8th August 2025
We live in a time of global shortages as well as global overconsumption, so living with enough may involve re-examining what ‘enough’ looks like.
Whilst I can get all that my family needs, such as foods, clothes, shelter, medicine etc, there are other people who cannot either access or afford these essentials. Should I reduce the amount I think I need, to make more available for others?
Isn’t that the dilemma of Earth Overshoot Day? Here in the west in consuming what we ‘need’ for our comfortable lifestyles, we are doing so at the expense of other people, often those living in the global south.
If for example, eating meat on a regular basis means we are ‘using’ agricultural land that could otherwise be used to grow food to better feed others or that could be better used to restore biodiversity and/ or store carbon, then should we not significantly reduce our consumption of meat?
Enough becomes eating less meat.
As well as meat, we might consider reducing our western levels of consumption of electronic and electrical goods which use large proportions of limited resources such as lithium and copper. These limited resources might be better used to meet the more pressing needs of others? (Or being left in the ground so as not to damage the environment).
Enough becomes consuming fewer electrical goods.
And might we also consider how much plastic we consume? Plastic use becomes yet one more reason for companies to justify extracting more carbon-emitting oil from the ground. Plastic waste causes widespread pollution damaging both our own health and the environments of others across the globe.
Enough becomes consuming less plastic – especially single use items and plastic packaging.
There are many such ways in which we can re-examine what enough looks like.
The Green Tau 