Last night I watched a film called, "The Economics of Happiness."
I figured since my husband was keen on watching it, that it was an inspirational film about being happy. I mean it was, but it was focused on sustainability and some of the effects of globalization on our world. They addressed many key issues and boiled them down to a few causes, okay okay fine.. maybe one cause.
Globalization.
They addressed globalization as the biggest threat to our happiness, well-being, community and economy!
The film started off with a lady from England who spent about 30 years in Ladakh, Nepal. The people there lived in a very remote place, and they lived off of the land sustainably. When she asked one of the Ladakhi's which home was the poorest, the boy replied that there was no such thing, everyone helped everyone. No one went hungry. Everyone had a place in society, giving each person confidence and self worth since they all recognized that every one had different skills to contribute.
Basically this is before they were struck with globalization. I'm not sure how long ago it was, but a road was built to Ladakh, and soon things were coming in from outside, including tourists. Suddenly this exposure to the western culture, made the Ladakhi's feel primitive.
Overtime, their way of doing things had completely changed, suddenly they were being faced with problems they had never experienced before, pollution - of water, soil and air (from the introduction of motor vehicles and throw-awayables). Among people even, the same boy who had told this lady that there were no poor people in town, was overheard saying to a tourist, "Please help us, we are so poor here."
Obviously this is just a little snapshot, I recommend seeing the movie actually, it's very well made.
They address many problems with globalization as well as ideas that people have about globalization.
For example, the question:
If we stop importing grains and other goods from poor nations, won't the people and the economy suffer?
They answered this question in a very clear cut way, they were saying that as it is, these countries have little access to clean water and other resources needed to grow food, if you make them grow for others to have food - at world market prices (very cheap!), it is only furthering the damage to their own livelihoods.
But the interesting thing about this situation is that due to subsidizing on certain big industry products, as well as the industries need to cut costs at every corner (environmental and socially), these big brand names are able to produce cheaper products than locally produced! For example, in Ladakh today, butter which is shipped in, is half the price of butter made by local residents!
Supporting local isn't always more expensive, but it is always more ecological as well as socially responsible. Small and local farms typically can grow much more food per acre, because it serves them to have a variety of vegetables and fruits to offer. Big industrial farmers, really must specialize their business in having one crop. Because there are acres and acres of land, and in order to process it at the speeds and the quantity needed, they use machinery as well heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Not to mention that in regarding the economy in all of this, small locally farmed- especially organic operations support people much more, their wages are higher and more people can get jobs! I feel we have a tendency to blame foreigners for taking 'our' jobs. But actually, in my opinion technology is the main culprit for taking our jobs away, as well as MASS MARKETING and FACTORY JOBS. Think of world where people spent their time doing things they loved to do, where they used skill sets which took years to develop and created beautifully crafted products for us to enjoy and relish for generations. These days everything comes in plastic. Where is the ingenuity?
I went to a museum here in India and they had all of these intricate beautiful copper or other metal made containers for all sorts of household items - eyeliner, cooking oil, combs.. etc. They were beautiful! And maybe these days we could even try for something a little more eco friendly.. lets say, bamboo?
Many products are shipped out from one country, packaged in another country then perhaps shipped back to the original country it started from! The world has promoted exports and imports so much that our consumer miles are a little bit outrageous.
And to what avail? Smoggy air? Supporting big industries? Not to say that I'm perfect, I guess I have tried to do as much local as possible, but it's true, sometimes convenience or 'needs/wants' can play a 'bigger' role in what you purchase. Also for the most part, I go out of my way to buy organic, even if that means I am buying it from a different country. But I think definitely after watching this movie, I am going to be a much more conscious consumer, lol not like I haven't been, but I could definitely work on finding local options.
The awesome thing about India is that over half the country is farmland. So no matter where you go, most likely you will be eating local. For the most part, as long as you aren't blatantly buying apples which say 'fiji' or some other country on them. Organic is a little tougher to come by here, but atleast we have Local going for us! And when I go back to the states, it may not be the easiest to find locally
produced products, but I will do my best!!
At the end of the film, they took a couple of the elders of Ladakh to the western world and showed them some of the problems with our lifestyle - depression rates, landfills, old women and men in nursing homes with no families, waiting to die. None of these things did any Ladakhi's ever have any experience with before. They also showed the Ladakhi's some modern conveniences for example, a washing machine.
It ended on a nice note, showing how they are now working with the Ladakhi's and restoring their faith in themselves and how their lifestyles aren't backwards, they are forwards! They also were installing new technologies which made their lives easier yet didn't compromise their landscape - solar panels, windmills etc.
