The Rise Of The Frugalista
By Andrew Pickering
03 December,
2008
Countercurrents.org
Unaccustomed as I am to fashion writing, it seems there is a new trend in town. I am talking about the rise of the frugalista, a term increasingly being used to refer to the fashionably thrifty clothes horse-about-town. The frugalistas signify the epitome of credit crunch chic, deliberately slumming it at charity shops in order to bolster a pious kind of street cred.
There is a more serious point underlying all this. Under current financial
conditions, people across the social spectrum are cutting back on
their consumption, whether that means putting less gas in the family
car, putting off that holiday, visiting the thrift store or switching
to the supermarket's value range.
For the environmentally-conscious among us, this is a great relief. It is increasingly apparent that our consumption of natural resources is inherently unsustainable. If human consumption continues at current levels, we will second Earth to support us by 2030. Meanwhile, the developing world is constantly increasing its demands. China is building two new power plants per week. Yet can those of us living in the rich world deny the majority of humanity the comforts that our consumption has hitherto provided for us? Reducing our own consumption is therefore an imperative of environmental sustainability. In fact, a new era of 'voluntary simplicity' may be necessary.
Bringing this about requires that environmental campaigners make frugality sexy as well as virtuous. This will be the great challenge of the new green movement. We should be under no illusions – this is a tough gig, but it remains the only viable option to avoid environmental devastation, unless we choose to blindly put all of our faith in technological innovations.
Earlier this year, the British journalist and environmental campaigner George Monbiot suggested that a global recession would be a good thing for the world's environment. These comments attracted a good deal of criticism. Much of this was well justified and Monbiot seems to have since changed his position. Yet to some extent he did have a point - unmitigated indefinite economic growth is a fundamentally unsustainable programme for human existence.
Given the current financial crisis and looming recession, frugality is in vogue and patched jeans are fashionable. This might be due merely to a desire to save money, but it constitutes a rare opportunity for mindsets, values and lifestyles to be changed.
Most people's concern with the environment manifests itself in no more serious a way than a grudging willingness to recycle household waste. It is necessary to use the current economic momentum to force a paradigmatic shift in societal norms. This is the opportunism of hard times. Those concerned about the environment – which, by now should be almost everyone – need to step up their commitment and move beyond merely mitigating or offsetting their destructive actions. We need to shift the common sense of society to one where conspicuous and bloated consumption is not seen as a virtue.
In 1845, Henry David Thoreau retired to the woods near Walden Pond, Massachusetts. He lived there for two years, practicising a life of simplicity and reflection. Out of this experience came the book Walden, or Life in the Woods. In one passage, Thoreau wrote:
'Who could wear a patch, or two extra seams only, over the knee? Most behave as if they believed that their prospects for life would be ruined if they should do it. It would be easier for them to hobble to town with a broken leg than with a broken pantaloon. Often if an accident happens to a gentleman's legs, they can be mended; but if a similar accident happens to the legs of his pantaloons, there is no help for it; for he considers, not what is truly respectable, but what is respected.'
Since Walden's publication in 1854, Thoreau's thinking has influenced environmentalists, hippies, scholars, free thinkers, writers, politicians and many others. Its impact can be seen most clearly in today's voluntary simplicity movements. Writers like Duane Elgin and more recently David Korten have outlined ways of living that avoid the consumption, pace and alienation of modern society. For many, such voluntary simplicity is a requisite of environmentally sustainable lifestyles.
This is certainly a fruitful time to begin to encourage more restrained lifestyles. Commuters are beginning to switch their cars for bicycles, not least because of oil prices. In times of recession (despite Keynesian logic), people tend to spend less. They may discover that they can get by just as well. They may begin to find that they spend more time with their families and communities and that their time becomes more precious to them. They may, in short, find that a life of less consumption and more simplicity is more rewarding.
This is not a utopian manifesto and people do not need to live as monastic hermits, as Thoreau did. But there is a strong case that a conscious shift to simpler living is a viable and necessary choice. As suggested above, this is a tall order and will be resisted. Change must come incrementally, via a process of reshaping the common sense of society.
At the same time, despite its vested interests in economic growth, the state also has a role to play in encouraging reduced consumption. As it did during the world wars of the twentieth century, government can encourage its citizens to conserve, to 'mend and make do'.
In fact, one suspects that deep down, people actually enjoy the wartime mentality that such initiatives foster. The feeling of being part of something, taking responsibility and maintaining solidarity for a greater collective good is very powerful and a strong motivating factor.
However, individuals have the most significant role to play in challenging current mindsets. We should be wary of affording too much power to governments and the idea of enforced privations will rightly fill many with horror. Rather, it is necessary for a moderate bloc of environmentally conscious citizens to gradually expand a reasonable and coherent case for simplicity, sufficiency and sustainability.
If this can be achieved – and it must – we stand a far better chance of being able to maintain our global environment into the future. This is not a time for half-measures, but a moment for a changes in thinking at the civilisational level. We need to help the spirit of Thoreau to rise again.
Andrew Pickering is a postgraduate student of International
Political Economy at the University of Sheffield, UK. He writes at
http://davostoseattle.wordpress.com.
