Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky
As we made the drive to Alabama over the last two days, one thing that felt like a slap in the face was being out in the world and seeing the sprawl of "stuff".
New stuff, old stuff, big boxes, little boxes, and an infinite supply of cars.
As far as the eye can see, nature is bulldozed to make room for boxes upon boxes of stuff.
I’ve been in a tree bubble. An echo chamber of people who care about the same things. It was a bit disorienting to venture through a world that was organized around vastly different priorities than the ones we've been talking about.
What is the root of all this? I'll propose one part.
Consumption. Endless consumption.
More, more, more, more, more.
Happiness seems to lie at least partially in leaving space to just be, yet we commit all of our time to doing in order to unlock more consumption.
We are the most productive group of humans that have ever existed and yet we still have to work more than ever. Why?
Because we consume as fast as we produce.
We consume until we're fat. We consume until we're sick and exhausted.
We consume until our boxes (houses) are filled to bursting, so we consume in order to build something bigger. We never have enough. We always need more.
People don’t like to consider the question 'how can I consume less', but I think it may be a vital question to consider on an individual level. It seems to me that the more we reduce consumption to the essentials, the happier and healthier we are likely to be.
What do you think?
Also - I’ve been writing a lot about personal habits. The more I've published on this subject, the more I've questioned whether this is on theme with rewildling.
I’ve decided that habits and thought processes have everything to do with rewilding.
In fact, I think that focusing on regenerative agriculture is a waste of time if we don’t get personal thought processes and habits under control.
To fix a problem, you have to go after the root causes.
Our institutions emerge from the collective thoughts and actions of individuals.
To change our institutions in a meaningful way, we need to empower individuals to change their own thoughts for the better.
Thanks for reading!
Life is good.
Reply to: rewildling@proton.me
Links:
- Little Boxes by Pete Seeger
- George Carlin talks about stuff - One of my favorite stand up routines of all time
What I'm Reading Right Now: Walden