Joseph Stadtmiller

Embracing Sufficiency Joseph Stadtmiller

Embracing Sufficiency is the story of human resource consumption; the creativity that sustained us; what we learned, the lessons we ignored, how we lost our way. In the beginning we lived off the land, gathering enough food to feed ourselves. Today, most of us never experience the land, only its wealth, or the lack thereof. Humanity evolved, became more aware with expanded intelligence. For centuries we endeavored to improve the methods for producing food, tools and weapons of war. The Industrial Revolution launched a new era of machinery capable of running the treadmill of production full speed ahead. Thereafter the challenge became to increase consumption, to keep the economy growing, the prevailing mantra. Advanced technology, population growth, aggressive advertising, easy credit and globalization all served to get us where we are today. We consume excessively: corrupting air, land and sea. Plastic litters the landscape and the oceans; GM-plants promote the use of herbicides that's poisoning our food. The human species has fought with each other to the edge of extinction; we stand ready to once again. Today our world is becoming barren with foul air, murky water and lifeless soil, potentially unable to feed us. The severe weather will kill you, if the heat doesn't. But it's the silence, the lack of abundant life variations, the beautiful forests, streams, snow-peaks and desert valleys, the sprawling and rising oceans we've taken for granted that we'll miss most. Nature's balance has literally been turned on its head. Is it possible to survive in a finite world with limited resources and continue on the way we have? Do we really believe we can continue on this way?