Gimme more!

Stampede at a mall in New York resulted in one death last week. The crowds had started thronging the street during the early pre-dawn hours, for holiday bargains at Wal-Mart!

As Andrew Revkin of the New York Times says in his post on Dot Earth, titled ‘the endless pursuit of unnecessary things’, how many people will inhabit earth in the next few generations, and how much will they consume?

He cites a paper in the journal Science on sustainability which showed that, afflictions related to affluence take away as many years of life, as do ills associated with poverty.

A sociology paper proposes that the best way to lessen consumption for its own sake is to reduce how much people work. ‘Industrialized economies have generally translated productivity gains in the workplace into making more stuff (and money to buy stuff) instead of making less work (reducing work hours).’

Quoting Adam Smith, the father of economics, who said 250 years ago: “An investment is by all right-minded people to be commended, because it brings comforts and necessities to the citizenry. But, if continued indefinitely, it will lead to the endless pursuit of unnecessary things.”

This brings to mind a popular story: Greek philosopher Socrates used to be in the habit of going to the city shopping centre and gazing for long at the items displayed there. He inevitably returned empty-handed. When one of his students ventured to ask him why he went there, his reply was that he did so to look at all the things he didn’t need!

Socrates subscribed to the opinion that ‘the true and healthy constitution of the state is the one in which only the basic needs of all members are satisfied. But if you wish to take a look at a society at fever heat, I have no objection. For I suspect that many will not be satisfied with the simpler way of life. They will be for adding sofas, and tables, and other furniture; also dainties and perfumes, and incense, and call girls, and cakes, all these not of one sort, but of all varieties.’

Today as we mine the earth for resources which are fast vanishing, perhaps it would be a wise thing to remember these words from pundits of economy, and philosophers.