Simplicity

Why do we humans make things so complicated that they become unsustainable?

As part of the re-thinking of my life that I have gone through in the past year, I've realized that one of the things I want in life is simplicity. The simplicity I seek isn't in the extreme. I am not looking to isolate myself from civilization. I'm seeking simplicity in everything I do as a functioning member of society. No more keeping up with the Jones' (something I thought I didn't do, but I now see I did to some extent), no more buying things for the heck of it, no more complicating my life just because I can.

Complexity in everything we do seems to be human nature. Take agriculture - we have made agriculture so complex that it appears to only be economically viable with large farms that pump chemicals into the ground and use more water than they should. The costs of this type of production are high because of the chemicals, effort and water used. The land used loses it's efficacy over time and eventually it takes a small change in the system to make it unsustainable. We should be working with nature rather than fighting nature. Besides, chemical farming only appears to be a better method because we subsidize it.

At the other end of the technology spectrum, take cars. Cars have become amazingly complex. The backyard mechanic is practically non-existent. A lot of the change in cars has been for better safety and so on, but companies like Lotus demonstrate that we have gone too far. Most manufacturers throw technology at a problem to solve problems created by other technologies until we have a behemoth that guzzles fuel and consumes more resources than it should at birth. Lotus on the other hand is based on smart design so that you get supercar performance combined with great fuel consumption from a much cheaper, much lighter car.

In whatever I do, I'm going to think simplicity. I'm not going to be a fanatic about it, but I know it will improve the quality of my life as it already has.