A most interesting article appeared in the Feb./March issue of Mother Earth News. This article addressed the issue of why, though Mother Earth has been warning us for 40 years now that "our fossil fuel habit was destructive, industrial agricultural was damaging our land and water, population growth was unsustainable, and contemporary lifestyles were separating people from nature in ways that undermined our health and our emotional well-being," and science has proven them correct on all counts, it hasn't done any of us much good?
Their conclusion was that we've gone about this task back-assward, advocating personal change without offering incentives. Austerity is a drag, so most people resist it. Abundance, on the other hand, is attractive. "If we are to lead creative, innovative and beautiful lives, we need some surplus time and energy. Most of the significant achievements in our history have been accomplished in the presence of abundance. Science, technology, literature and art spring only from societies in which the surplus resources created by some people enable others to live reflective, inventive lives." Therefore, we will not engage the great engines of human creativity with a vision of pure frugality. If we are to create a sustainable future, we need more positive criteria. To create this world, they suggest that we need to stop defining our vision one partisan issue at a time, and look at our future holistically, using the following four simple questions to guide our aspirations:
- Is it fair?
- Is it repeatable?
- Is it beautiful?
- Does it create abundance?
P.S. Many thanks to creativequilts.com.au/gallery.htm for the above image. Autumn Abundance quilt by Lisa Davis.
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