Sustainable Living
Before the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain just over two centuries ago, all human work was generated in artisan guilds at local levels. Few countries or regions produced more than they consumed. Transport was slow and expensive so each region, state or country was trying to produce what it needed and imports or exports were very limited, compared to today. The production, distribution and consumption of goods and services was sustainable, as it had been since the beginning of creation (about one hundred and fifty billion years ago, according to the Vedas). Waste recycling was done by nature, virtually without any human intervention.
In other words, if the current pace and models of production, distribution and consumption are maintained, the next generations will face a great shortage of resources. The environmental impact will be very difficult to live with and recovery will be painful and slow, in many cases impossible, as is the case with thousands of animal and plant species already extinguished by the hand of man.
This model of sustainable economy includes the use of:
- renewable energy sources like solar energy, wind, hydraulic, bio-gas, etc.
- organic agriculture such as permaculture, biodynamic agriculture, etc.
- natural construction, focused more in rural than urban areas, and based mainly on natural materials such as stone, mud, wood, straw, cork, etc.
- sustainable transport – promoting public transport, minimizing unnecessary transport, encouraging the use of bicycles, and ox carts and horses in rural areas
- non-violent animal husbandry, focused on collecting gifts from animals such as surplus non-violent milk from happy cows, sheep’s wool, surplus honey from bees, traction of oxen and horses, etc.
- natural textile industries based on the organic production of plant and animal fibres such as hemp, wool, cotton, esparto, silk, etc.
- manufacturing industries based on artisanal guilds that promote the manual skill of the human being, reducing the use of machines and subsequent work stoppages
- 1The genuine concept of ‘property’ and ‘proprietor’That is, to know and accept God as the Supreme Proprietor of all the raw materials from which all goods and services that human beings need to live will be produced, distributed, consumed and recycled. In the Vedic texts, the Supreme Lord declares Himself as the owner of all that exists: ‘I am the source of all material and spiritual worlds. Everything emanates from Me.’ (Bhagavad-gita, 10.8) ‘The Supreme Lord is the owner and director of all the animated and inanimate beings in the universe. Therefore, one must accept only what is necessary for his life, which has been assigned to him as his quota, knowing very well to whom it belongs.’ (Sri Isopanisad, 1) ‘Work done as a sacrifice for Visnu or God has to be performed, otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, human beings must perform their prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and, in that way, they will always remain free from bondage.’ (Bhagavad-gita, 3.9)
- 2Compliance with the laws (dharma) fixed by the Supreme OwnerThe laws regulate human action to carry out the production, distribution, consumption and recycling of the goods and services necessary to keep the body and soul together, with dignity and health. Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada advised: SIMPLE LIVING, HIGH THINKING. In this maxim he condensed the perfection of human sustainable life in its two aspects – material and spiritual. High thinking means, ‘always remember Lord Krisna, and never forget Him.’ (Bhagavad-gita, 9.34, 18.65) And simple living means, to live in the country with other devotees, sharing the sustainable ‘dharmic’ work and the fruits of that work. In Bhagavad-gītā we can find many instructions about how to work, how much to work, in which work we must engage and what works we must avoid; with which consciousness we must work, and to whom we must offer the results of our work. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasized rural life as the ideal atmosphere to develop spiritual sustainable life because in the countryside you can constantly see the wonderful artistic creation coming from the hands of the Lord, while in the urban environment you can see everywhere the hand and the pride of man, and the street lamps prevent you from seeing the stars.
In the last century, we have experienced a real exodus from the countryside to the city. When you are born in a city, it is very difficult to go to live in a rural environment. Rural infrastructures are becoming scarcer. Everything is mechanised, and machinery leads the production of goods and services, depriving humans of the opportunity to develop their natural manual skills. Artisan guilds are the natural basis of human work and of a sustainable economy.
The sustainable living movement which has emerged in recent years highlights the aberrant activities that human beings are carrying out in virtually every field of work, from obtaining raw materials, processing, distribution and consumption, to the lack of recycling of waste generated by them. Never before has human history seen such a great imbalance between human work activities and their negative impact on ourselves and nature. This imbalance manifests itself in pollution, in the destruction and depletion of basic natural resources such as water, land and air, and in the ethical, moral and spiritual degradation of the human being.
This current model of life is based on the exhaustive exploitation of everything and all, with the exclusive purpose of generating the greatest profits in the shortest possible time in order to infinitely diversify sense gratification, and this is absolutely unsustainable. It is depleting natural resources, polluting the environment, unbalancing the climate, destroying ecosystems and degrading human relationships and emotions. All this is covering the Earth and its inhabitants with an increasingly thick veil of fear and dissatisfaction.
The almost absolute oblivion to the existence of God results in the relentless search for new material pleasures. For this purpose, human beings gradually abandon the rural environment, which is our sustainable natural habitat, to cluster in monstrous unsustainable cities, where the gratification of the senses diversifies into all kinds of degrading and unspeakable aberrations.
