Simple Prosperity

by David Wann

  Albert Einstein once remarked, “A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend upon the labors of other men, living and dead.” Though we tend to think of our achievements as personal victories, even the most brilliant entrepreneurs ride on the shoulders of those who paved the way. For example, without significant government support a half-century ago for the emerging technology of computers, eBay, Microsoft, and Google billionaires might be selling hot dogs. At a far more modest level, without the awesome library system that my county implemented decades ago, this book would have been far less fertile. I checked out more than 250 books from my local library to help in my research. I just sit at my desk and request books online. A few days later, I receive e-mails when they magically arrive from other libraries in the region. Then I walk eight blocks—to get both books and exercise. A service like this enriches my life incredibly, helping make my moderate lifestyle very rewarding. Jefferson County also has an open space acquisition program that enriches many lives. By virtue of a mill levy years ago that remains in place, a small percentage of each resident’s sales tax has purchased some of the region’s finest land, holding it in trust for people now alive as well as all future residents and visitors. (Otherwise, much of that land might have been sprawling, 35-acre “ranchettes.”) Public values like these are available to everyone—rich and poor. They give us choices, and they accomplish things we couldn’t accomplish on our own.

  The Great Work Ahead

  I can still hear the echo of John Kennedy’s voice, urging Americans to “Ask what you can do for your country.” The idea that the government (which is us) is the guardian of public values has been overlooked in recent decades, as politicians from both major parties promised voters they would “get government off our backs.” Yet, where did these politicians think the funds were coming from to build public schools, highways, and water treatment plants? Without government involvement, who would have regulatory authority—and planning expertise—to protect the environment? Who would build and maintain the public transit systems that Americans are gratefully rediscovering? Who will perform the pure research on aspects of renewable energy that may or may not yield huge profits, but needs to be done? Who will maintain the nation’s bridges, dams, landfills, hazardous waste sites, navigable waterways and energy transmission lines?

  Have we become like the fictitious Americans in the Onion article above, preferring not to have a country? On the contrary, there are many inspiring examples of resurgent democracy. One of them is the progressive, Web-based, nonprofit MoveOn.org. Very effectively using a technology that’s available to anyone, MoveOn.org educates and involves more than twenty million Americans on political issues that might otherwise be neglected. The organization has organized many “house parties” to stir the pot of participatory democracy. One such initiative—to identify the political priorities of its members—was attended by a cumulative one hundred thousand people. Among the top ten issues (see list), a few were significantly “hot”: health care for all and energy independence through clean, renewable sources. Although identified by liberal-leaning Americans, these all-important issues can be addressed in ways that will appeal to and reward all Americans, regardless of political convictions.

  For example, health care is an issue of universal relevance and, with nearly one in six Americans now uninsured, the issue has reached a boiling point. Health benefits are emerging as a burden that many corporations can’t or won’t carry. Since the year 2000, health insurance premiums have risen 75 percent, and employees are paying an ever-larger slice of the coverage. In fact, the average U.S. employee paid $3,500 annually for healthcare premiums in 2005, not including out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions and co-pays.12 A national health-care system (as most of the world’s industrialized nations already have) would make business more competitive, and would also increase the real wealth of Americans, since many cling to jobs they can’t stand, strictly because of the health benefits. National health care would increase employee flexibility to work part-time, for example, or try self-employment. It would also reduce the fear that we won’t have enough money or security in retirement years—insecurity that often results in high-income, high-consumption lifestyles.

  What about the issue of energy independence and clean energy? Any nation that wants to be less reliant on unpredictable, politically volatile fossil fuel should meet more of its needs with efficiency and renewable energy sources. In many European and Asian countries, the strategy of “tax shifting” encourages economies to move toward this intelligent, inevitable strategy. Consumers pay more for environmentally damaging activities but less for income taxes, so market mechanisms reward socially desirable outcomes. What’s not to like? Sweden was an early adopter (2001) of tax shifting, decreasing traditionally steep income taxes while increasing vehicle and fuel taxes. Germany’s “green” taxes decrease the amount that employees and employers pay into pension systems. Spain, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and France are among many other nations that tax pollution and resource uses like coal burning, gasoline, garbage, toxic waste, and car-choked highways. Just as the United States successfully used taxes to reduce the use of CFCs, we can join the world community in fighting human-caused climate change with taxes. And just as we banned smoking in many public places, we can now agree to ban excessive CO2 emissions, for the benefit of all. (Many energy-related companies are wary of the legal precedents that were set when tobacco companies were sued for billions of dollars, for misleading the public about health effects. Global warming lawsuits have already begun.)

