What modern conveniences are the least we need? [View all]

[Marthe48]

Climate change is on my mind constantly. I do what I can to avoid adding to the problem, and most of the people I know do as well.

China is having a triple whammy of flooding, heat and drought. I saw a headline earlier this week that Janet Yellen appealed to China for more cooperation on climate change, among other things.

As I grew up, read Weekly Reader in school, and saw stories about Peace Corps and other organizations bringing clean water to villages in Africa, amazed that fresh water was such a treasure. Saw a story about how people in an African village gathered around the only tv to watch the Ali and Foreman match, and marveled that so many people had to share a tv. I've always assumed that clean water and accessible electricity would become basics available to all humans. But as people in remote places in the world still struggle, first world nations and the fabulously wealthy raise their bar almost daily. I'm old enough to remember that most families had 1 car, and many people didn't learn to drive. I remember bread and milk trucks delivering to homes, instead of someone driving to the store. I grew up in a suburb, so I didn't experience the quaint arrangement of everything being within walking distance, but we did walk to a bus stop to go downtown, and once there, walked from store to store. We also walked to a bus stop for the school bus. So many things then, such as a 2nd car, a family vacation, a private swimming pool were luxuries that even people in my middle class neighborhood could only dream of. Then of course, along came the concept of "keeping up with the Jones" and as time went on, multiple cars, multiple drivers, short trips for errands, private pools, annual vacations, and other items once thought luxuries became commonplace. Somewhere along the line, I realized that humans in the first world are not going to be able to sustain the growth of personal luxury without leaving most human literally in the dirt.

So I'm wondering today, what is the least we individuals can get by with to have a comfortable life? What would we be willing to give up? What are we willing to never have? If people in the first world give up luxuries, will it even help people in the third world? Will humans in all places ever have an equity that meets basic needs for everyone, without wrecking the planet? I am going to continue living frugally, taking or using the least I can get by with. When I see the news that it is the hottest year on Earth in 120,000 years, I feel like not being a part of the problem has stopped being enough.