Making a Healthy Home

Earth is our only Home; Nature our guide. We must change our habits of consumption to live healthier lives, not one based on having more stuff crammed into our living space.

“Yeah, people who turn towards voluntary simplicity and who have persisted in it for a long time. Most of those people are deeply satisfied with how they're living. Rather than building their values around materialism, possessions, income, status and image, they really do invest their time and energy into strong relationships with people they care about, the development of their skills and expertise and spending time in the natural world.”
—J.B. MacKinnon, Canadian author, CBC Interview, June 4, 2021

Lac aux Castors (Beaver Lake) , which is on top of Mont-Royal, which is situated in Montréal’s central core. It is here, on Mont-Royal, where I roamed around, explored the woods and trails and learned about the beauty of Nature. I was fortunate to have lived a few minutes from here up during a good part of my childhood. Photo: Wikipedia

We humans have come to rely on fossil fuels, concrete, ammonia fertilizers and plastics, as well as steel, animal agriculture, lithium batteries and a host of other modern conveniences in our march away from Nature and, I would add, away from our natural selves. In doing so, we have not only alienated ourselves from each other, we have also alienated ourselves from Nature, our Home. Living as we are, separate from Nature, has increased our alienation and, as a consequence of such growing distance, we have harmed the natural world in myriad ways. Instead of admitting such is a mistake, a failure in understanding, we have increased our human arrogance and domineering manner. From pesticides to viruses to weapons of war, humans are solely responsible. What the Earth requires of us humans is a lot more humility and a lot more respect.

Speaking of which, there is something that we can all do now, starting today. Reduce our personal consumption by 10 percent in a year. In short, change our habits of consumption. We can also reduce our personal consumption of fossil fuels (e.g., drive less & walk more, do not fly anywhere, unless necessary, lower heating temps, etc.), reduce use of plastic (e.g., use paper shopping bags or reusable bags), eat less meat (e.g., meatless Mondays) and buy less new consumer goods (e.g., buy second-hand items, when possible). This last point is the one I want to focus on in greater detail. One of the worst industries in terms of environmental harm is fast fashion: the mass production of low cost, low quality clothes, but with huge environmental effects.¹

I avoid such purchases. I also rarely buy new clothes, but when I do it is from local manufacturers, Made in Canada. I do the same for our teenage son; my wife likes to get second-hand and vintage clothing, so she rarely buys new. The new clothes that are Made in Canada are indeed more expensive, but they are made to high standards by people receiving Canadian wages and benefits. I also tend to buy natural fabrics like cotton, bamboo and wool and avoid synthetics, made from petroleum-based products, when I can.

I am willing to pay more, but these items last much longer. We each add, on average, only a few items of clothing to our closets each year; our teenage son passing on what he has outgrown to his nephews. Passed down. Hand-me downs, sure. Second-hand clothes, that’s right.

Why not? These are in excellent condition. It is only the mass-consumption economy and social conditioning that says this is strange or not preferable. The question we all need to ask is, “To and for whom is it strange?” I point this out only to show that it can be done and without the need to sacrifice anything essential or important

We do not have to be victims of fads or fashion, which is fickle and driven by ads and marketing. And often by peer pressure and trying to keep up to some unimportant standard of fashion, which is as superficial as it gets. Rarely is it about buying less, buying local, buying quality. Since our economies are significantly consumer-driven, these smart choices, if incorporated by a large mass of everyday people, will be noticed by the large multinational corporations. It might encourage them to improve their products, to increase durability and to decrease reliance on fossil fuels.

So, yes, our habits of buying more than is truly necessary—our Habits of Consumption—are having a detrimental effect on our world, but also on our individual health. This is at the heart of consumerism.² Having once fallen into the trap of consumerism, I know it is unhealthy and the cause of increased personal debt, marital and all kinds of relationship problems, thus adding to life’s stresses. There is no need to keep up with anyone, to impress anyone, which is a effort that will nevertheless fail. Buying less will help make us healthier all around. Voluntary simplicity is one such idea that appeals to people who value relationships more than they do material possessions.³

I am not here suggesting that we will be able to stop all of the ill effects of climate change or all our harmful ways that we have become addicted to—we won’t—but we who care deeply about Nature and our Home will make some changes to our way of living, chiefly because we recognize many of our past choices as unhealthy and we do not want to continue along this path. We do not want to continue destroying our Home. We want to do what we can, to do as little harm as possible to our Home Earth in areas in which we can.

The song I will leave you with is “Mother Nature’s Son,” performed by John Denver in a live rendition from 1976. I prefer this cover version more than I do than the original by the Beatles, written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney and found (Side 3, track 3) on The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”), a double album, which was released on 22 November 1968. I find the version by Denver more heartfelt and has a more natural feel to it, which is the same way that I feel.

Find me in my field of grass, Mother Nature’s son.
Swaying daises sing a lazy song beneath the sun.
Mother Nature’s son.

Merci et à bientôt
Born at 315 ppm
Now at 425 ppm

1. Fast fashion: Earth.org: “The term ‘fast fashion’ has become more prominent in conversations surrounding fashion, sustainability, and environmental consciousness. The term refers to ‘cheaply produced and priced garments that copy the latest catwalk styles and get pumped quickly through stores in order to maximise on current trends’.”

The fast fashion model is so-called because it involves the rapid design, production, distribution, and marketing of clothing, which means that retailers are able to pull large quantities of greater product variety and allow consumers to get more fashion and product differentiation at a low price.”

2. Consumerism: Wikipedia: “Consumerism is a social and economic order in which the aspirations of many individuals include the acquisition of goods and services beyond those necessary for survival or traditional displays of status.^[1] It emerged in Western Europe before the Industrial Revolution and became widespread around 1900.^[1] In economics, consumerism refers to policies that emphasize consumption. It is the consideration that the free choice of consumers should strongly inform the choice by manufacturers of what is produced and how, and therefore influence the economic organization of a society.”

3. Voluntary simplicity: “The Simplicity Collective: Voluntary simplicity, or simple living, is a way of life that rejects the high-consumption, materialistic lifestyles of consumer cultures and affirms what is often just called ‘the simple life’ or ‘downshifting.’[1] The rejection of consumerism arises from the recognition that ordinary Western-style consumption habits are degrading the planet; that lives of high consumption are unethical in a world of great human need; and that the meaning of life does not and cannot consist in the consumption or accumulation of material things. Extravagance and acquisitiveness are accordingly considered an unfortunate waste of life, certainly not deserving of the social status and admiration they seem to attract today. The affirmation of simplicity arises from the recognition that very little is needed to live well – that abundance is a state of mind, not a quantity of consumer products or attainable through them.”