Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

6 Designing ecological Habitats
One of the 13 large
strategically placed
ponds at Crystal
Waters. Each pond
is an element with
many functions.
Many people in the permaculture, ecovillage, urban ecology, new
economics, peace and similar movements fail to grasp this need for simplicity.
Many of the lifestyles in settlements which have otherwise excellent designs
are much too affluent, in my opinion.
The key is to focus on ‘need’. What is sufficient for comfort, health and
hygiene, and a high quality of life? The difference between wants and
needs can be enormous. Focusing on what is sufficient does not necessarily
jeopardise the pursuit of social wealth, rich life experience, or personal and
spiritual wealth. Indeed, excess accumulation of goods could be a hindrance
to health and happiness.
The Need for a New Economy
A long-term sustainable economy must have a ‘zero-growth’ policy. Current
levels of output are already unsustainable – compounding growth will
only make matters worse. Consumer society has this manic obsession with
economic growth, an obsession with obtaining and possessing more goods
that we don’t really need.
Consider the multiples of present levels of production and consumption
that further growth implies. If the world averages only 3% per annum
growth, then by 2060 total world output will be 8 times what it is today.
But our recent history shows that 3% is not enough to make our economy
‘healthy’.
Do you realise that if we had 4% growth, if world population rises to
the expected 9 billion, and if all those people were to come up to the ‘living
standards’ of present-day Westerners, total world economic output would
be 180 times what it is today! Yet the present level is unsustainable.
How do you explain the fact that no conventional politician or
economist seems to re cognize any problem with this enthusiastic
commitment to increasing the GNP as the supreme and
sacred goal?
At present, the richest one-fifth of the world’s people is
consuming four-fifths of the world’s resource production. As a
result, billions of people are so seriously deprived of necessities
that one child dies every three seconds; yet we insist on increasing
our rich-world living standards, output and consumption on a
linear trajectory that is rapidly heading for overshoot. Rather
than increasing output in terms of quantity, we should aim at
improving the quality of goods and services. Better tools, high
level care, more efficient use of land – examples exist already.
In the new economy, the cash sector will be rather small.
Home and community based production will be emphasized.
Swapping, gifts, barter, working bees, shramadamas1 , will increase.
Indeed, there is no shortage of examples in the North
and the South presently being practiced right now, at this very
moment – so what are you waiting for?