Advantage 74 – No pressure to consume

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life« 

»We are constantly being told that we have to buy, buy and buy again.

That is naturally a disaster for sustainability.«

– Hannes Jaenicke

German actor

Our present economic system needs constant growth to be able to continue to exist. In order to maintain this growth there are entire branches of industry which are exclusively concerned with marketing products, no matter if these are needed or not. Advertising agencies, marketing departments, sales and distribution departments, sales representatives, salespeople and, in principle, all the private media have the aim of fuelling consumption. New needs have to be created. They talk about solutions to problems which people previously did not know they might have.

»Planned obsolescence« is a specially developed method to make products age faster than necessary in relation to their technical development. Maybe you are familiar with this situation: your computer printer suddenly does not work anymore. You take it to be repaired and are told it is only a small thing, but the repair would cost more than the price of a new printer. Or your computer, which up to now has worked perfectly, suddenly slows down after a new operating system has been installed. The operating system can do a lot of new things that you did not know you needed. Because of this, it needs more resources and slows down your computer. This is not noticeable with new computers as they have now become faster. So sooner or later you have to make the decision to buy a new computer.

These and similar methods are absolutely necessary to maintain consumption in our present economic system, otherwise it would collapse like a house of cards. 

The Natural Economy of Life is based on sustainability. It can cope with the economy shrinking and a certain amount of healthy downsizing is desirable alone for reasons of environmental protection. As long as all products needed are available what does it matter if production has to be reduced? Even if jobs are lost, everybody is optimally provided for by the active basic income. Pressure to consume, which is the vital artery of the old economic system, has become superfluous in the gradido system. Instead of designing advertising with the aim of constantly increase consumption, the above-mentioned media experts can now use their skills to inform people about sustainability and eco-friendly behaviour. 

Advantage 75 – Significantly less production without social drawbacks

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life« 

»In the case of the consumerism paradigm, the basic assumptions that need to change include: that more goods and services make people happier, that perpetual growth is good, that humans are separate from nature and that nature is a stock of resources to be exploited for human purposes.«

– Erik Assadourian

Director of the Worldwatch Institute

Without the pressure to consume, significantly less will be produced. All the better! Fewer resources will be needed and people will have more leisure. They will have more time for themselves and their dear ones, their hobbies, their health and their further personal development. Isn’t that what most rushed modern people wish for?

Nowadays more spare time generally means less money, loss of social status and a decline into poverty. The person’s standard of living can no longer be maintained and the running expenses of leasing instalments, rents and loans cannot be paid anymore. This is a horror scenario for many people and already reality for others.

In the Natural Economy of Life as well more spare time may possibly also mean less income. But what does it matter if dad earns a bit less money? All the members of the family are provided for by their active basic incomes, which covers the running expenses. If there are loans, it may take longer to repay them but it will not be more expensive as they are interest-free. In the worst case, a luxurious standard of living would have to be cut back to a normal level. In return, people have more time –  a luxury only a few have today.

Advantage 76 – Consequently greatly reduced use of resources and less rubbish

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Before we change the world,

 it might be more important not to destroy it.«

– Paul Claudel

French writer and diplomat

The pressure to consume, which is so crucial for the old economic system, rears its ugly head in two ways – use of resources and waste. Both are extremely damaging to our environment, drastically diminish the quality of our lives and present humankind with increasing problems. The limits to growth have long be exceeded. Far too many resources have long since been used up and much too much rubbish has long been produced and dumped somewhere in the world.

Without the pressure to consume there will be much less production, much less use of resources and much less rubbish. This does not mean that the old resources have been replenished and the old rubbish dumps removed. However, the descent to hell has been slowed down and with some further measures we will bring it to a standstill and finally reverse direction.