Dubai tower

Welcome to the Minimalist Century

by Chris Baskind

in Simplicity

You may as well embrace minimalism now, because it is in the process of embracing you. Whether you like it or not.

A reckoning is coming. Take Dubai, for example: New York City, Las Vegas, and Disney all in one, dialed up to eleven and plopped in the middle of a desert incapable of meeting even a fraction of its real needs. What is surprising about Dubai is not the suddenness or scale of its financial shipwreck, but that so many well-educated, well-informed people failed to see that its gilded ascent couldn’t last forever.  And while Dubai is admittedly a caricature of 20th century avarice, what is happening in its dusty streets is already being replayed in slow motion much closer to home.

The 20th century was about consumption

An uncommonly blunt article in Saturday’s issue of The Guardian contained a quote that gets straight to the point:

Today we have reached the point where consumption and people’s desire to consume has grown out of proportion. The reality is that our lifestyles are unsustainable.

– Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

So there we have it. Virtually all of the ills which confront the environmental movement — from the amount of carbon dioxide and pollution we dump into our atmosphere, to vanishing rainforests, animal species, and fresh water reserves — can be traced back to our unbridled consumption. This is all coming to an end. We’re running out of stuff, and the availability of key resources (such as oil) will be outstripped by demand before affordable technology can be ramped-up to replace it.

What we need isn’t more efficient cars; we need fewer cars on the road. What we need isn’t more environmentally friendly packaging; we need fewer wasteful products. What we need isn’t cleaner coal; we need to reduce our insatiable appetitive for cheap energy. Not that any of these things are bad — it’s just that we must get at the root of the problem, rather than relying on new technologies or the next generation for a cultural bailout.

The 21 century is about minimalism

The next several decades will revolve around efficiency. We’ll all be learning to use less, reuse more, and find greater value in the things we have close at hand. Knowingly or not, society has already begun its long march toward minimalism. It’s a matter of necessity, rather than ideology.

The good news is that the minimalist path needn’t be one of simple self-denial. Minimalism is about filling our lives with quality, not just quantity. It’s about reconnecting with the things which make us human, rather than consumers. And you can enjoy these blessings right now.

Begin.

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Tagged as: Consumerism, Dubai, Futurism, Minimalism, Society

  • Betterredthandead
    Ha! the 20th century will pale in comparison to the 21st century in terms of consumption, the Indians and Chinese are just getting started, and they aren't listening to the likes of Greenpeace, WWF and the Optimum Population trust trying to implement ENFORCED Poverty - they are interested in raising the standard of living in their countries, and they could care less if we all live like monks to show them the error of their ways.

    I hate to have to let you know this, but humans exist by consuming, just like every other living thing on this planet - it doesn't matter if it is organic or not...

    Liberate the third world from the western environmental neo-colonialism!
  • You actually have very little argument from me. Nations will act in their own interest, and we cannot insist otherwise. And you're right -- the Indian and Chinese juggernauts are just getting stoked.

    That being said, the planet has finite resources. Per capita energy consumption in the developing world (if you'll forgive the somewhat condescending term) will never reach that currently enjoyed by the United States. We'll run out cheap fuel long before then, and neither China nor India will be able to tolerate the local impact of burning an unlimited amount of coal.

    At that point -- hopefully before -- they'll act in their own interests. No Neo-Colonialists need apply.

    I do not advocate enforced poverty anywhere, including here at at home. Nor am I calling for asceticism. In any case, it really doesn't matter what we want. Here's the truth: The 21st century will be about increasingly ferocious competition for dwindling energy and material resources. The West will no longer enjoy hegemony over the world's goods, and will need to become more efficient. The East must contend with demand outstripping supply. Everyone gets to develop renewable energy technologies and live within the constraints of reality.

    No amount of sloganeering will change these facts.
  • suri
    and also what we need is to have less babies ... there´s no way we can solve all this problems without doing something about the population problem ...Don´t know why people always avoid this subject
  • gvanderleun
    "Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change"

    Not exactly a man who is covering himself in glory of late, what?
  • gvanderleun
    "We’ll all be learning to use less, reuse more, and find greater value in the things we have close at hand." As the populations of China and India would say, and DO say every day: "What do you mean 'we,' white man?"
  • I stand by the statement. China and India have their unique problems, but we'll all ride together on the efficiency train.
  • I love this line and I hope this will continue to be true in the months and years to come: "We’ll all be learning to use less, reuse more, and find greater value in the things we have close at hand."
    This made me remember what an old professor used to tell us: keep your lives simple, minimize clutter and you'll realize how much more efficient you will become! I'm all for minimalism and simplicity!
  • I agree as well. Unfortunately minimalism is not mainstream, or is only mainstream inasmuch as it becomes fashionable and sexy, not because society actually recognizes the need to consume less. I'm just wondering how we can transform thought toward responsible consumption.
  • I agree. I think society is finally starting to realize that the minimalistic way of thinking and being is a better way to go than trying to accumulate as much stuff (a.k.a keeping up with the joneses)
  • Hope that's the case. In any event, a little downsizing is probably in the cards. That's not all bad.
  • Ben
    I hope it is about minimalism... otherwise we are all hosed.
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