“They have succeeded in accumulating
a greater mass of objects, but the joy in the world has grown less.” ― Fyodor
Dostoyevsky ( The Brothers Karamazov)
Of late there has been enormous
focus followed by some genuine and concrete actions towards conservation of
natural resources for the posterity. The approach of sustainability mainly
towards exploitation of resources is not only the need of the hour but has to be given top
priority right from contribution/action at individual level and even
compromising personal satisfaction or little
of our greed. One of such non- traditional approaches is the path of enoughism
- a concept based on less spending and rational or controlled buying by the
consumer. In other words enoughism is just opposite to the Consumerism – a
concept based on increasing consumption of goods.
There are diverse and strong point
of views both for and against the consumerism. One of the strongest points
supporting the consumerism lies in its capability to provide immense happiness
and feeling of possession.
Continued development of human
knowledge which resulted into improved technological interventions has not only
facilitated the delivery of diverse goods for daily uses albeit at a very fast
rate of exploitation of resources but
also helped to provide an immense services for the mankind. A report of the World Watch, 1989
estimates that world’s people have consumed as many goods and services since
1950 as all the previous generations put together. This has same time allowed the businesses to
grow and economies of the Nations to proliferate like anything. The darker side
of this has been the degradation of environmental conditions and scarcity of
resources especially nonrenewable ones.
The developed countries having
witnessed the best of material growth have now started to explore the
alternatives and ways for the conservation of resources. Enoughism is now
becoming the talk of the town and one of the approaches towards this.
India with its rational approach
towards the utilization of resources has been the crusader for the environmental
conservation since times immemorial. The biggest living example of this was
Mahatma Gandhi who was known for his simple life style and contained needs (a
simple dhoti and a wooden sandal) .Mahatma Gandhi like a practicing
environmentalist realized the importance of environmental problems and
sustainability which we are facing today. That’s why he cautioned us to be
careful about the use of resources which are sufficient only for the needs of
the human beings and not for the greed.
It has been now realized that though
there have been the availability of greater choices and access to vide range of
goods due to economic growth but this does not necessarily brings more
happiness. In such a case the practice of grading the Nations based on the
economic parameter like GDP is nothing but a step to maintain the economic
preferences duly according less priority to issues like environment and social well-being.
Considering the farsighted goal of sustainability of resources, the blind
adoption and support of materialistic approach can only be ephemeral in long
run. The conventional approaches of conservation of resources have not been
really very effective due to various/ obvious reasons and major one being
the step motherly treatment and lackadaisical
attitude among policy makers and planners . Entry of other non-conventional interventions
like enoughism and moderating our life style which may not be easy to follow
but once adopted have the real and log lasting solution for a sustainable life
style.
Let’s resolve today by taking a
pledge that we will moderate our consumption and will allow our inner
conscience to act instead of being influenced by marketing gimmicks of
advertisers. Let happiness not be judged and weighed by what you possess
physically.
