Those are some heavy hitters so at the risk of sounding simplistic I'm going to weigh in. I say YES! We have all we need now. We first need to simply realize we need less.

I don't think we shouldn't pursue technological advancement on the low carbon energy front but we don't have time to wait for breakthroughs. I am personally capable of existing on the amount of energy produced by 1000W of solar panels stored in lead acid batteries and controlled by off the shelf electronics. This assumes I can do without a car. I have done so in the past and intend to do so in the future. Obviously, the energy to produce these products must be sourced but I believe if we as a society decide to divert the vast resources we waste on pointless consumerism, wars, inefficiency, waste, and personal motoring into developing a renewable energy powered grid, homes that don't need heating or cooling, local economy, universal healthcare and education, and rational widespread public transport we would have more than enough energy and would lead healthier and happier lives. We have the technology to do all of this NOW!

Written in August 2008

You can get a good % of the way there by focusing on one word in this: "need".

Our needs are few compared to our wants.

These days so much of our consumption is tied in with this so-called "quality of life" concept. Economists have to have something to measure, so they pretty much equate quality of life with consumption. By that twisted definition our quality of life will decrease if we consume less.

Unfortunately the way people really perceive quality in their lives is much harder to measure (and the variables are pretty much unknown). This really screws up economists, so they just measure numbers that they can find - regarless of whetjer they are good indicators.

Sure, if you are starving and have far too little, then having more is a Good Thing. However we're way past that point. Right now, obese people outnumber starving people so there is no global food shortage. Similarly wasted energy significantly outweighs "energy starvation" and there is no energy shortage either.

We seem to be the victim of millions of years of survival programming: when there is a surplus, consume to excess because there might be hard times. These days we don't really have any shortages so the mindset no longer serves us any useful purpose.

Of course advertising etc only help to keep those consumptive urges alive: consume more. People with guilty feelings about this get targeted with greenwashed products: keep your high consumption behaviour but feel good because you're buying our guilt appeasing products (which you'd be better off not buying).

Written in September 2008

I used to live in rural South Africa. I'm white and enjoyed the benefits of being a white person in apartheid South Africa, but... I can speak two African languages and spent a lot of time speaking with, and getting to understand people living as you mention: spending a lot of time in subsistence agriculture, fetching firewood, water etc.

I hope this does not sound like I am demeaning these people: I am not. Most are very proud people and have every reason to be so.

When us Westerners see people living subsistence lives, we immediately try to apply **our** value sets to what we see: "Oh, see that poor woman carrying a bucket of water for miles. We should give here electricity and pumps and a washing machine!"

What we fail to respect is that fetching water or taking laundry to the river might be hard physical work but it is part of the social fabric and provides an occasion for interactions that otherwise would not happen.

Subsistence agriculture, likewise, is hard physical work but the people who practice it are for less ecologically damaging than our labour efficient farmers running around with tractors.

What is also interesting is that while they might work hard, most subsistence cultures have a far better work balance than we Westerners do. In traditional South Africa, Australia etc it is quite common for people to work hard in the morning and do more relaxing stuff (crafts etc) in the afternoon.

We Westerners might think physical work to be demeaning, but really a vast percentage of the jobs we do in our crazy lives are pointless and can easily be done away with.

The Malawian aid worker should have a look at http://www.thehotboxco.co.za/index.html
This project has been going for approx 30 years in South Africa. The hayboxes cut down on the need for cooking fires and reduces firewood consumption. They also make great small village/home industry projects. They work great in conjunction with rocket stoves etc. [Btw: Wonderbox cooking is great in a Western lifestyle too: great for rice and slow cooking beans, soups, stews and tougher meat cuts etc. Put the pot in at breakfast time and come home to a hot meal in the evening.]

Written in September 2008

I look at the "Slow Food" movement as a prime example of how we can get by with less, and actually live a more peaceful, healthy, and sustainable life.

I deeply believe that we have all the tools needed, right now, to fix the ills of our planet and self. The challenge is accepting the challenge.

In the "Slow Food" philosophy, you start by examining the fuel that keeps your body going. Where does it come from, how does it get to your hands, and then how does it enter your mouth. Taking time to cut vegetables by hand instead of tossing them into a gizmo dicer or salad shooter (which I consider the pinnacle of human indulgence) offers lessons and pleasures we simply forget to afford ourselves.

By taking this path, the one where you stop and examine what you consume, how you consume, and why you consume, invariably leads to a slower paced life.

I think we humans, especially in Western cultures, have been driven by consumerism to believe that faster is better. But faster is just faster, not better. It has pros and cons like any other choice, but what we (or at least I) am finding is that there is no need for speed in almost anything I do.

We procrastinate so we have to rush, this is a lack of discipline that can easily be managed through SLOWING DOWN (or meditation). We feel self-consious about our personal income, so we work more hours and rush to complete task to compete. But by doing so completely lose our intent in why we toil.

This cycle can be broken (must be broken) and is simply a perspective change. No technology required and a world of good that can happen.

Written in September 2008

GDP as a measure of the "health" of the economy includes, the economic activity generated by cleaning up and remediating superfund sites, oil spills, and waging war, particularly in this age of transferring what used to be government duties to private contractors, clever accounting turning negatives into positives.

Written in September 2008

Hello,
Lets just manufacture a zillion Pinwheel Generators (gravity-driven energy generators). www.squidoo.com/pinwheelgenerator .
-Russ

Written in May 2011