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Top tech for a cleaner planet

I find it cheering and inspiring. It may not be a sufficient solution, but is good to know that people are  working and that we can add our efforts to theirs, while benefiting from what they come up with.

But when the industrial era dies, many aspects of our life go with it. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross characterised five stages that people go through when faced with the death of a loved one, or their own death. You can look at some of the reactions to the state of the world in terms of these  five stages

1. Shock/denial – Global warming does not exist – we are not polluting or running out of resources dammit.

2. Anger – Global warming exists and it’s their fault!

3. Bargaining – if I just change my lightbulbs can I keep my international air travel…

4. Depression/despair – Oh god there is nothing we can do…

5. Acceptance – the industrial era is dead, I’ll get my gardening gloves…

Obviously I’ve oversimplified this – there is more going on than global warming, and gardening is not the only activity in the post industrial (or Anthopocenic era – where human activities are recognised as being the major influence on geological and planetary processes).

For me the mourning analogy is useful. It helps me have more compassion for myself, as I see myself at various stages in the process. I remember being angry at evil industrialists, I’ve done my fair share of bargaining, and spent time in despair.

It also helps me extend the compassion to all the climate sceptics who can really piss me off. What they really need is a hug

In case there is a climate sceptic who reads this – I don’t really want to hug you.

I owe the Kubler- Ross analogy to my friend Roger spent years working as a coach and consultant in large industries, while keeping his perspective larger than their bottom lines.

At the momne there is a lot of discussion about limiting population growth to save the environment. I often read the disturbing opinion that we could do with some serious war, famine or disease to reduce population – but I never get the impression that the people who sugest it are willing to put themselves on the front line.

So far I have one child, no plans for more. I am part of the trend New scientist describes here of low reproduction rates in large parts of the world (and falling rates in most other places). The replacement rate to maintain a population is about 2.3 children per couple – does this mean that I can have another 1.3 kids with a clean conscience?

This interview questions the limits to population that the planet can withstand.

However both pieces suggest that large sements of the poulation need to consume less and be more efficient with resource use. The results can be an overall improvement in the quality of the environment.

The government answer was more money for the banks that caused the mess, and the cry that it was our duty to keep consuming.

That was when the idea of deconsumption began to formulate itself.

Instead of struggling to get by on less money, while attempting to keep buying the same old stuff, doesn’t it make more sense to cut down on the stuff and start enjoy the other parts of life. A little more thought and I realised that it was not just stuff, but also media that we consume.

I began to think of the advantages

• More disposable income – less spent on consumer baubles
• The pleasure of creativity, make entertainement rather than consume it
• More time and attention for friends and family
• More space at home
• Better community links
• Greater mental space and less attachment to contribute to something worthwhile
• A more ethical lifestyle, and smaller planetary impact- only interesting if you have a conscience

What at first seemed like a sacrifice could actually be a pleasure

I began to realise that our consumerism is a kind of addiction. Though one person may be more attached to one part of it – clothes, TV, internet, body image, rich food, holidays or cars than another there is a common thread. When you take away the object of addiction the person feels anxious, they go through withdrawal, they even question their identity and place in this world.

Rationally we can understand a behaviour may be unhealthy or anti-social, however when the behaviour is habitual, smoking, driving, sitting in front of the TV it is not always easy to change.

Often we choose a habit because just below conscious awareness there is a feeling, an emotion that is not comfortable that we do not want to experience. The habit is like a trance that keeps us from the experience – and advertisers like to hypnotise us to strengthen that trance.

Deconsumption then becomes as much a quest of awareness as of material reduction. After the initial reluctance to move through that unwanted feeling or emotion below the surface sooner or later you enter a space of openness, peace, clarity and choice. Your eyes are free to shine again.

By the way Time to eat the dog is to me a well reasoned and thorough guide to the relative impact of different life choices. I think it suffers a bit from mixing different units of measurement, and it requires some thought, but you can think can’t you?

Essentially tiny homes are just that, and the biggest factor between energy consuming homes and and energy efficient homes is their size.

Also a tiny home usually means less ‘stuff’ , more time out of doors, more time spent in communal spaces, and more disposable income. I reckon that’s a win pretty much all round.

I have been thinking about buying a roulotte and putting on a friend’s land. It is a little far from Paris, so I would have some trouble being an active parent to Jyoti, and giving regular classes. But I also think that seeing her father change his life, and the experience of staying with me in the roulotte will provide a valuable part of her education. French urban schools are not teaching kids the skills they need to thrive in the post oil world that they will live in.

Perhaps the best thing to do is go for it, and live there when I can, and decide if I can transition from this 58m2 (lovely) apartment into the roulotte and maybe a studio in Paris near Jyoti. One will be a tiny home on wheels and under trees, the other a tiny home in a building.

Just writing this is making it more real to me. I’ll tell you when I’ve bough the roulotte.

I had to empty my bin yesterday. Some mushrooms that I had thrown away had rotted, filled the kitchen with a hideous smell and sent an army of tiny maggots out searching for a new place to live.

In the meantime here are some people who get it below the Sacre Coeur

But yesterday while out with my daughter it was time for a snack… I bought a sandwich for me, wrapped in a thin layer of cellophane (not ideal). Jyoti chose a can of coke, and along strip of chewing gum in a round plastic case. I could have said no, but I thought I’d try and educate her to the point that she would understand why I didn’t want to buy cans, or plastic.

So as she slurped and I munched I started to explain the origins of oil and plastic. I do not think I did a very good job, yet. Timescales of millions of years do not mean much to 8year olds. When I explained that we would run out of fossil fuels in the next 30-50 years ( at current  usage) she just said, ‘well then we can wait until there is more again.’

It took a little while but she did get that there would not be more anytime soon. When she realised that she immediately came up with another suggestion.

‘Well we can use a time machine to get the oil from the past before we used it.’

Rather than mentioning the current lack of time machines (We had a friend who was a talented inventor, and a wonderfaul warm person. Jyoti aked him if he could invent atime machine for her, and Jean-Marc laughed his laugh and said he would get to work on it. Now he’s gone and I’d dearly like a time machine to hear him laugh again) I tried to explain the paradox of taking away the oil before we used it. Jyoti understood that.

Then she suggested going to the future to bring the oil back from when there is oil again. Not so far from what we are doing already – using the future’s resources now.

If there is anything I have learned from this, it is the extent of the model I have for how the world works, and the delicacy of how to explain it.

I do not just want to say ‘No I will not lead your consumer life!’ I want to be able to explain why.