by David Wann
Culture-Shifts and What They Teach Us
In a thorough study of twenty-two civilizations throughout history, historian Arnold Toynbee concluded that the most successful among them made graceful transitions (soft landings) from materially dominated values to spiritual, aesthetic, and artistic values—what he called the path of “progressive simplification.” Essentially, they learned how to meet the most needs with the least amount of resources and effort—developing an ethic that supported and ritualized this approach. They implemented policies that valued cultural traditions; they took care of nature with terraces that minimized erosion from hillside farms; and they minimized conflict with other cultures. Throughout its long, illustrious history, China has been a civilization with a moderate, culturally rich way of life, though its current cultural aspirations, like those of the United States, are unrealistic (see “Beyond the China Syndrome”). Other modern examples of cultures based on moderation and meeting needs precisely are Costa Rica, Denmark, Kerala (in India), Cuba, and Switzerland—enclaves of cultural pride, relative peacefulness, and social satisfaction.
In fact, nonmaterial pursuits often characterized civilizations before the seventeenth century. For example, the salvation of pharaohs’ souls preoccupied the Egyptians; art, philosophy, and fitness kept the Greeks busy; and the quest for eternal salvation and renunciation of worldly pleasures was a dominant feature of the Middle Ages and the Crusades in Europe.3
Then technology burst onto the scene, exponentially increasing human access to resources. The American moment in history is perhaps the highest peak in the mountain range of the industrial revolution. On the strength of inspired political foundations, can-do infrastructure, technical ingenuity, an influx of energetic and often destitute immigrants, and a stockpile of virgin resources, the United States led the world into an era of unprecedented material abundance. Although America’s mainstream lifestyle currently centers on economic growth and consumption, the shift to a knowledge-based economy rich in efficiency, spirituality, storytelling, cooperation, and biologically inspired design is already well under way.
A culture shift like this—from an emphasis on material wealth to an abundance of time, relationships, and experiences—has already occurred in cultures such as Japan in the eighteenth century. Land was in short supply, forest resources were being depleted, and minerals such as gold, silver, and copper were suddenly scarce as well. Japan went from being resource-rich to resource-poor, but its culture adapted by developing a national ethic that centered on moderation and efficiency. An attachment to the material things in life was seen as demeaning, while the advancement of crafts and human knowledge were seen as lofty goals.
In this “culture of contraction,” an emphasis on quality became ingrained in a culture that eventually produced world-class solar cells and Toyota Priuses. Japanese shoguns established strict policies for reforesting. Training and education in aesthetics and ritualistic arts fluorished, resulting in such disciplines as fencing, martial arts, the tea ceremony, flower arranging, literature, art, and skillful use of the abacus. The three largest cities in Japan had 1,500 bookstores among them, and most people had access to basic education, health care, and the necessities of life, further enriching a culture that required very few resources per “unit of happiness.”4 Referring to this Tokugawa period of Japanese history, Jared Diamond concludes in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, “Future deindustrial societies could achieve just as much. That goal is within reach, and it’s hard to think of a better gift we can offer the future.”5
Alternative Definitions of Success
The adventurous, vision-driven European Union has its sights set on something more valuable than monetary wealth, as Jeremy Rifkin documents in The European Dream: How Europe’s Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream. Whereas the American culture is hypnotized by economic growth, Europeans value a more moderate quality of life that doesn’t bankrupt nonmonetary forms of wealth. Europeans are fond of saying they “work to live” as opposed to “living to work,” and their paid vacation time tends to back that statement up: They average six weeks a year of vacation, compared to two weeks a year in the United States. Europeans have more physicians per capita, a higher voter turnout, greater equality of income, lower rates of infant mortality and homicide, and a much lower per capita rate of imprisonment: EU member states average 87 prisoners per 100,000 people, compared with the U.S. average of an astounding 685 prisoners per 100,000 people, which comprises one-fourth of the world’s prison population. Social critic John de Graaf refers to current U.S. taxation policies as “you’re on your ownership.” A thirty-year trend of income tax rollbacks has decreased quality of life overall in America, he reports, reducing levels of trust, family cohesion, literacy, happiness, and preschool education in measurable ways.6
In contrast, Western European countries invested in their social contracts. “Their provision of more public goods, like healthcare, education, transportation, and common space, reduced the need (or desire) of individuals to maximize their own incomes,” says de Graaf. The familiar economic yardstick, Gross Domestic Product, lumps “bads” together with an ever-increasing pile of goods and services, but an alternative to the GDP, the Genuine Progress Indicator, tells a different story. The GPI, which measures twenty-four quality-of-life indices, shows a fairly consistent decline in well being in the United States since a peak in 1973. Similar indices for Europe show consistent improvement in most areas of life.7
