WIP: Wasting Abundance
Not certain where this will end up. Consider it thinking out loud. That's why these pieces are called Work In Progress (WIP).
Counting Our Blessings
Humans on this planet now consume one-and-half earth equivalents. While we could live more efficiently, efficiency is not the actual problem. In fact, humans are probably too efficient at some things, to the expense of others. In short, we are Wasting Abundance.
I anticipate the following retorts:
- People are starving
- Abundance?!? I can barely make it to the next paycheck
- Didn't we just have a recession?
All valid answers that miss a greater point. Shortages and inequality are manufactured.
What Do We Need?
Our current system favors monoculture. It favors efficiency for the few over prosperity for the many. It is the most efficient way to farm for those seeking highest profits. Its greatest opposition is diversity. From a business POV managing diversity is too complex, too much to manage. Nature thrives on it. Unfortunately for the bean-counters (hee hee), it works on its own schedule. It is difficult to control; you cannot count on it alone to deliver profit on time.
| Food Waste: The Next Food Revolution Currently, in the U.S., almost half of our food — 40 percent of what we grow — ends up in the garbage. Globally, food waste is rising to 50 percent as developing nations struggle with spoilage and Western nations simply toss edible food away. |
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| Traffic congestion costs drivers more than $100 billion annually in wasted fuel and lost time. New report: Road congestion wastes 1.9 billion gallons |
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| Examples of Wasting Abundance are abundant |
It is estimated that another homes in the country. |
This attitude extends right down to the retail level. Franchising succeeds on the concept that products are offered by the exact same standard regardless of location. The problem is that we could be riding monotony into oblivion.
Buy! Buy! Buy!
To proffer goods that all perform and act the same grew a new industry, advertising. It evinces how much abundance we waste. How much--talking more than money here--spent on convincing people to buy cheap goods could be used to provide basic needs just about everywhere? 40% of food ends up in landfills. In part, marketing drives this practice; if produce shelves show empty spots consumers may look elsewhere. Whatever the reason, abundance wasted.
But Wait There's More!
Wasting Abundance, a series of occasional posts, looks at the issue from many angles. It may help us realize how abundantly we now live, how to spread abundance more evenly and better appreciate a surplus when we see it. At the current pace, wasting our abundance is as dangerous as much as smacks of blind privilege. Abundance should work in our favor, not against us.