We need medical care if we are sick. We need to feel safe and secure. Call me crazy, but given our current state of technology and wealth, if we wanted to, couldn't we provide these basic needs for everyone?
Perhaps the problem is that everything has gotten too complicated. Way back before there was a world economy, people lived in small villages and they took care of each other. Someone grew food, and someone repaired shoes, and someone ran a market, and someone else built houses. It was a simple and sustainable system. Everyone knew that the wellbeing of themselves and their families depended on the wellbeing of everyone in the village, so they looked after each other. I certainly don't think of those pre-industrial years as utopia, but they were simpler.
I am not suggesting we go back to the eighteen hundreds - I love Tivo as much as the next guy - but maybe it is time to
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take a step back and examine our true needs. It is not our needs but our wants that have brought about the environmental destruction of our planet. The problem with the view that we are all just cogs in the grand wheel of world economics is that we end up feeling separate from one another. We are taught to compete for limited resources, rather than work together, and we believe that our success must come at the expense of another. After all, we tell ourselves, it is a dog-eat-dog world, and we have to do whatever it takes to survive.
But I believe a sustainable system would be premised on the knowledge that everything I do affects everyone, and therefore I must tread lightly. Pure capitalism teaches that we must all gobble up as much as possible, claw and fight our way to the top at any expense, regardless if it hurts the planet, someone in another country, or even someone down the street. Yet, sustainable capitalism would be premised on the idea that all of us are intimately connected, and that we all must look out for one another and our planet, while still maintaining the innovation and creativity that has brought about many incredible advances.
It may be time that we go from the very big and impersonal back to the very small and intimate. Back to farmers markets, small stores, neighborhood meetings, backyard organic gardens and away from huge box stores, food being shipped from across the world, and feelings of isolation. A sustainable society may soon be a necessity, but one that changes all of our lives, and the life of the planet, for the better.
Jeffrey Mindell is a writer, poet, cartoonist, attorney and all around nice fellow. He can be contacted at jmindell@gmail.com |