Rifkin, who divides his time between the United States and the EU, writes from the perspective of a perplexed American, in The European Dream. He regretfully concludes, “Europe is busy preparing for a new era while America is desperately trying to hold on to the old one.” The American lifestyle is largely based on exclusivity, he observes, a cultural habit that not only neglects the social dimension of life but can also be environmentally destructive. In contrast, Europeans seek freedom and security in inclusivity and access to social networks. “The more communities one has access to, the more options and choices one has for living a full and meaningful life,” says Rifkin. In a more public European lifestyle, it’s more likely that a person will value such shared amenities as open space, libraries, and museums.8
Another aspect of American culture that puzzles many Europeans is America’s religious fervor. “The very notion that God has made Americans a chosen people often elicits chuckles of disbelief among the more secular Europeans,” says Rifkin. In America, 48 percent believe the country is under special protection from God, and close to half attend church every week. More than a third of Americans believe that everything the Bible says is literally true, and two-thirds believe, literally, in the devil. However, although more than 80 percent of Americans say that God is “very” important to them, less than 20 percent of Europeans express such devotion. In the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, less than 10 percent attend church even once a month, and surprisingly, even in the Catholic strongholds of Italy and Poland, only a third of the population says religion is very important to them.9
I often wonder if unwavering religious convictions help Americans sleep a little too soundly. Are we in effect passing the buck to a God that may not even be there, at least in a super-human form? Instead of taking responsibility for the care of the Earth, an apparent majority of devout Americans can justify juggling the challenges of environmental protection and human rights by saying, “It’s in God’s hands.” Yet it seems to me that God is probably very busy creating and maintaining gazillions of other worlds. If it took Him or Her six days to create our world, let’s see, what’s six times a gazillion gazillion? I think we’d better assume responsibility ourselves. In fact, an increasing number of very devout Americans agree that, in effect, the Biblical phrase about “having dominion over the Earth” may mean, “Take care of things whenever I’m away.”
Fortunately, religious groups like the National Association of Evangelicals are using no
ncontroversial terms like “creation care” to express an urgent need for action on challenges like global warming. A recent manifesto from the thirty-million-member group calls on government to “encourage fuel efficiency, reduce pollution, encourage sustainable use of natural resources, and provide for the proper care of wildlife and their natural habitats.” Yes!
It strikes me that as a young, energetic country, we’ve had a great kickoff party but now it’s time to clean up and get back to work. We’ve been quite certain that our lifestyle is the best in the world, but now we’re hearing that the world may not always agree. For example, according to a Pew Global Attitudes Projects survey, 79 percent of Americans believe that “It’s good that American ideas and customs are spreading around the world.” However, less than 40 percent of Europeans agree.10 Pew’s 2005 global survey asked people in sixteen countries as well as the United States what words or phrases they associate with the American people. Fully 70 percent of Americans described our society as “greedy,” though the world at large was a bit less critical. However, 49 percent of Americans surveyed saw themselves as violent, and majorities in thirteen of the sixteen countries agreed with that one.11
Creating a New Culture
Times have changed since America’s dominant cultural traits took shape. We need a different ethic—not based on archaic deities or on the needs of world trade, but a cross-section of values like efficiency, humility, compassion, preservation, and restoration. We need a Mission to Planet Earth. Sociologists Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, coauthors of The Cultural Creatives, see such an ethic taking shape. They document that more than a fifth of all Americans, and more than a third of all Europeans, are advocates for significant cultural changes. Many social movements, including environmental, civil rights, gay rights, and peace activists, took root in this population sector. Says Paul Ray, “If you hunger for a deep change in your life that moves you in the direction of less stress, more health, lower consumption, more spirituality, more respect for the earth and the diversity within and among species, you are not alone.”
Their book begins with the words, “Imagine a country the size of France suddenly sprouting in the middle of the United States. It is immensely rich in culture, with new ways of life, values, and world views …” The traits of the fifty million or so cultural creatives in the United States cut across the currents of long-held assumptions about the free market, the mission of science, and the role of the individual in society. Cultural creatives sense that humans are a “future-creating species,” and that a society’s image of its future is a self-fulfilling prophecy.12 “They pay attention to what’s going on in the world as a whole, and they have very good BS detectors,” comments Paul Ray.13 They believe that by aligning their actions with their values, a much more enjoyable and sustainable future will take shape. Because their worldview is grounded in moderation and richness of experience, this population sector offers great potential for instigating a new American lifestyle that provides twice the current level of satisfaction for half the resources.
Lifestyles of the Cultural Creatives
What They Do:
• They are readers, not TV watchers. They buy more books and magazines, listen to more radio, and watch less television than other Americans. They are more likely to be involved in the arts, are more likely to write books and articles, and to go to meetings and workshops about books they have read.
• They like to talk about food, experiment with new kinds of food, cook food with friends, eat out a lot, do gourmet and ethnic cooking, try natural foods and health foods.
• They go on vacations that are exotic, adventuresome, educational, experiential, authentic, altruistic and/or spiritual. They don’t do package tours, fancy resorts, or cruises, and don’t like taking the kids to Disneyland.
