The focus of Sustainability should be on aligning human lifestyles in harmony with the environment. Sustainability is for humans, not the planet.
Data shows that the world’s most ‘advanced’ countries are living as if we have 5 Earths available. India is the only country within the G20 that is making do with the planet as it stands – the rest are all living as if we have multiple Earths available to us! Let’s look more closely at the sustainability challenge we face and how we can go from Dior to Dharma.
There is a certain affliction of our modern society that looks for quick-fixes and topical cures that address the symptoms rather than the deep-rooted causes. This is so in medicine, politics and also as it happens, in the buzzing new field of sustainability. I’m not sure that most people really understand what is being meant by ‘sustainability’ and I think they take it to imply that the Earth is struggling as if the Earth has a problem! The term ‘environmental issues’ seems to suggest that the environment has done something to become an issue, and so on.
And so we have brains pouring over climate change strategies and coming up with some superficial ways of avoiding pollution (or not avoiding it at all and instead buying credits). While this may all be great and needed, the real problem, which doesn’t seem to come into focus, is that what has really become unsustainable are human lifestyles – not the forests, not the animal world, not the oceans or any other part of planet Earth, but us. So instead of rushing to fix the planet, why not turn around and fix ourselves?
Lifestyles across the East and West
During my years in the UK, first as a university student and later as a fresh faced banker, certain indulgent habits I noticed around me would regularly shock me, it being my first time living in a Western country. A simple example is the use of tissues and paper towels and rolls. I remember how we were taught to use tissues sparingly back home and school was attended with a cloth handkerchief neatly placed in my pocket by my mother. Receiving a packet of paper tissues was like a little gift to be cherished for as long as possible. This was also the case with other items of personal use, be it notebooks or shampoos. It is no wonder I have been quite shocked to see certain practices in “richer” countries such as routinely discarding perfectly good technological equipment at whim[1] or the lavish use of water in car washes.
Even today, in most Indian homes, you will find shampoos and dishwashing liquids being diluted with water to last longer, old worn-out clothes progressing to their next stage of life as cleaning dusters and mops, leftover food being handed over to the needy or animals, families sharing cars and other luxuries together, and last but not least, people predominantly following a vegetarian diet. These practices are followed even by financially well-off people so it’s not really a matter of financial hardship, but rather, cultural conditioning and a spirit of not wanting to waste.
How many Earths are we using?
Some interesting data by the Global Footprint Network regarding the ecological footprint of countries in terms of ‘number of Earths’ (i.e. how many Earths would it take to sustain the consumption demanded by a country and absorb the waste produced, using existing technology and practices) shows that India is the only country within the G20 economies that is making do with the planet as it stands; the rest are all living as though we have the resources of more than one planet Earth available![2] For instance, the USA and Canada are each using almost 5 Earths, with South Korea, Russia, Australia and Saudi Arabia not too far behind at almost 4. This seems even more staggering when we consider the population differences – India houses approximately 18% of the world’s population, the United States, 4% and Canada, about 0.5%.[3] In terms of ecological footprint per capita, the USA and Canada are at around 7.5 global hectares (gha) per person, India, at around 1 gha.
This is not to say that India has got it right on all counts. Wasteful consumption is rapidly increasing, especially in the main urban centres and admittedly, if it were not for financial constraints, much of the population would be as much a victim of conspicuous consumption as anywhere else. But it is to acknowledge certain cultural factors that align well with sustainable living, certain traditional habits that hold our hand back from overly wasteful actions and certain age-old domestic wisdoms that guide consumption. Most importantly, I think it is essential to bring focus on what was also India’s proposition at the United Nations Environment Assembly’s (UNEA) sixth session held in Nairobi in February this year – sustainable lifestyles.
Sustainable lifestyles arise from inner harmony
Be the change you wish to see in the world, Mahatma Gandhi famously stated. He himself lived a meagre lifestyle, owning few possessions, dressing in a simple white cloth and eating frugally – a lifestyle that would be judged as ‘poor’ by contemporary standards, but it is noteworthy that traditionally in India, those who lived in a spirit of sacrifice, displaying a high level of sense-restraint, were held in high regard as examples of ‘walking the talk’. In trying to correct and save the world, we often overlook our own part of leading by example and bringing the focus to ourselves instead of wishing for everyone else to change.
In Hinduism and Buddhism, a certain word has been used for thousands of years to denote how a human life can be lived harmoniously with the wider existence – dharma. Dharma is not a religion or an ideology, but a call to attend to the essence of life and a recognition of the interconnectedness of all life. How is this relevant to our present discussion, you may wonder? Well, let’s take a look at what is fueling today’s unsustainable lifestyles.
The voracious demand for travel, the copious consumption of the internet for entertainment and distraction, the insatiable appetite for more and better consumer products like clothes, cosmetics, cars, etc., the huge demand for consumption of products even purportedly unhelpful for human health, like alcohol and meat – these are not essentials for a happy and healthy human life and yet it seems for most people, they have become so. There is a constant search for pleasure in consumption, of keeping up with the Jonses, of FOMO, of wanting to be seen as someone successful through how much ‘stuff’ you own. All of this stems from a feeling of lack we feel within ourselves which we look to fill with outside objects and activities.
From Dior to Dharma
A few years ago I wrote a book called, From Dior to Dharma, inspired by some of my experiences of living the high life and seeking deeper purpose. I have had a strange contrast of experiences over the last many years as I returned to India from a globetrotting career to learn more about practices like yoga and meditation. For instance, I have dined in the most expensive fine dining venues in France and dined in frugal ashrams in India where you are served food as if as a charity. The broad spectrum of experiences allowed me to deeply consider – what is the true way of living life?
My study and experiences over the last 7 years have brought home to me a few learnings that I think are crucially needed in the world today. If we want to reduce plastic consumption, we have to learn to shift the focus from what we ‘want’ to what we ‘need’; if we want less pollution in our skies, we should be happy to travel when we truly want to rather than to collect Instagram likes; if we want to reduce e-waste, we should buy technology for its use to us rather than what would make us look good in the eyes of others. In other words, we have to live more as true human beings. The Earth has space enough for that. The Earth can support natural human growth and progression, not psychologically dysfunctional consumption. What we need then, is learning to be more self-aware and self-contented by turning ‘within’. To feel ourselves as part of Nature, and one with all life.
The more contented and peaceful we are, the less we will mindlessly indulge in consumption. As we come into harmony with our true needs and desires, we will also come more in harmony with our outer environment. And this, naturally sustainable and harmonious living, is called dharma.
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See also:
Ancient Wisdom and the Environment
[1] For instance, Australians produce around 22 kg per capita of e-waste, against India’s 2.4 kg.
[2] https://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/compareCountries?type=earth&cn=100,202,223,185,10,229,231,194,21,138,9,33,68,79,106,110,101,117,351&yr=2022
[3] https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/
” India is the only country within the G20 economies that is making do with the planet as it stands; the rest are all living as though we have the resources of more than one planet Earth available!”
What an astounding way of expressing this. And how painful indeed this is.
Indeed, we seem to be unaware this is how we’re living. Thank you for the comment.
Indeed so, and perhaps unaware of the consequences. There is a lot of climate change denial, even at the highest levels of power.
“The more contented and peaceful we are, the less we will mindlessly indulge in consumption.”
This is very much true.