photo: threephin/Creative Commons via flickr.
DCL
I've brought up the notion of elegant simplicity here on Planet Green a couple of times but in light of the massive and currently expanding BP oil spill and some commentary by George Monbiot over in The Guardian it seems appropriate to revisit the issue, as it offers at least a partial solution in terms of personal behavior and habits to a number of our environmental problems.
Less Glamor, More Gratitude
First of all, what is elegant simplicity? Satish Kumar's editorial in the May/June 2009 issue of Resurgence magazine really lays out well the simplicity part:
Although sometimes people think simplicity means a kind of 'hair-shirt' lifestyle, that is not my view. Simplicity is a positive quality; when things are simple they are well-made, they last indefinitely, they are made with pleasure and they give pleasure when used. It was E.F. Schumacher who said, "Any fool can make things complicated, but it requires a genius to make things simple."
Simplicity requires less ego and more imagination, less complication and more creativity, less glamour and more gratitude, less attention to appearance and more attention to essence.
The elegant part, as I see it (Kumar may have a different insight), is in how if more and more of us shift towards embracing this sort of simplicity in our lives, the easy it becomes to tackle some of our most tangled environmental problems. Simplicity becomes the most elegant solution.
Climate Change, Oil Spills Just Symptoms of Bigger Problem
Here's where recent comments by Monbiot come in. Writing in the context of current UK election campaigns and how all three main parties focus on increasing consumer consumption to boost the economy as a given, which is no way to tackle climate change or just natural resource consumption generally.
In the UK, Monbiot writes, consumption of goods amounts to 57% of total emissions. He continues,
Like most people in the environmental movement, I spend my time talking vaguely about the need to reduce the consumption of goods, but specifically...about the need to reduce the direct consumption of energy. But however well we insulate our homes, change our travel habits, alter the electricity supply and switch to more efficient appliances, however much the public sector cleans up its act and the efficiency of commercial buildings is improved, we'll still only be scratching the surface of the problem.
The bigger problem is over consumption of goods and ecologically unsustainable consumption of natural resources. Living beyond the carrying capacity of the planet, consuming natural resources beyond the ability of the planet to regenerate them. Virtually every single environmental problem we face--the BP oil spill being a particularly graphic example--is but a symptom of this greater problem.
How you get to a state of elegant simplicity reveals the solution. Let's unpack Kumar's definition a bit.
"...when things are simple they are well-made, they last indefinitely. They are made with pleasure and they give pleasure when used ...
Modern consumer culture is solidly rooted in trend, fashion and cool. Planned obsolescence, while normally associated with electronics and gadgets, equally applies to the fashion industry, and nearly every category of consumer good. More items than not are not particularly well made or styled to last. And even when they are you are told by changing trends that whatever you have is last season and unhip.
Break out of that. Banish hipness and cool from your vocabulary. What's next, ecologically speaking, is what you already have. Five shirts that are well made and timeless is the more elegant wardrobe solution than a revolving closet of disposable clothing.
Whether by economic necessity--let's remember that for more people than not in the world owning five shirts at a time is a financial stretch--or by choice, embracing the simplicity of only purchasing what is needed and ensuring it lasts is far more elegant than the most well-crafted but constantly changing couture.
This is how you pare things down. Consider ever decision to buy, to consume, carefully. Will the item give lasting pleasure? Meaning, is it something that will satisfy the need it was designed to fill indefinitely? Is it joyful to use? Was it made with pleasure? Meaning, considering the entire chain of manufacture and marketing, was the item made with care or just churned out in unhealthful conditions. In general, ask yourself if you've lived this long without the item at hand, do you really need it now.
By heading the advice to focus not on appearance but on the essence whenever faced with consumption you will inevitably reduce your consumption and your impact on the planet. By becoming less concerned with glamor (looking outside for validation, creating separation) and more concerned with gratitude (looking inward and realizing interconnection) you will also naturally tread more lightly.
In embracing and internalizing simplicity you will unwittingly both improve your own life, by stepping outside the current of trend, and help improve the world we all live in, by reducing your ecological impact.