  In the book, The Great Work, Thomas Berry reflects on the grand accomplishments of civilizations throughout history. For example, “the Great Work of the classical Greek world with its understanding of the western mind; the Great Work of Rome in gathering the peoples of the Mediterranean world and of Western Europe into an ordered relationship with one another … The symbols of the Great Work in the medieval period, the cathedrals rising so graciously into the heavens from the region of the old Frankish empire …” He then ruminates on the work that lies ahead, which is so much more significant: “The task of moving modern industrial civilization from its present devastating influence on the Earth to a more benign mode of presence is not a role that we have chosen … We were chosen by some power beyond ourselves. The nobility of our lives, however, depends upon the manner in which we come to understand and fulfill our assigned role …”13

  Top Priorities Identified by Americans at MoveOn.org House Parties

  (in thousands of votes)

  Health care for all 65,091

  Sustainable energy independence 61,030

  Restored constitutional rights 35,675

  Guaranteed accurate elections 35,133

  Diplomacy over militarism 28,912

  High quality education for all 27,874

  Solutions to global warming 26,306

  A guaranteed living wage 25,527

  Publicly funded elections 21,096

  A balanced federal budget 20,945

  Says futurist Duane Elgin, optimistically, “We are the leaders that we have been waiting for. We are the social innovators and entrepreneurs that we have been seeking.” In this pregnant moment in history, individual actions can collectively disarm an economic militia whose marching orders are to “seek profits regardless of social and environmental impacts.” But we are out of the habit of being citizens! We need to make political action more engaging, and more fun. I recently gave a talk in support of the Earth Charter, a global vision that recognizes the interconnections among economics, environment, ethics, and spirituality. Rather than dwelling on the enormity of the challenges, the participants at that conference celebrated the power and energy of human cooperation. A troupe of kids danced in celebration, there were reports about positive actions to reduce energy consumption, and there was a palpable sense of hope in this Buddhist-sponsored gathering. I showed slides of my Costa Rican rain forest experience (described in the chapter “
The Currency of Nature”) and I felt a sense of community, or communion, with the audience. I realized that we are wasting our time if we expel hope from our everyday lives, because without it, we can’t win.

  Last month, my neighborhood opened its community house doors to the public for a showing of Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth. People brought homemade cookies and pies, and we shared both hot cider and a sense of certainty about our need and ability to take action. (We routinely invite political representatives to make presentations here, too, making sure other neighborhoods feel welcome to join us.)

  Don’t Mess with the Mothers and the Others

  As effective as Internet advocacy is, I think we need to be in the streets celebrating Earth Days, Buy Nothing Days, and Take Back Your Time Days. We need demonstrative, nonviolent, empowering action. I’ve always suspected that when women become a global political force, their innate capacity for empathy and holistic thinking will shift the course of history. (The same currents that bring their voices to the forum also indicate other shifts in the culture.) For example, in Colombia, the wives and girlfriends of gang members staged a “crossed legs strike” to convince the men that “violence is not sexy.” Until gang members turn their guns over to city authorities, they aren’t getting any, it’s that simple. Advocates for more moderate consumption can learn something from their actions. In Colombia, men join gangs for status, power, and the attentions of attractive women. In the United States, monetary wealth plays a similar role. But when the rewards are cut off, these actions become less compelling. Isn’t this the underlying intent of the bumper-sticker battle against monster SUVs? In effect, quip-loving protesters are using gas-guzzlers as a symbol: The size and sticker price of a car doesn’t automatically win our respect—another basic human need—and neither does a person’s net wealth. Money isn’t an essential criterion for knowing who a person really is. So much of our behavior seems to come down to misguided mental patterns and runaway hormones! If what we learn becomes as sexy in our culture as what we earn, overconsumption will start to decline, and real wealth will be waiting to take its place, as it always is. Here’s a good slogan for those who wear their convictions on their bumpers: “Spend less money; pay more attention.”

