Sustainability Part III: A New World Order

There are really just a few things we could do in order to begin living sustainably, but they require the huge first step of honoring our place in the world and finding harmony with our environment – a significant and profound shift in how we live. It’s more than a green movement of conserving and recycling. We need the significant shift of a blue movement. The basic institutions of the modern world are no longer working.

Capitalism, industrialism and especially consumerism are revealing themselves unfit to carry us forward into a sustainable vision of the future. These systems and institutions are only a few hundred years old – just a moment in time, considering the long history of our planet – and deserve to be evaluated as an experiment.

The industrial revolution was born out of man’s desire to evolve into a modern world where life is easier and more productive. Our quest for profit from this increased production gave birth to capitalism. As we began to produce more and more stuff, our economies grew dependent on continuously increasing production. And our desire to consume more and more increased.

Very few people think about the life of what they are buying; seldom expecting to utilize something longer than a few short years, or less. There is little forethought of how our stuff will be disposed, how it was produced, and the effect both those actions have on the planet. We view the earth as something to exploit, rather than live in harmony with.

We need a new economic model that is not critically and essentially dependent on consumerism. Less consumerism results in less production, reducing the abuse to our planet. These immediate actions buy us time to devise and implement totally sustainable methods of producing energy and manufacturing. A revitalized economy will emerge, creating new jobs.

Now, imagine our money system just went away – yet we all kept doing what we do for one another and exchanging all the products we need. Nothing would really be any different except we wouldn’t be obsessed with money, wealth and consumption, resolving our out of control economy. Without the drive for economic growth and in the presence of a higher human consciousness, we would consume just what we need, ending overproduction, overconsumption and all the related waste and destruction to the planet. It’s a radical view but highlights how arbitrary our money system really is.

And what if we begin to focus more on the exchange of services rather than buying so much stuff to support our economy. We could exchange services related to awakening and deepening our spiritual experiences – healing, bodywork, mentoring, counseling – an economy where we focus less on stuff and more on substance, connecting with the truth and essence of who we really are. As we heal who we are, we will naturally connect with our world in a different way, with reverence and respect, so that we effortlessly begin to take better care of the planet.

We learn to consume responsibly, using only what we need and needing only what we use. In short, it’s a new world order where we consume less, produce less, eliminate manufacturing jobs, re-invest that human capital into building the infrastructure of sustainable energy production and responsible manufacturing, as we transition into an economy less dependent on stuff and more on substance.

It’s a very high order and a lofty vision, but in many ways it is already happening. Our choice is how we choose to participate – slowly and painfully dragging our feet or by embracing this vision fully and willingly. This is an incredible time with the opportunity to experience and participate in this movement. Gather your strength, your resolve and let’s step forward, together, into our future.