TOWARD A SOLUTION TO OVERCONSUMPTION

by Vicki Robin, New Road Map Foundation, Seattle, WA

CARRYING CAPACITY
Human consumption and population together are key elements in the carrying capacity of the planet--the number of people a given environment can sustain indefinitely at a given level of consumption. Our exponential growth in numbers is by itself alarming, and we are also overpopulated with people whose incomes allow them to consume vastly more than their fair share of the planet's resources. Those people are us. And our lifestyle here in North America is the envy and model for the rest of the world, threatening to take us beyond the global carrying capacity.

Overconsumption--taking more than we can productively use and/or more than the earth can provide--has become a sanctioned way of life in the United States. We are but 5% of the world's population, yet we consume over 30% of its resources.

Since 1940 Americans alone have used up as large a share of the earth's mineral resources as all previous generations together. Yet surveys have shown that our happiness peaked in 1957, when families had smaller houses, 1 car (at most), 1 bathroom and 1 television (black & white)--and VCRs, personal computers and cordless phones didn't exist.

We persist in our belief that more is better. Why? Is it because overconsumption is an addiction? An infection? A result of advertising? A byproduct of the profit and growth imperatives of capitalism? An indicator of weakened social bonds? Or is it because we've bought into the notion that consumption can fill all our needs? The basic human needs for material security and comfort are real and can be purchased--but beyond a certain point, consumption of more, better and different stuff tends to be substituted for the harder-won yet more enduring values.

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION
By breaking the imagined link between fulfillment and consuming, we can engage in consumption that is sustainable--elegantly identifying and filling our real needs without robbing other people or future generations of the same opportunity. How do we do this? First, we need to recognize that there are more effective and satisfying ways to achieve fulfillment than by simply buying more stuff. Next, we need to find good basic tools for shifting to a low-consumption, high-fulfillment lifestyle. Once we see what is possible and know there's a way to get there, we can take a clear-eyed look at the problems inherent in overconsumption.

FACING FACTS
Overconsumption is accelerating the destruction of our environment and the depletion of our resources. o In September 1992, 2,500 scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that there is a discernible human influence on global climate likely to cause "widespread economic, social and environmental dislocation over the next century."

Overconsumption is accelerating the deterioration of our social environment and is actually decreasing quality of life.

• 90% of all divorces are caused by money problems.
• 75% of all Americans report that they are torn by the conflict between their jobs and their desire to spend more time with their families.

Our excessive personal consumption models an unsustainable, and often unachievable lifestyle to the global community.

• The average amount of pocket money American children have--$230 a year--is more than the annual incomes of the world's half-billion poorest people.

Personal excess supports excess at corporate and government levels--and vice versa.

• Extravagance, funded by debt, is built into every level of financial activity--from personal to national.

Contrary to popular belief, overconsumption, along with debt and our low savings rate--one of the lowest in the industrialized world--has weakened our economy.

• 1.1 million people are expected to file for bankruptcy in 1996.
• the average 50-year-old has $2,600 in savings.

overconsumption is enslaving us. For some of us the slavery is to jobs we know are morally wrong; for some corporations it is to unethical practices; for us as a nation it is to alliances based on material desires rather than enlightened leadership.

STRATEGIES FOR ENDING OVERCONSUMPTION
Let's break the silence and talk publicly about overconsumption. We must explore together questions of lifestyle and excess. We must change the questions from "How much can I get?" to "How much is enough?" We must challenge inflated notions of the cost of the good life. The median household income in the U.S. is approximately $35,000--those earning more are rich! CEOs earn as much a 212 times more than the average American employee--ten times the wage gap in Japan. With a healthy public discourse, we can rationally address tender and incendiary subjects like income distribution and equitable consumption.

Let's learn about the effects of overconsumption and teach what we know. We have to start exploring together the links between personal happiness, consumption, global problems and a healthy future for everyone. What are needs and what are passing desires? What is the real cost of our lifestyle in terms of time on the job, of resource depletion, of pollution?

Let's generalize from three decades of good work on the population issue. Overconsumption, like overpopulation, occurs one transaction at a time. Individual human beings choose unprotected sex or unfettered spending. The population issue isn't a cut-and-dried matter of reducing the number of births--children mean something to people. Likewise, reducing consumption isn't just about tightening our belts--affluence means something to us. We think money is a measure of our worth, a ticket to admiration and a guarantee of security. We must transform our way of thinking --not just depend on business, technology or government to solve our problems. Let's spread the ethic of "every possession, like every child, wanted and well cared for." Delayed conception has been successful as a way to reduce births per woman per lifetime. What about delayed consumption--waiting until we have the money, and the clear need, before we buy something? That would reduce the throughput (the passage of stuff) in our lives.

Let's debunk the myths.
It's a myth that our consumption patterns are "hard-wired" into us. They result from a deliberate strategy begun in the 1920s to boost U.S. markets by educating people to want things they don't need.

It's a myth that our economy depends on more consumption. Leading economists are urging us to consume less and save more, for the health of the economy.

It's a myth that new technology or government regulations will save us from having to reexamine our patterns of consumption. Mandating an energy-efficient car won't help if we keep making more cars and driving more polluting miles.

It's a myth that recycling will save us. So far the savings are minuscule, and much of what we use we can't yet recycle. What about "pre- cycling"--avoiding needless and wasteful consumption in the first place?

Let's reframe the game.
Millions of Americans are discovering the personal benefits of down-scaling, such as being debt-free and having more time, more savings and financial security. They're awakening to the simple fact that "standard of living" (what we have) is not the same as "quality of life" (how much we enjoy living). After a certain point, more stuff just means more complexity and more burden. Having fewer possessions isn't deprivation, it's freedom! Once they realize that they sell their most precious resource (time) for money, people naturally reduce their consumption by asking of each purchase: Is it worth the hours I had to work to buy this? Will it make me happy in the long run? Will it help me reach my life goals?

The times are ripe for turning the tide of overconsumption. The winds of change are at our back. We have the personal motivation to lower consumption. We have the constituency for a movement toward healthy thrift. We have amongst us masters of persuasion. Surely we can create the public will to effect lifestyle change, policy change and ultimately change in every corner of community and national life. The challenge for each of us, in every role we play, is this: to know what is enough.

Vicki Robin is co-author with Joe Dominguez of the national best-seller, Your Money or Your Life (Viking Penguin, 1992). She is President of the New Road Map Foundation, an all-volunteer organization, and a Founding Trustee of Sustainable Seattle. She also served on the Population and Consumption Task Force of President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development. Vicki lives on about $7,000 a year and donates all proceeds from her book and lectures to projects promoting sustainability.