  Nobel Peace Prize-recipient Wangari Maathai knows as much as anyone on the planet about paying attention, and about meeting needs directly. In her Nobel Prize acceptance speech she explained, “In 1977, when we started the Green Belt Movement, I was partly responding to needs identified by rural women, namely lack of firewood, clean drinking water, balanced diets, shelter and income.14

  “My response was to begin planting trees with them, to help meet the basic needs of rural women, heal the land and break the cycle of poverty. Trees stop soil erosion, providing water conservation and increased rainfall. Trees provide fuel, material for building and fencing, fruits, fodder, shade and beauty. As household managers in rural and urban areas of the developing world, women are the first to encounter the effects of ecological stress. It forces them to walk farther to get wood for cooking and heating, to search for clean water and to find new sources of food as old ones disappear.”15

  Maathai’s idea evolved into a powerful force: the Green Belt Movement that has spread throughout Africa and, now, the world. Thousands of groups consisting largely of women, have already planted thirty million trees on farm, school, and church lands across Kenya. The women are paid a small amount for each seedling they grow and nurture, giving them an income as well as improving their environment—which is also a form of income. Though Maathai was initially beaten and jailed for challenging state policies, she was ultimately elected to Parliament to serve as the assistant secretary for Environment, Wildlife, and Natural Resources. Recently she has launched a billion tree planting initiative through the United Nations, to help counter climate change.

  To “save Salt Spring Island from the ravages of industrial logging and inappropriate development,” a nonprofit group in British Columbia, Save Salt Spring Society, published the successful Nude Charity Calendar. Credit: Howard Fry

  When we realize how far women and minorities have come politically, we see a larger, more hopeful picture of how fast America is changing. Only ninety years ago, on the “Night of Terror” (November 15, 1917) the warden of a Virginia prison ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists who had dared picket the White House. “They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.” President Woodrow Wilson allegedly tried to have one of the women, Alice Paul, declared insane and permanently institutionalized, but a psychiatrist refused, declaring her strong, sane, and courageous. By the time the 1920 election arrived, women had won the right to vote.16

  As I write this, Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House—third in line for the presidency—Condoleezza Rice is Secretary of State; Hillary Clinton is running for president, and eighty-seven women hold Congressional seats. Drew Gilpin Farst is Harvard University’s first female president in the school’s 373-year history. The United States may be like a hulking, ocean liner, but we’re starting to turn this ship around! Clearly, democracy can work, if we take ownership of it.

  17

  Cultural Prosperity

  The Earth as a Sacred Garden

  The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.

  —David Orr

  Where there is no vision, the people perish.

  —The Bible, Proverbs 29:18

  I’m not sure if my involvement in causes, benefits, marches, and demonstrations has made a huge difference, but I know one thing: that involvement has connected me with the good people: people with the live hearts, the live eyes, the live heads.

  —Pete Seeger

  You never change something by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

  —Buckminster Fuller

  With public sentiment nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed. He who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes.

  —Abraham Lincoln

  As the dominant values of a culture change, so do many individual values; and conversely, when enough individuals express the need to change priorities, cultural habits shift in things as mundane as what we eat, the way we dress, and the way we use energy. Cultural change occurs in churches, workplaces, cafés and cyber salons, associations, and discussion groups; in the media, where actors, columnists, and newscasters imprint behavior; in stores, where what we buy often expresses who we are; in the chambers of city councils, state legislatures, and U.S. Congress. But most importantly, cultural changes occur in our minds, and this is where the tide is turning.

  We’re seeing only the tip of a huge iceberg of social change; the rest is still in our heads. We’ve been lost in thought (and in media “thoughts”) for about a generation, and now we’re reaching a tipping point. Said historian and cultural interpreter Joseph Campbell, “We are at this moment participating in one of the very greatest leaps of the human spirit.” Environmentalist Lester Brown believes we’re shifting to an age of ecological enlightenment, a shift comparable to the agricultural and industrial revolutions that shaped the course of human history. Futurist Marianne Williamson’s interpretation is conceptual: “We are exiting a Material Age, which has lasted for thousands of years, and entering an Ideational Age; shi
fting our focus from extrinsic to intrinsic value.”1 And Marilyn Ferguson, a veteran agent of change, is poetic about the shift that is well underway: “Sometimes a people moves en masse because scouts and travelers carry tales of a distant land that is fruitful and temperate.”2

  These are exciting and challenging times, to put it mildly! Not only must we shift to a less materialistic age; we must do it quickly, before the Earth becomes a poached egg, and before we run out of cheap oil to fuel the transition. Fortunately, global communications have blossomed in our lifetime, enabling culture to change almost overnight if the right messages, stories, and evidence of consensus are conveyed. It feels like we are a crowd of people milling around in a park (the Earth), waiting for direction. We pace back and forth, ruminating over huge questions like these: How can we create a civilization that precisely and elegantly meets the needs of people and nature, letting nothing go to waste? How can the world’s economies get better without having to get bigger? How can we learn to consider scarce resources as sacred? Given that humans now dominate the planet, how can we create a joyful, moderate lifestyle that ritualistically treats the Earth as a Sacred Garden?