Anyway, check out the movie, it's a good one :)
I figured since my husband was keen on watching it, that it was an inspirational film about being happy. I mean it was, but it was focused on sustainability and some of the effects of globalization on our world. They addressed many key issues and boiled them down to a few causes, okay okay fine.. maybe one cause.
Globalization.
They addressed globalization as the biggest threat to our happiness, well-being, community and economy!
The film started off with a lady from England who spent about 30 years in Ladakh, Nepal. The people there lived in a very remote place, and they lived off of the land sustainably. When she asked one of the Ladakhi's which home was the poorest, the boy replied that there was no such thing, everyone helped everyone. No one went hungry. Everyone had a place in society, giving each person confidence and self worth since they all recognized that every one had different skills to contribute.
Basically this is before they were struck with globalization. I'm not sure how long ago it was, but a road was built to Ladakh, and soon things were coming in from outside, including tourists. Suddenly this exposure to the western culture, made the Ladakhi's feel primitive.
Overtime, their way of doing things had completely changed, suddenly they were being faced with problems they had never experienced before, pollution - of water, soil and air (from the introduction of motor vehicles and throw-awayables). Among people even, the same boy who had told this lady that there were no poor people in town, was overheard saying to a tourist, "Please help us, we are so poor here."
Obviously this is just a little snapshot, I recommend seeing the movie actually, it's very well made.
They address many problems with globalization as well as ideas that people have about globalization.
For example, the question:
If we stop importing grains and other goods from poor nations, won't the people and the economy suffer?
They answered this question in a very clear cut way, they were saying that as it is, these countries have little access to clean water and other resources needed to grow food, if you make them grow for others to have food - at world market prices (very cheap!), it is only furthering the damage to their own livelihoods.
But the interesting thing about this situation is that due to subsidizing on certain big industry products, as well as the industries need to cut costs at every corner (environmental and socially), these big brand names are able to produce cheaper products than locally produced! For example, in Ladakh today, butter which is shipped in, is half the price of butter made by local residents!
Supporting local isn't always more expensive, but it is always more ecological as well as socially responsible. Small and local farms typically can grow much more food per acre, because it serves them to have a variety of vegetables and fruits to offer. Big industrial farmers, really must specialize their business in having one crop. Because there are acres and acres of land, and in order to process it at the speeds and the quantity needed, they use machinery as well heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Not to mention that in regarding the economy in all of this, small locally farmed- especially organic operations support people much more, their wages are higher and more people can get jobs! I feel we have a tendency to blame foreigners for taking 'our' jobs. But actually, in my opinion technology is the main culprit for taking our jobs away, as well as MASS MARKETING and FACTORY JOBS. Think of world where people spent their time doing things they loved to do, where they used skill sets which took years to develop and created beautifully crafted products for us to enjoy and relish for generations. These days everything comes in plastic. Where is the ingenuity?
I went to a museum here in India and they had all of these intricate beautiful copper or other metal made containers for all sorts of household items - eyeliner, cooking oil, combs.. etc. They were beautiful! And maybe these days we could even try for something a little more eco friendly.. lets say, bamboo?
Many products are shipped out from one country, packaged in another country then perhaps shipped back to the original country it started from! The world has promoted exports and imports so much that our consumer miles are a little bit outrageous.
And to what avail? Smoggy air? Supporting big industries? Not to say that I'm perfect, I guess I have tried to do as much local as possible, but it's true, sometimes convenience or 'needs/wants' can play a 'bigger' role in what you purchase. Also for the most part, I go out of my way to buy organic, even if that means I am buying it from a different country. But I think definitely after watching this movie, I am going to be a much more conscious consumer, lol not like I haven't been, but I could definitely work on finding local options.
The awesome thing about India is that over half the country is farmland. So no matter where you go, most likely you will be eating local. For the most part, as long as you aren't blatantly buying apples which say 'fiji' or some other country on them. Organic is a little tougher to come by here, but atleast we have Local going for us! And when I go back to the states, it may not be the easiest to find locally
produced products, but I will do my best!!
At the end of the film, they took a couple of the elders of Ladakh to the western world and showed them some of the problems with our lifestyle - depression rates, landfills, old women and men in nursing homes with no families, waiting to die. None of these things did any Ladakhi's ever have any experience with before. They also showed the Ladakhi's some modern conveniences for example, a washing machine.
It ended on a nice note, showing how they are now working with the Ladakhi's and restoring their faith in themselves and how their lifestyles aren't backwards, they are forwards! They also were installing new technologies which made their lives easier yet didn't compromise their landscape - solar panels, windmills etc.
Anyway, check out the movie, it's a good one :)
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