Are we civilized enough? — Minimalism and the Doughnut Economics
The motivation for this write-up sprung from a WhatsApp Status of a contact of mine.
Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 — November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and 1970s.
According to her, what she considered to be the first evidence of civilization is a human thigh-bone with a healed fracture found in an archaeological site 15,000 years old.
Mead points out that for a person to survive a broken femur the individual had to have been cared for long enough for that bone to heal. Others must have provided shelter, protection, food and drink over an extended period of time for this kind of healing to be possible. The great anthropologist Margaret Mead suggests that the first indication of human civilization is care over time for one who is broken and in need.
Are we civilized to the level we think?
During the emergence of the COVID-19 situation, our civilized globe saw panic shopping, not only for food, but to the sheer surprise of everyone, toilet papers. Shopping racks went empty and each of us thought only about our requirements, until authorities have to step in and formulate rations and regulations for shopping. This proved our level of self-centered thinking.
An individual forms the core of a society and society’s level of civilized attitude is scaled value of the individuals in the society. In my opinion, it is ok to safe guard personal interests and needs, but as an individual we also have an inherent moral responsibility to see the pain and the needs of the third person and react to it. When such individuals make up a society, then such a society shall be deemed civilized.
Inner change is the key need of the hour
The current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed our inherent pitfalls and pain points that needs care and attention. It has provided us a chance to revisit our priorities and responses to our society’s needs.
The COVID-19 outbreak has forced a recalibration of our habits that will and should see patterns forever changed. This is a chance of resetting our priorities — our new year resolutions have gone to dust, our ideologies, worldview, professional and personal plans are beheld.
We are casting off with a new mindset and a different view of our life, future and the world. This is the right moment we add ‘civilized values’ to our core values. The current moment is generative, and disruption and isolation should encourage us to selectively re-evaluate our lives. Many of my friends have abandoned habits and behaviors which they felt were toxic and have no interest in resuming them.
The concept of ‘Doughnut Economics’
As I dug further, I encountered the concept of The Doughnut, or Doughnut economics. It is a visual framework for sustainable development — shaped like a doughnut or lifebelt — combining the concept of planetary boundaries with the complementary concept of social boundaries. The name derives from the shape of the diagram, i.e. a disc with a hole in the middle.
The concept was developed by Oxford economist Kate Raworth in the Oxfam paper A Safe and Just Space for Humanity and elaborated upon in her book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist.
The center hole of the model depicts the proportion of people that lack access to life’s essentials (healthcare, education, equity and so on) while the crust represents the ecological ceilings (planetary boundaries) that life depends on and must not be overshot.
The ‘green zone’ of the doughnut is the thinnest part of the doughnut and depicts the limited resources we need for our sustenance and living.
The model makes me to rethink my requirements and needs for a living. Human needs are very limited but human greed is infinite. I think it is time for us to understand that, ‘we have much more than we need and there are people who need much more than what they have’
Minimalism as a way of living
I consider minimalism will be one of the ways by which an individual can make an effort to keeping the green part of the doughnut as thin as possible, and will enable resources to be diverted to where needs are acute. Minimalism is a simplest form of conscious consumption.
Minimalism means —
Owning fewer possessions and intentionally living with only the things I really need — those items that support my purpose of my life
Developing a sense of clarity, purpose, and intentionality and removing all that is extra and will distract my life.
Giving a sense of freedom from the passion to possess materials, but instead value relations, experiences and inner well-being.
Avoiding living with an external image with multiple portrayals of the personality and lifestyle
The Doughnut Economics and the Minimalistic lifestyle
Even though the concept of Doughnut Economics deals with system level changes, I firmly believe that we, as a part of the system, hold moral responsibility to consume less, give back more and concern for the third person to be considered a holistic ‘civilized society’
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