# Sustainable Consumption and True Prosperity

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Arthur Lyon Dahl, Sustainable Consumption and True Prosperity, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Sustainable Consumption and True Prosperity
> 
> Arthur Lyon Dahl
> 
> 1998-11
> 
> Achieving sustainable consumption and true prosperity is one of the
> major environmental and social challenges of our time. As the Universal
> House of Justice has put it: "Why is the vast majority of the world's peoples
> sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale
> undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers
> of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of
> human affairs?" (The Promise of World Peace, I, p. 7).
> Consumption refers to our use of that wealth, our use of materials,
> energy and services to meet our needs and desires. There is obviously a
> gradient in consumption, from the poverty of inadequate consumption to
> the abuses of overconsumption. For something so relative, defining the
> parameters of the debate is not easy.
> 
> The
> problem of consumption
> Why is consumption a problem? As the population has grown, increasing
> per capita consumption, and our technological capacity to produce and consume
> more has developed, we have begun to reach planetary limits, threatening
> the natural resource bas and ecological systems. We also have serious social
> problems due to the unjust distribution of wealth and consumption, threatening
> social sustainability. Today, 1.3 billion people live in absolute poverty,
> and 900 million are hungry. The 910 million people in the OECD countries
> had an income per capita of $20,250 in 1995, while the 4,770 million in
> the rest of the world earned and average of $3,130 per person, with 19%
> hungry, 28% drinking polluted water and 29% illiterate. Extremes of consumption
> have serious effects on individual well-being and family life.
> Recent scenarios suggest some options for the world immediately ahead.
> If we continue with business as usual, they predict a homogenization of
> global culture based on values of individualism and materialism, the maintenance
> of significant income disparities (and thus disparities in consumption),
> and a continuing degradation of the planet's environmental resource base
> and pollution assimilation capacity. Alternatives are described as increased
> barbarization or a fortress world, or some transition to a transformed
> world of environmental and social sustainability.
> Excessive consumption could be described as a moral illness. The need
> for conspicuous consumption to demonstrate wealth, power and superiority
> becomes an emotional trap, and can even lead diagnosed conditions such
> as compulsive shopping. In the USA, the automobile becomes an expression
> of one's personality and status, a cocoon to shield its occupants from
> unwanted encounters with other people, an element of individual security.
> The envelope of possessions and consumptive activities becomes a mask to
> hide an inner vacuum and vulnerability.
> Consumption has also become a collective economic addiction. Growth
> is an absolute economic requirement, and any suggestion that growth might
> have a limit is unthinkable in economic circles. It is necessary to keep
> the economy turning to maintain employment and generate more wealth. When
> there was an economic down-turn in France a few years ago, the government
> called on its citizens to withdraw their savings and spend for the good
> of the economy. A recent expression epitomizes the American way of life:
> "when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping".
> An important dimension of the problem of consumption are the extremes
> of wealth and poverty, the fact that some consume too much while others
> do not have enough. It is estimated that the richest 20% of the world population
> consumes 80% of the world's resources. Global solidarity in this area is
> conspicuously lacking, and in many countries the extremes have widened
> over the last two decades. There is global competition for limited resources,
> with the wealthy having the purchasing power to out-bid the poor even for
> essentials. The moral challenge will grow more extreme. One day if food
> shortages grow, the steak on your plate could mean several people starving
> to death.
> Reducing excessive consumption does not necessarily have to mean a reduction
> in the standard of living. Recent studies show that the Western lifestyle
> could be maintained with much greater efficiency in resource use. It should
> be technically possible to reduce energy and resource use by a factor of
> 4 in the short term, and of 10 in the longer term, to release resources
> for use in assisting development elsewhere. These goals have in fact been
> adopted by the most developed countries.
> 
> Sustainable
> consumption
> Sustainable consumption refers to the need to stay within the limits
> of the global sustainability of resources. It includes the concept of equitable
> sharing within and between generations. Consumption requires wealth, so
> the distribution of wealth is an important component of sustainable consumption,
> along with the total wealth of materials consumed. Consumption changes
> meaning and value along the spectrum from absolute poverty to great wealth.
> For the poor, consumption often means survival, and the meeting of basic
> needs for food, clean water, shelter, health, education, etc.
