Frugality for Sustainability

The Confucius ideal of frugality probably stems from the entrenched Chinese Cultural Value of conserving resources as a contingent against possible future natural calamity like floods, earthquakes, famines etc that constantly plaque China of the old and the now.

The idea of not lavishing one's wealth but saving for the future, makes no coincidence the nations in Asia with a majority ethnic Chinese population the nations with the biggest propensity to save and therefore to invest: Singapore, Taiwan and even China itself.

In a setting that is beset by the uncertain vagaries of Nature, the inhabitants of that peculiar habitat have disciplined themselves to make do with little and be contented to postpone present consumption and gratification for the sake of the future and their future generations.

Nothing is wasted and nothing is put to waste.

Imagine a people who is able to feed itself and with very little arable land vis-a-vis the huge population at hand and even before the advent of the so called modern agricultural methods, systems and processes: chemical fertilizers and mechanization.

The secret? No secret, only the philosophy of Harmony and the conscious effort in maintaining a harmonious balance (homeostasis) between Man and Nature, between using the land and returning to the land, what we have taken from her, between taking and also giving.

In the whole philosophy of the Way (Tao) of Harmony, the waste of one organism becomes the food of another and the cycling of Nature to and fro is maintained within the Cycle of Life, Death, Renewability for Sustainability.

For example, the return of human waste to the vegetables field is a long held successful farming practise and this has successfully allowed China to feed her millions upon millions of people and be in self sufficient in food production for thousands of years and without the use of chemical fertilizers.

Look what we have put ourselves into in the name of "modern farming methods".

We lock up our own excreta in expensive sewage systems and uses huge amounts of good potable water to maintain it, only to mine more minerals to make fertilizers and burn more green house gases fuel to create energy to manufacture them, at the expense of the environment so that we can continue to pollute the Earth with our necessary sustenance activities. A loss-loss-loss situation that we have trapped ourselves in: Loss for the people, loss for the environment and loss of scarce resources.

The only winners in this so called "modern agricultural movement" are the people involved in the mining, manufacturing and distribution of chemical fertilizers.

Honestly, if there were to be sustainability, there must be renewability and the cutting down of consumption to a basic frugal level that we use up Earth's resources only up to the very basic minimum so that the Earth can recycle itself, before we tip the balance to the point of no return.

Being frugal in the context of sustainability, even when there is renewability is a wise habit of choice because really, we don't own the Earth, past, present and future generations are co-stewards of the Great Planet Earth and if we are wanton enough to destroy the Earth to satisfy our own selfish present gratifications with no regard whatsoever for other people or now or the future, we ought not the right to live here on Planet Earth.

The only way to a sustainable future to me is the Way of Frugality, the cutting down of consumption to the barest minimal and the conservation of resources through and deliberate sustainable and renewabilty lifestyle choices and let it start today, even, not tomorrow, next week or next year. For procrastination is indeed the thief of time.