• They volunteer for one or more good causes.
What They Like:
• They desire systems views of the “whole process” in whatever they are reading, from cereal boxes to product descriptions to magazine articles. They want to know where a product came from, how it was made, who made it, and what will happen to it when they are done with it.
• They want access to nature, walking and biking paths, ecological preservation, historic preservation, and to live in master planned communities that show a way to re-create community.
• They care intensely about both psychological and spiritual development.
What They Buy:
• They are careful, well-informed shoppers who do not buy on impulse, and read up on a purchase first. They are practically the only consumers who regularly read the labels as they’re supposed to.
• They invented the term “authenticity” as consumers understand it, leading the rebellion against things that are “plastic,” fake, imitation, poorly made, throwaway, clichéd in style, and high fashion.
• They want safety and fuel economy in a midpriced car. These are the early buyers of hybrid cars. They buy fewer new houses than most people of their income level; instead they buy resale houses and fix them up the way they want.
• They are consumers of experiences rather than things, in search of intense, enlightening moments.
What They Believe:
• They dislike the emphasis in modern culture on success and “making it,” on luxury and affluence.
• They love nature and are deeply concerned about its destruction.
• They place great importance on developing and maintaining relationships.
• They care about holistic health: body/mind/spirit are a single entity.
• They believe women should have more equality in the home and at work, and should be business and political leaders.
• They are concerned about actions and impacts of big corporations.
The heart and soul of a culture are its values, and how it meets them. Core values—expressed in words like diversity, moderation, responsibility, respect, durability, equality, quality, trust, prevention, care, and regeneration—translate directly into tangible goals like “clean energy,” “great neighborhoods,” and “wellness.” In turn, these goals can drive specific policies and actions like “expand the use of public transit,” or “reduce the consumption of cigarettes, gasoline, and saturated fats.”
It’s not only possible but extremely important for the different factions of American society to agree on which direction we’re going! Do we want the greatest good for the greatest number of people or are we willing to passively default to a latter-day form of feudalism, in which a small minority holds the wealth and power? Do we want a world in which species are on the rebound, or one in which habitats are being swallowed up by poorly planned development and computer-controlled machinery? Do we want clean energy, provided with ingenious design, or dirty energy we literally pay for with our blood? Do we want a world we hurry through stressfully and fearfully, or a world worth slowing down for? As I’ve said throughout the book, there’s only one basic change we need to make to begin the shift to a new era: Define and value wealth in wider, deeper, more holistic terms than money.
When a sufficient number of individuals take pleasure in the elegance of a need well met, it will become obvious that efficiency is not about “cutting back” but “cutting waste.” There may be a prolonged debate concerning the best route to renewable supplies of energy, but surely we can agree that the sooner we switch to clean power, the stronger and healthier our culture will be. It will be a larger challenge to agree that consumption should be reduced, since spending and consuming is so deeply embedded in our current lifestyle. But when we ask ourselves if we’re meeting our real needs with a given product, we start to understand that it’s not the stuff we want, but the values the stuff is trying to satisfy. We buy a sporty car to attract a partner so we won’t feel lonely. We eat a quart of ice cream in one sitting, but the real hunger is for something worthwhile to be doing.
Beyond the China Syndrome
For this book, I interviewed Lester Brown, a
n eminent environmental analyst whose work (with Worldwatch Institute and Earth Policy Institute) I’ve followed for almost thirty years. He’s authored or coauthored more than fifty books that have been translated into forty languages. The Washington Post called him “one of the world’s most influential thinkers” and the U.S. Library of Congress requested his personal papers, noting that his writings “have strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.” He routinely addresses the Parliament of the European Union and meets with party leaders in China.
We sit together in a hotel lobby and I ask him why we seem unable to take action on major challenges like climate change and species extinction. “We’re monitoring false signals,” he says. “The price of a gallon of gas, for example, includes the cost of production but not the expenses of treating respiratory illnesses from polluted air; or the repair bill from acid rain damage to lakes, forests, crops, and buildings; or the costs of rising global temperatures, melting glaciers, hurricanes, and relocation of environmental refugees.” His words put the problem in a nutshell: As currently structured, the world’s economies are consuming not just products but the living systems they come from.
He explains his recent research on the startling economic growth of China. “They’ve now overtaken us in the consumption of the most necessary resources,” he says. “They are the world’s largest consumer of all the basic commodities—grain, meat, oil, coal, and steel—except for oil, and they are closing that gap quickly. In fact, if their economy continues to grow at 8 percent per year, in 2031 income per capita in China would be same as in the United States today. They would have a fleet of 1.1 billion cars—well beyond the current world fleet of 795 million. Their paper consumption would be double the world’s current production—there go the world’s forests,” he says. “China also imports vast quantities of grain, soybeans, iron ore, aluminum, copper, platinum, potash, and the cotton needed for its world-dominating textile industry. Its voracious appetite for materials is driving up not only commodity prices but ocean shipping rates as well.”
