THE NEED FOR TRANSITION TO THE SIMPLER WAY

Ted Trainer

The basic cause of the many alarming global problems we face is the pursuit of affluent “living standards” and economic growth…the determination to produce and consume more and more, without limit, even in the richest countries. There is no possibility that the per capita levels of resource consumption in rich countries can be kept up for long. Only a few of the world’s people have these “living standards” and the rest can never rise anything like them.

• Resources such as food, land, forests, fisheries soils, minerals and energy (especially petroleum) are being depleted because the people in rich countries are consuming grossly unsustainable amounts, and the rest are trying to live as the few in rich countries live…and all are determined to consume more and increase GDP all the time and without limit.

• The environment is being destroyed because far too much is being taken from nature and too many wastes are being dumped back into nature. The environment problem cannot be solved unless rich world per capita levels of production and consumption are greatly reduced, possibly by a factor of 10. For instance the Australian “footprint”, the amount of productive land per capita used, is about 7 ha, but by 2050 the amount available in the world per capita will only be about .8 ha.

• The Third World problem of perhaps 4 billion people living in deprivation and poverty (and 3 billion on an income of less than $2 per day) is basically due to the fact that the global economy gears most of the Third World’s resources and productive capacity to enriching our rich world corporations and stacking our supermarkets. We could not have our high “living standards” if we were not taking far more than our fair share of the world’s resources.

• Most problems of armed conflict and of oppression are due to the determination of some to take the resources of others. If we all go on fiercely intent on living in, or aspiring to, ways it is impossible for all to rise to, then there must inevitably be more and more armed conflict. We in rich countries could not have our high “living standards” if we were not getting far more than our fair share. We do this partly through the way the grossly unjust global economy works. It allows the rich to outbid the poor for scarce things, and will only permit development of what is most profitable to corporations, i.e., of ventures that serve our supermarkets. But in addition the rich countries support oppressive regimes and engage in military actions in order to keep Third World countries to the policies that suit us.

• Social cohesion and the quality of life in even the richest societies are being damaged, because the supreme goals are raising business turnover, incomes and the GDP, not meeting needs, building community and improving the quality of life.

These problems are inevitable consequences of a society that is driven by acquisitiveness, competition, the profit motive, market forces and growth. It is not just that this society is grossly unsustainable and unjust – the point is that such a society cannot be made sustainable or just. It is not possible to reform such a society so that it does not generate the above problems, while it continues to be about the fierce drive to get as rich as possible and to allow development to be determined by what will be most profitable to corporations and banks.

Most people however believe that technical advance, such as the development of more efficient cars and of renewable energy sources, will indeed enable us to plunge on down the affluence and growth path for ever while it solves the environment and other problems. But the magnitude of the overshoot, the unsustainability, is far too great for this to be possible. If by 2050 all the world’s people had risen to the “living standards” we in rich countries will have then given 3% p.a. growth, then world economic output would be 30 times as great as it is now…and right now it is at a grossly unsustainable level. Technical advance cannot make such a situation remotely sustainable…and with 3% growth the task would be twice as great every 23 years thereafter.

The solution.

The can be no solution to these alarming problems unless there is transition to ways in which there are,

- Simpler lifestyles, much less production and consumption, much less

concern with luxury, affluence, possessions and wealth, and much more

concern with non-material sources of life satisfaction.

- Mostly small, highly self-sufficient local economies, largely independent of the global economy, putting local resources to meeting local needs. When petroleum becomes scarce there will be no choice about this.

- More cooperative and participatory ways, enabling people in small communities to take control of their own development, to include and provide for all. In the coming era of scarcity communities that cooperate to meet needs will have much better chances. We must develop commons and working bees, and there must be town assemblies, local committees an referenda making the important decisions about local development and administration.

- A new economy, one that is not driven by profit or market forces, and one that has no growth at all, that produces much less than the present one, and focuses on needs and rights. It might have many private firms and markets, but there must be (participatory, democratic, open and local) social control over what is developed, what is produced, and how it is distributed.

- Some very different values, especially cooperation not competition, and frugality and self-sufficiency not acquisitiveness and consuming.

The alternative or Simpler Way is about ensuring a very high quality of life for all without anywhere near as much work, worry, production, consumption, exporting, investment, environmental damage etc. as our present society involves. It is about liberation from the consumer rat race, and the insecurity, inequality, conflict and cultural squalor that goes with it. Consider having to work for money maybe only two days a week for money, and therefore having a lot of time for arts and crafts and personal growth, living in a rich and supportive community, and in a diverse and productive leisure-rich landscape, having socially worthwhile and enjoyable work with no fear of unemployment...and knowing you are not contributing to global problems.

Many people now accept this view of our situation and the solution, and are working for transition to the alternative way. There are now Global Eco-village and Transition Towns Movements trying to build new settlements of the required kind. The fate of the planet depends on whether these movements can provide many impressive examples of sustainable, just and pleasant settlements showing people in consumer society that there is a better way.

What should one do? Form a group in your town or suburb to start dev eloping elements of the new way, such as small cooperative gardens and workshops, community working bees, edible landscapes, festivals…and helping to organise wasted local resources such as unemployed, retired and excluded people into producing to meet some of their own needs….with the vision of gradually expanding until we have transformed the entire suburb. This is the kind of strategy being rapidly applied in the Transition Towns movement. As conditions in consumer society deteriorate, led by the coming petroleum crisis, people will see the wisdom of coming across to The Simple Way we have pioneered.

For detailed argument and evidence on these themes see,

http://ssis.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/