Where do you see the world in one hundred years? How do you define progress? Take a minute to ponder these questions.
Though at first glance it might not appear as if these questions are related, they are actually intimately connected with the way in which we carry out our everyday lives.
Many are critical of the way in which Americans live in that we tend not to look at the long-term consequences of our actions, preferring instead to focus on short-term benefits. What is unfortunate is that these short-term benefits do not always play out as benefits in the long run.
The state of our world today provides a perfect example of this. We currently define progress as increased industrialization, consumption and monetary standards of living, but what are we really making progress towards? What is the end goal in a system that encourages us to work harder and harder, spend more and more, and ultimately feel less and less happy?
Sociologists call this pattern the “treadmill of consumption,” as, like a treadmill, we constantly run but never make any actual progress. Parallel to this (and feeding into our consumption) is a similar treadmill of production, which produces the goods that we covet at ever increasing rates. What are the long-term consequences of this unbridled system of production and consumption? First, we are using resources at an increasingly alarming pace.
It might come as a surprise, but only four percent of the colonial era forests in the United States still survive. It was once said that the forests of North America were so expansive that a squirrel could successfully make its way from Maine to the Mississippi River without once stepping foot on the ground.
Fortunately, however, forests are a renewable resource. More trees can always grow (albeit very slowly), so long as their environment is not too damaged. It may not be the quick and easy process that most of us have come to expect, but it can happen. What is far more alarming is our increasing reliance on nonrenewable resources, especially oil.
In the short term, oil is a wonderful and cheap resource. The effects of oil are, however, not so pleasant in the future. Without even considering the environmental impacts of oil, one fairly obvious fact should stand out: we will run out of fossil fuels one day, probably sooner rather than later.
What should we take from all this? Think about how we live our everyday lives. How much of it is shaped by our reliance on the pre-existing social systems, such as the way in which our transportation infrastructure is built.
If you stop to think about it, it is really difficult for the average American to modify their consumption patterns rapidly and still lead a life within normal society.
But things can change, hopefully for the better, and it all begins by considering the bigger picture.
Garrett Fontenot can
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