How much should a person consume?
Since moving to Chennai, we have had an abundance of bird-sighting. The area that we are living in is on the fringes of the city; there are still open lands here and coconut and banana groves. There is a lake fairly close by, plus marshlands, which support over a 100 species of birds. Standing on the terrace of our house or on our little street, I have in the last 15 days already sighted chestnut-headed bee-eaters, white-breasted kingfishers, a rufous treepie, purple sunbirds, ashy prinias, the Indian pond heron and a few other species that I haven’t identified yet - besides mynas, doves, bulbuls and of course, crows!
A large plot of land next to our house is lying vacant and this is is a haven for many of the smaller species. It has already been identified for building by a flat developer. I can’t help feeling sad about this, and indeed, many of us love to wax eloquent about the forests being destroyed for development, ecosystems being wiped out and so on - but what we do not realise is that the ecosystem does not exist in a remote forest comfortably away from us. Our backyards and cities are also part of an ecosystem and we are all complicit in driving away every other species from it except - homo sapiens.
We are the ones who buy the flats - for which the land is cleared.
We are the ones who use mobile phones - and their towers that drive birds away.
We are the ones that want a ‘lakeside’ property - where access is denied to fishermen who have used the lake for generations because we don’t want ‘outsiders’, especially poorly dressed ones, in ‘our’ neighbourhood.
And we are the ones breeding in numbers our country cannot sustain. Yes, you and me, netizens may protest that we don’t have more than 2 kids each, but even then, ours will be the kids that eat more processed food, use and throw electronic items every year, want larger houses with more privacy for everyone and 24 hour ACs to shut out the heat - in short, consume energy and resources like an American does today.
Those metals and minerals have to come from somewhere, don’t they? And while we protest the jungles being cleared for the bauxite mining and the coal plant, we can’t live without the things they make! We protest the process, but clamour for its results. Most politicians know this, which is why no one (ok, make that few, out of some respect for Jairam Ramesh) takes environmental objections seriously.
I don’t know really what the solution is. Live more simply, yes - but easier said than done? Honestly, it is difficult to weigh the consequences of each and every small decision. Should I gift this friend’s child yet another cheap plastic china-made toy made probably with toxic materials? Or an ‘authentic’ wooden toy that still needed some part of a tree? Or is there something more sustainable? Do I need one more outfit? If I were to be absolutely honest, I ‘need’ very little of what I have. Yet, it is all very exhausting and rarely do I continue this chain of thought to any logical end.
I did buy recently Ramachandra Guha’s ‘How much should a person consume‘, and I’m hoping that it will set me thinking a little more deeply on the subject and perhaps act on it, even if in my own small way.
What do you think? How much should a person really consume?
You are right that it’s a question without end. I faced this when thinking about whether I should not buy Apple products becasue the semiconductors are made in a factory in China where there have been a spate of worker suicides. But I felt kind of helpless because really there is no mobile phone being produced with parts free from the production process in China. In fact, today almost nothing appears free from an unfair production process, at least nothing that one can buy longterm. (Someone later explained to me that singling out Apple which claims to be a responsible producer and forcing it to change might set a trend in the industry, which makes some sort of sense).
Anyway, I am seeing a similar thing here after the nuclear crisis in Japan. People in HK are all runnign scared and saying plants in China are not safe blah blah. But if not nuclear power than what? Are they willing to live without the aircon for even one hour? Even in India, they are all going on about how we should go for nuclear energy (nuclear energy in India is a scary thought for me) but ask any of these people whether they would live next to a nuclear plant and see what they say.
I felt this way when we were looking to buy some property for investment. I saw a mongoose run to hide under some bushes, it looked frightened, and somebody commented that maybe it was a mother. I realised if we and others like us, were not so eager to buy something we do not need, their habitat would not be destroyed.
So completely in agreement with you. We each have to try and see how we can change our behaviour. Here’s something I came across which is a step in the right direction.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nizhal-friends-of-trees/bhuvanas-experiences-in-working-towards-a-better-environment/10150124306672319
“We protest the process, but clamour for it’s results”.
