Can we change?

We saw the panic that a few days of shut down petrol bunks generated. It meant that the way we move goods, as essential as grains and vegetables, milk and fruits, is defined by a single commodity that we largely import. So also the way we reach our workplace, or take a sick person to the hospital.

What happens when Peak Oil finally arrives at our doorstep, signaling the point of petrol stocks falling steeply? Life comes to a halt? Can we allow that? Should we?

How can we avert such a situation? How do we ensure prosperity that is tagged with sustainability? It will call for some changes in the way we live. In the way we define prosperity. As encapsulated beautifully by Alex in his address at Seattle where he touches upon the pitfalls of ‘vertical emulation’. The developing world wants the Baywatch kind of life, and the Americans know the damage it has wrought.

Incidentally, Alex Steffen believes the best brains are in the US and calls on them to come up with new ways to ensure prosperity using One Planet.

First, we need urban, dense and self-sufficient communities. While that may come as a surprise, Alex explains how this will reduce the need for cars and travel becomes more of a feat for the legs. For as he says, cars are cars whether green or not. Because they bring with a whole system that sucks energy. The roads, the parking lots, the meters, etc. Doing away with them is a better thing.

And then, efficiency in the way we build our buildings or operate things, energy meters that allow us to actually see how much we are consuming and hence need to cut down, technology that brings in precision, etc are some of the things he points to as factors to make lives sustainable.

But behavioural change is most important. To think twice before buying. To opt for sharing. Increasingly people are beginning to realize that one does not need to own to enjoy the comforts of things. Why do we buy things in the vague notion that they will be 'useful one day'? Why indeed? Let us know if any of you have no such accumulated junk at home. We would like to congratulate you.

Car sharing means people know the exact time they have borrowed the car for, and will plan things better than in random ways. Bicycle sharing in Barcelona has seen a spurt of users in one year with 6000 cycles and 400 stations in the city. Tool sharing is a great idea instead of homes stocking up on unnecessary ‘essentials’. In London, local paper is recycled and delivered back to the same address so that ‘last week’s memo becomes this week’s memo!’

Interestingly, here in Bangalore too, we have a group that is into sharing stuff. Called Bangalore reuse, posts from members alert members of the yahoogroup of goods that can be had for free. Essentially finding a user for some thing you have but are not using. Subscribe to BangaloreReuse@yahoogroups.com

We also hear that the trend in our metros these days is to hire things on rent, beginning from furniture to your TV and fridge. No accumulated junk, yet no comforts denied. For people on the move, an excellent choice. The shift from possession to sharing is slow. But happening.

All this calls for a drastic change in attitudes. For those who have had a taste of the ‘good life’ and for those have been slogging to reach there. How content or happy are the people who ‘have it all’?

What do you think? Are we being fooled? Or is it time to change directions?