I have yammered for years about The Luxury of Enough. The opposite of enough is planetary degradation and freedom bereft of meaning. I learned in therapy (also for years) that want and need are different. We want new jeans and the latest handbag. We need very little. Food, shelter, clean water, love. Nature requires needs be met to simply survive. I can live without dark chocolate. I cannot live without water. I can live without music, but I want it enough to elevate it to a need in my soul. Enough means survival at its core: spiritual calm, brain function, and body ease at its most pure. One article recently tried to explain to us dumb humans that buying an eco-friendly $150 shirt is not the same as self-abnegation. Stephanie Mills writes about The Luxury of Enough in "Epicurean Simplicity." Anita Roddick understood the global need for clean water and education and enabled poor cultures to establish businesses by buying locally on a global scale. I am learning. I am learning faster than I learned for 50 years that my actions have consequences, that what I want has an impact on my loved ones, my village and my world. I hope I am improving as I strive to embrace The Luxury of Enough.
Showing posts with label Stephanie Mills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephanie Mills. Show all posts
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Luxury of Enough
I have yammered for years about The Luxury of Enough. The opposite of enough is planetary degradation and freedom bereft of meaning. I learned in therapy (also for years) that want and need are different. We want new jeans and the latest handbag. We need very little. Food, shelter, clean water, love. Nature requires needs be met to simply survive. I can live without dark chocolate. I cannot live without water. I can live without music, but I want it enough to elevate it to a need in my soul. Enough means survival at its core: spiritual calm, brain function, and body ease at its most pure. One article recently tried to explain to us dumb humans that buying an eco-friendly $150 shirt is not the same as self-abnegation. Stephanie Mills writes about The Luxury of Enough in "Epicurean Simplicity." Anita Roddick understood the global need for clean water and education and enabled poor cultures to establish businesses by buying locally on a global scale. I am learning. I am learning faster than I learned for 50 years that my actions have consequences, that what I want has an impact on my loved ones, my village and my world. I hope I am improving as I strive to embrace The Luxury of Enough.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Biodiversity
Today there is a BBC News article, with the results of the third Global Biodiversity Outlook. The article is titled "Nature Loss to Damage Economies." The second line reports ecosystems may become less useful to humanity.
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity project will quantify the monetary value of services that nature provides for us.
A chart from IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) of extinctions and near-extinctions puts our blue friend's family in the most endangered amphibian category. IUCN's site has three focal points. One claims 2010 the Year of Biodiversity, and while acknowledging that biodiversity is the foundation of life on earth, biodiversity "supports every aspect of human life and progress." Another focus notes that IUCN is working to make economic development more sustainable.
The language we use to describe the troubled marriage of economy and ecology contributes to the union favoring humanity over habitat. "You cannot manage what you do not measure," writes TEEB. Conceptual linguistic scaffolding. We must intuit the intention to save biodiversity, even as language usage reinforces the hierarchy of human domination over nature.
Today and tomorrow, the little blue frog and its descendants will live naturally. I will keep trying.
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