Well said. Thoughtful post, Apu.
However, the question on the title of the book is fraught with overzealous marketing simplicity (I hope the book is printed on recycled paper, for Mr Guha’s sake!). Obviously, the “how much” piece depends so much (excuse the pun) on “which” a person we’re talking about, and “what” the consumed good is.
One could say ecologically speaking, fully recyclable items could be consumed indiscriminately infinitely. Economically speaking, perhaps, one man’s consumption may be called obscene by another, but from their points of view, relatively, they could be equally frugal or prodigal.
This is one of those topics that lend themselves to strong ideological positions whose expressions are often betrayed by massive hypocrisy. And it takes a discerning and brutally honest mind to continually introspect and lay bare our own assumptions and choices. Which is rare.
Thankfully, though, ecospheres as a whole - “closed systems” - often have enough resilience and adjustability to compensate for significant disturbance and abuse over time. But its usually not without consequences.
On a related note, also found this about the Asian elephant:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110321/ap_on_re_as/as_asia_elephant_wars
What you’ve written is so true! We are one bunch of hypocrites really. In ideology we are fantastic, but in practice we succumb to convenience…
Yes, it is so true, we reach thirties and start thinking of buying a piece of land/flat we can call that home. While doing this we destroy homes of many more. In India the urbanisation without planning, don’t know how and where it will end. Although we should develop and all, but still at what cost?
Wow, thanks for all your comments. Obviously a whole lot of you are thinking about these issues.
@ The Bride - yes, how something is made, where it is made, and what impact it has on communities that make it is something to think about too. I am in general hesitant to buy China made stuff. However, this is just some impulse on my part. I doubt conditions in factories around many parts of Asia are much better. The alternative argument is that sweatshops still pay people a better wage than what they could otherwise make in those environments.
@IHM - the thing is, buying land as investment is so common and “natural” that even thinking that one should not buy a piece of land unless one needs it to live, would be seen as pretty out there. But yes, it is people like us who contribute to the degradation of environments, though in the Indian context, perhaps we are few and it is still largely land being taken for “need”.
@3inone - thanks for sharing. that is a lovely initiative indeed.
@Sri - while the title may be simplistic, I doubt titles can really go into nuance. After all, they have to market and attract people to buy and they can hardly say “how much should person of x type and y type consume, and of what commodities”. I think it gives a gist as to what the subject is, and knowing Ramachandra Guha’s usual depth of writing, I am sure he will address the issues you raise. Will post on that here once I actually read the book
Your point on ecosystems renewing themselves is interesting. I have been reading on and off about ecosystems in parts of Europe for e.g. where forests have been re-growing - in parts where human populations have slowed down. Yeah, it is true though that there are consequences. Plus, in the Indian context, we will take a long time to get there. I don’t know if you have heard of a magazine called GEO, they did a very interesting story recently on population and ecosystem related issues, and there was some pertinent stuff on the Indian context.
@ Sharon - I am not sure whether I would tarnish everyone as hypocrites :), but yes, most of us (me included) would choose not to think too deeply into such things - at least not too often - our daily lives are enough burdens to bear.
@Chandrima - buying a home - after all, one has to live somewhere, whether rented or owned, so I don’t know about that. On this issue, I find it difficult to come up with any easy answers.
Good post. I always think this way. We realized we don’t need so much to live. We are against buying any property for investment purpose. We live in Chennai. We don’t have AC. We realized we can live comfortably without AC even in summer. No wastage of natural resources even my kids know not to waste water, electricity etc.No processed food. I don’t own mobile phone. We don’t have car even though we can afford to have one. We prefer using public transport. For all my daily needs like dropping and picking up my kids from school I use my bicycle. I don’t buy toys unnecessarily for kids. They prefer playing outdoors with mud ,climbing trees etc. Even clothes too we don’t have any rule like every birthday or every festival we need to have new ones. when our old clothes are torn or given away to the needy then only they are replaced by new ones. Even books too I prefer getting from library than having my own copy. To put it simply we realized this is the way to live and we have very happy with our choice.