Less is More: Setting Limits in a Limitless Society

This is going to be a short post was going to be a short post, until I got going. Sorry.

For one thing, I'm nearing the end of George R. R. Martins A Dance with Dragons and I really want to finish it. For another, I bought a new book (because why wouldn't I buy a new book when I'm not finished with the last one, and haven't started the one I was given for Christmas?) that I'm also anxious to read. So I don't feel like doing a ton of writing. But I wanted to get some thoughts down, and I'll probably come back to this later.

Movie Poster for Surviving Progress;
a fitting image, don't you think?

Today my boyfriend was finishing up a documentary, Surviving Progress, on Netflix. Now that I've seen the last 15 minutes or so, I really want to go back and watch it from the beginning. It was an interesting documentary on the ways that our culture, our society, and our technology are affecting the environment, and our reactions to that. Basically, our reaction is overwhelmingly one of indifference.

I've noticed this in my own life, since I recently (two years ago, really, but it still feels recent) became a vegetarian. As I constantly have to explain to people, I'm a vegetarian not because I hate the thought of killing animals (maybe I should? but I don't, not really) but because our planet cannot sustain the amount of meat that's produced and consumed. And when I explain this to people, they tend to laugh it off with something like, "Oh I just love steak too much," or some variation of that. Or they tell me that the meat is being produced anyway; why does it matter that I alone am not consuming it?

I'm not saying that I'm the world's best environmentalist. I wouldn't even call myself an environmentalist. And I'm not saying that I'm superior to all the meat-eaters out there. I'm not. I just noticed, as I made this change, the way so many people choose to ignore what's happening to the world around us. I do this too. It's so easy to talk about all the changes that need to be made, but it's difficult to actually make those changes in your own life. I use tampons with plastic applicators. I'm only a half-hearted recyclist. (Did I just make up a word?) I drive a car. I like multiple lamps on in a room (though I have bought those energy-efficient light bulbs, and they really make a difference in the electric bill!). I love my iPad and my iPhone. I love buying real books, which use lots of paper. I use too much heat in the winter.

But what amazes me is the way that people can shut down conversation about these things so easily. Global warming? We'd rather not think about it. Eat less meat? I love steak! We can't kill the meat industry!  You can't do anything by yourself, so why bother?

I can't do anything by myself, that's true (at least, not anything on the scale of reversing or repairing climate change). But we all can. As "we are the world" as it sounds, it would benefit everyone if we set some limits for ourselves. I'm not talking about deprivation. When people go on diets and decide they will not eat any of the foods they love because they have too many calories, they end up miserable. We don't have to diet or deprive; we just need portion control.  Maybe we eat a little less meat. Maybe we use a little less electricity. Maybe we drive the car a little less. If everyone were willing to talk about these things, and to set a few limits for their own lives, we could go a long way towards solving some problems.

I'm going to do some more research on this. The new book I bought today is one that was mentioned in the documentary; it's called No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. I am sure that reading this book will make me feel guilty about all the ways in which I am still ignoring the realities of the world around me. So before I even start, I'm setting some more limits for myself. I want to use less electricity in my home. I want to drive my car less, and be more efficient when I do drive (run all my errands at once, hit places in order across town so I don't go back and forth, etc.). I'm letting my magazine subscriptions expire, and if I renew any, I'll get digital subscriptions only. A particularly difficult one for me, I'll try to shop online less (since it uses gas to travel and plastic for packaging). I'm going to do my best to set some limits on my consumption, and we'll see how it goes.

The title of this post is really a lie. Less is not more. Less is less. But that's the point. We don't need more. We'll be just fine with less.

**Update: A friend of mine passed along information on the fact that more people are hunting their own food instead of relying on meat from big industries being shipped across the country. Interesting idea that seems helpful to every one.