But higher unemployment - I don’t think so.
I said the following in my most recent column:
“Surely many of us also believe that if we’re rational, reasonable, and logical (not absurd), save money, and live within our means we’ll develop the economy we can sustain and afford.
After all, economies that believes in production without limits and inflated, indebted lifestyles will ultimately hit the wall of resource depletion and debt, and leave future generations with a big mess.
And there won’t be a mirdle strong enough to make that mess look pretty.”
A reader, who didn’t see the obvious humour in my reference to mirdles, asked:
“So you believe in fewer jobs and higher unemployment then?” BD
No. Different jobs. Necessary jobs. Sustainable jobs.
***
We may be heading toward smaller lifestyles and pay cheques. How will we survive?
Toast up Gord’s Super Sandwich and think about it.
.
2 comments:
In coming to terms with a contracting economy, I like to think of it as starving off the parts that we can no longer sustain. It's the 10 or 15 pounds we need to lose to take the pressure off of our aging joints.
By getting rid of the excess we can concentrate our efforts on what really supports us.
We can support our local economy in endless ways, but most especially by supporting our local food producers.
And we can become food producers ourselves!
Yes a shrinking economy means how we live and work will look very different, but it doesn't have to mean unemployment in the broadest sense.
While we have the resources available to us, people can train for green jobs. We'll need engineers and construction workers engaged in setting up wind and solar projects as much as we are able.
We'll need A LOT more farmers in both urban and rural settings.
We'll need people to relearn forgotten skills such as small repair, tailors, seamstresses, food preservers, herbalists and healers etc...
We'll do a lot more battering and trading, modern day barn raisings and the equivalents of quilting bees or community canning sessions.
People will be engaged in childcare, eldercare and looking after the needs of folks with disabilities.
The structure and nature of our work, how much we get paid for it, how often we do it, is going to change very much, but make no mistake, there will be plenty work for us to do.
(And since we've all recognised that over consumption strips the world of precious resources, pollutes our environment, lands us deeper in debt and exploits the developing world, we simply won't be spending nearly as much money on stuff anyway, thereby reducing our need to work as much for as long to pay for it all!)
What's important for me in the work that I do, is that it makes me feel of value and worth, that I'm contributing to society and I have a meaningful purpose, and allows me to sustain my basic needs of water, food, shelter, health care, community, creativity and autonomy....
I don't know that our current, modern and narrow definition of employment comes even close to encompassing all of that, so perhaps it wouldn't hurt if our perception of what employment means begins to shift, even as our shrinking economy transforms it.
Hi Amber,
Your response is very thoughtful. Our perception of 'economy, employment, lifestyle' will slowly shift as we experience recessions, resource depletion and more.
Hopefully, perceptions are changing now as many people are forced to spend less. Small communities may adjust faster than large urban centers because they're closer to rural life, where terms like 'self-reliance' and 'community support' fall easier from the tongue.
Modern definitions are narrow, as you say, and I think there will be a domino effect in the future; one idea will change e.g. employment, and many more will follow.
Keep well,
GAH
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