Today it's fashionable to blame the unvaxxed, but it won't always be that way.
One problem with laying blame and scapegoating is that you never know who it will be next. Maybe you. Or you, or you, or you.
Maybe the next group of deplorables to be identified will be the One-Planet-Lifestyle hesitant.
You know, the selfish anti-simplify people. The dangerously unsimplified that are putting everyone else at risk.
I am talking about the part of the human population that represents the wealthiest 20% and accounts for 76.6% of total private consumption.
There are global repercussions from consumption generally, and conspicuous consumption especially.
What does "The Science" say?
Scientists Warning To Humanity
"The developed nations are the largest polluters in the world today. They must greatly reduce their overconsumption if we are to reduce pressures on resources and the global environment.""A new ethic is required - a new attitude towards discharging our responsibility for caring for ourselves and the earth. We must no longer allow it to be ravaged.
This ethic must motivate a great movement, convincing reluctant leaders and reluctant governments and reluctant peoples themselves to effect the needed changes."
This was a warning 25 years ago from the Union of Concerned Scientists along with over 1,700 scientists from around the world.
The same group of scientists issued another warning in 2017, and another in 2019.
And yet we still have reluctant leaders, hesitant governments, and refusenik peoples that instead misdirect us anywhere except for where we should be looking.
At them.
At who? The science is referring to the unsimplified, the over-consuming.
The anti-sustainable are killing millions of people every single year, and now threaten all life on earth by refusing to "do the right thing" and cut their consumption.
Instead of a plan that is "by far the most substantial vaccine mandate in history", we may get a plan that is "by far the most substantial simplification mandate in history".
If the unsimplified are ever targeted, get ready for mandates that will make life very uncomfortable for that tiny holdout 20% of the human family that is selfishly holding the rest of us back.
I wonder how many with a present zeal for telling others what to do will support those mandates?
My advise to them?
"Don't just think about yourself - get simplified now".
Happy to say DH and I just became simplified; we moved to a 1200 sf house from our house of 32 years that was 3 times that size. We could live well in 900 sf since it's just the two of us (our kids all live nearby), but those are hard to find in decent neighborhoods in this "town". And growing up our family of 4 lived well in 900 sf. It was normal in the 50's!
ReplyDeleteI/"we" bought the smaller house ten years ago and rented it out while I patiently sang the virtues of living little. Mr. Creature-of-habit was a tough sell, but finally woke up one day and announced he was ready to move. The mausoleum is in contract and we're both super happy to be downsized.
About downsizing to simplify; it's sobering to eliminate so much stuff - mostly to the landfill since the donation places don't want anything that's not perfect. I spent many a day berating myself for accumulating so much crap to fill the huge space - much of it not even lived in even when our kids were little.
As much as we sent to the landfill, donated and gave away we still had too much when we got to the little house and had to eliminate even further. Pathetic. But, we had not bought anything new except for clothing or necessary things since around 1996 - not even a new car.
Anyway, it's a brand new life. We're not quite minimalists yet, but we're working on it and enjoying our return to small living and simplicity.
Love your blog as always - have an awesome day! DB
Congratulations on your brand new life. We love hearing stories like yours. Thank you for sharing your joy with us in your "return to small living and simplicity."
DeleteIt's so easy to blame big this and big that for the worlds problems, when in fact it's much to do with choices each of us make every day. I haven't given up hope that we will wake up, but it better be soon.
ReplyDeleteBlaming others does have a way of falsely absolving us of our own responsibilities. I agree about this wake up call - it must happen soon if we are to avoid a dark future. That would be dark as in literally, as in no electricity, and figuratively as in those foreboding clouds on the horizon.
DeleteMarla, I agree with the tendency to blame someone 'out there' for what ails the world. Yes, 'big' this and that have a lot to answer for, but I'm reminded of the feminist slogan "the personal is political".
DeleteMadeleine
Gregg, I'm not sure the electricity going out would be such a bad thing! It would certainly push us further in our simple living quest, and force us to give up the coal-guzzling habits we still have.
DeleteMadeleine