> Along this spectrum, where is the borderline between "not enough" and
> "too much"? Abdu'l-Bahá wrote that "wealth is most commendable,
> provided the entire population is wealthy" (The Secret of Divine Civilization,
> p. 24-25). In this sense, the amount of acceptable consumption is relative,
> or should be defined by scientific or economic measures of the amount of
> wealth available. It should also be possible to define "good" and "bad"
> kinds of consumption, with desirable consumption including knowledge, education,
> art and industry and all those things that contribute to the welfare of
> society. Consumption is both an individual issue of what and how much a
> person consumes, and a collective issue of the sum total of consumption
> not exceeding sustainable limits.
> 
> True prosperity
> In this context, it is worth asking if consumption brings prosperity.
> What is prosperity? Presumably an adequate amount of wealth. But this too
> is relative. There is an important cultural dimension to prosperity and
> the kinds of consumption used to signal prosperity. For the French, food
> would be a preferred medium of expression; for the Americans an automobile;
> and for the Samoans a village church. Prosperity can be expressed at an
> individual level through personal consumption, and at a collective or community
> level through the provision of joint services or facilities. Either option
> can increase prosperity.
> A major issue is the excessive level of individual consumption in developed
> countries. It is worth reexamining the ethical basis for the "consumer
> society". Is prosperity material or spiritual, or some combination of both?
> What brings real happiness? Does it come from possessions, especially after
> basic needs have been met? Are possessions only one way to try to meet
> a more basic need for social acceptance, belonging and fitting in? Could
> happiness come from being of service, or being "rich in God"? The high
> consumption life-style may represent the pursuit of material happiness,
> but in can be very ephemeral. And how much is enough? Do we become the
> prisoner of our possessions? Are we trapped in the system? Should be busy
> ourselves with the things of this world? What is "necessary"? These questions
> show how relative the concept of prosperity is, and the challenge that
> each individual faces in trying to define one's own concept of true prosperity.
> 
> Spiritual
> principles concerning consumption
> Ultimately questions of consumption come down to each person's definition
> of his or her purpose in life. If it is material, then material consumption
> becomes an important element. If it is spiritual, then the whole perspective
> changes. What are some of the spiritual principles involved in addressing
> sustainable consumption? The following quotations from the Bahá'í
> writings shed some light on the issue of sustainable consumption and true
> prosperity:
> Moderation
> "Overstep not the bounds of moderation, and deal justly with them that
> serve thee. Bestow upon them according to their needs, and not to the extent
> that will enable them to lay up riches for themselves, to deck their persons,
> to embellish their homes, to acquire the things that are of no benefit
> to them, and to be numbered with the extravagant. Deal with them with undeviating
> justice, so that none among them may either suffer want, or be pampered
> with luxuries. This is but manifest justice." (Bahá'u'lláh
> [to the Sultan of Turkey], Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh,
> CXIV, pp. 235-236)
> Harmony of material and spiritual
> "And among the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh is that although
> material civilization is one of the means for the progress of the world
> of mankind, yet until it becomes combined with Divine civilization, the
> desired result, which is the felicity of mankind, will not be attained....
> Material civilization is like a lamp-glass. Divine civilization is the
> lamp itself and the glass without the light is dark. Material
> 
> civilization is like the body. No matter how infinitely graceful, elegant
> and beautiful it may be, it is dead. Divine civilization is like the spirit,
> and the body gets its life from the spirit, otherwise it becomes a corpse."
> ( Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá,
> 227, pp. 303-304)
> Detachment
> "Cleanse thyself from the defilement of riches and in perfect peace
> advance into the realm of poverty; that from the well-spring of detachment
> thou mayest quaff the wine of immortal life." (Bahá'u'lláh,
> The
> Hidden Words (Persian) 55)
> "Until man is born again from the world of nature, that is to say, becomes
> detached from the world of nature, he is essentially an animal, and it
> is the teachings of God which convert this animal into a human soul." (
> Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá,
> 227, pp. 303-304)
> Poverty and wealth
> "Know ye in truth that wealth is a mighty barrier between the seeker
> and his desire, the lover and his beloved. The rich, but for a few, shall
> in no wise attain the court of His presence nor enter the city of content
> and resignation...." (Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words
> (Persian) 53)
> "Be not troubled in poverty or confident in riches, for poverty is followed
> by riches, and riches are followed by poverty. Yet to be poor in all save
> God is a wondrous gift, belittle not the value thereof, for in the end
> it will make thee rich in God..." (Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden
> Words (Persian) 51)
> [The true seeker] "should be content with little, and be freed from
> all inordinate desire.... He should succour the dispossessed, and never
> withhold is favour from the destitute." (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Iqán,
> p. 193-194)
> "Wealth is praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by
> an individual's own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce, agriculture,
> art and industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic purposes. Above
> all, if a judicious and resourceful individual should initiate measures
> which would universally enrich the masses of the people, there could be
> no undertaking greater than this, and it would rank in the sight of God
> as the supreme achievement, for such a benefactor would supply the needs
> and insure the comfort and well-being of a great multitude. Wealth is most
> commendable, provided the entire population is wealthy. If, however, a
> few have inordinate riches while the rest are impoverished, and no fruit
> or benefit accrues from that wealth, then it is only a liability to its
> possessor. If, on the other hand, it is expended for the promotion of knowledge,
> the founding of elementary and other schools, the encouragement of art
> and industry, the training of orphans and the poor - in brief, if it is
> dedicated to the welfare of society - its possessor will stand out before
> God and man as the most excellent of all who live on earth and will be
> accounted as one of the people of paradise." ( Abdu'l-Bahá, The
> Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 24-25)
> "The best of men are they that earn a livelihood by their calling and
> spend upon themselves and upon their kindred for the love of God, the Lord
> of all worlds." (Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Persian)
> 82)
> Voluntary sharing
> "...the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh advocate voluntary sharing,
> and this is a greater thing than the equalization of wealth. For equalization
> must be imposed from without, while sharing is a matter of free choice.
> Man reacheth perfection through good deeds, voluntarily performed, not
> through good deeds the doing of which was forced upon him." ( Abdu'l-Bahá,
> Selections
> from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, 79, p. 115)
> Just redistribution of wealth in the community
> "...the laws of the community will be so framed and enacted that it
> will not be possible for a few to be millionaires and many destitute. One
> of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings is the adjustment of means of
> livelihood in human society. Under this adjustment there can be no extremes
> in human conditions as regards wealth and sustenance." ( Abdu'l-Bahá,
> Foundations
> of World Unity, p. 36)
> "All must be producers. Each person in the community whose income is
> equal to his individual producing capacity shall be exempt from taxation.
> But if his income is greater than his needs he must pay a tax until an
> adjustment is effected. ...if his necessities exceed his production he
> shall receive an amount sufficient to equalize or adjust. Therefore taxation
> will be proportionate to capacity and production and there will be no poor
> in the community." ( Abdu'l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity,
> p. 37)
> There are also resource issues that need to be addressed from a spiritual
> perspective. Maintaining the ecological balance of the planet is one of
> our responsibilities in our role as trustees of the world's resources.
> Justice requires that the economic resources of the world will be organized,
> its sources of raw materials fully utilized, its available sources of energy
> exploited, its markets coordinated and the distribution of its products
> equitably regulated on a world basis. These will be functions of a future
> world federation. World intercommunications will be developed as the basis
> for a world civilization uniting all peoples. These principles sketch out
> mechanisms to address the equity issues of sustainable consumption.
> 
> Implications
> of true prosperity and sustainable consumption
> What does this view of prosperity and consumption mean for the future
> of Western Civilization? It is clear that it could have serious implications
> for an economic system built on endless growth in consumption, regardless of the kind of consumption.
> Imagine, for example, how much of the present economy would be lost
> if damaging, destructive or useless kinds of consumption were eliminated.
> This would include most military establishments and arms manufacture, industries supporting conspicuous consumption and
> luxury goods, the use of planned obsolescence as a tool to maintain sales,
> most advertising and excessive "brand" competition and marketing gimmicks,
> commercial sports and some forms of entertainment, and such harmful products
> as pornography, drugs, gambling, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and possibly
> even meat. Such fields as agriculture, transport and urbanization would
> need to be seriously modified. On the other hand, there would probably
> be an increase in communications, health, education, arts and culture,
> and even recreation.
> Obviously the transition to a new society with different values will
> not be easy. It will require individual effort, rethinking the form and
> function of local communities, restructuring national economies, and effective
> mechanisms for global economic redistribution and resource management.
> All this is part of the challenge of building a future global society in
> which sustainable consumption leads to true prosperity.
> *The views expressed are the
> author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations
> Environment Programme.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views12326 views since posted 1998; last edit 2012;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../dahl_sustainable_consumption_prosperity;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Sustainable Consumption and True Prosperity (Used by permission of the curator)*