If you want a sustainable society, a friend once explained, aim to meet the needs of the poor.
As it is, our society's basic needs systems serve the wealthy.
Take housing. In the neighborhood where I've rented on and off for nearly 30 years, 1000 square foot houses now go for between $630,000 and $700,000. They rent for as much as $2000/month-- or as Air BnBs for $175/night. No one who works at nearby grocery stores or restaurants can afford to live here. They can only afford unreliable cars and housing far from their workplace.
Take health care. My husband's Medicare Advantage insurance just informed him (after a handful of blood draws and diagnoses) that his policy does not cover blood tests.
Then, as the late ecological economist Herman Daly clarified, if you want a sustainable society, don't take from the Earth faster than it can replenish; and don't waste faster than the Earth can absorb the waste.
But mass production of anything violates these principles.
You begin to see our culture's unsustainability.
I challenged myself to define "poor" and "rich-- "and discovered I fall into every category.
IN 2025, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE POOR?
You don't have food, clean water, shelter, health care, soap and/or a working communication system.
You depend on energy, communications, transportation and agricultural systems that ravage the Earth during their manufacture, operation and discard.
Your government aims to meet the needs of the rich. It does not respect nature. It does not protect watersheds or other ecosystems necessary for sustaining life. Local nor federal governments protect peoples' safety. They permit battery energy storage facilities that repeatedly catch fire and emit chemicals toxins. They permit transistor fabs and/or data centers (which demand extraordinary amounts of electricity and water) even though your region does not have sufficient energy or water.
In its mission to make land available for ores used to manufacture computers, phones, batteries, solar panels, e-vehicles and infrastructure, your government supports wars. Or, you live in a war zone.
You work for a corporation that you do not respect.
You cannot name three things for which you feel grateful.
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