My last blog post ended with unanswered questions associated with my desire to find meaning as I move into the second half of my life. The uncertainty of roaming through the wilderness to find that second mountain to conquer, one that has a summit larger than oneself.

My experience in Silicon Valley and Manufacturing has been transformative. However, as I approach the end of this episode in my life, there are doubts regarding the direction of the consumer culture it feeds.

In particular, the ripple effects that the modern economy’s quest for growth and increasing margins have on people’s welfare working throughout the manufacturing supply chains, as well as the world, which is continually extracted from and emitted into.

How can a world that relies on us wanting more be good for both nature and our own self? On the flip side, if we are more than capable of being happy with less, how will this lead to prosperity and a rising tide which raises all boats?

In developed countries, its economy and growth are largely determined by consumer spending. In contrast, developing countries rely on exports to these developed nations to fuel growth. Therefore, what is common for the world economy is that growth is dependent upon an ever-increasing exchange of goods and services to drive up the population’s standard of living.

Credit and international markets are the fuel that increases the pace of development, creating capital for greater investment and connecting markets to extract the maximum possible value. For instance, connecting the most economical location to manufacture a product with a location that values that product the most to pay the maximum for it.

This is my overly simplistic view of the world economy, as we are living it today. But it helps to illustrate that our model to improve the standard of living for the world’s population is dependent upon increasing production and the total value of goods within the world economy.

This is why we are extracting raw materials in ever greater economies of scale, to supply factories to turn these materials into finished goods on tighter margins. Finally, supplementing these products with services in order to provide the best possible value proposition to the consumer, for them in turn to pay an amount in which they are willing to part with.

As humans we have become better and better at applying this model, and it is why, since 1980, the world’s raw material extraction has grown from less than 40 giga tonnes per year to 100 giga tonnes in 2017. All these materials are needed to power or be directly converted into finished products and is why fossil fuel related carbon dioxide emissions have grown from 20 kilo tonnes to over 35 kilo tonnes per year over a similar period.

Some of this growth is good, it has moved people out of poverty and increased life expectancy around the world. However, how much growth is good? Or better, looking it at a personal level what quantity of natural resources and amount of carbon do I need to emit to lead a happy and fulfilled life?

The answer to this question is often associated with our psychology surrounding money. I recently read ‘happy money’ by Ken Honda, where he excellently explains how our attitude to money and consumption is influenced by unresolved issues from our past and worries about the future.

If we work on being more present, understand our past and trust in the future. Then we can begin to understand what triggers us emotionally into desiring more. And through recognizing these triggers we can trust that the uncomfortableness it brings will eventually dissolve, without having that x, y, z you saw online.

To conquer this cycle, we need to move out of the scarcity mindset, where for us to win, someone must as a consequence lose. Instead, we must develop an abundance orientated viewpoint. This may seem counter-intuitive in an article discussing conservation. However, the scarcity mindset is what makes us want to continue to accumulate for fear we might miss out in the future.

And so, with companies ever more skilled at marketing to this type of mindset through numerous channels, we become surrounded by triggers that make us spend on goods we later regret or do not enjoy. This is the hedonic treadmill we so easily climb on board, fueling more demand, resulting in more extraction and greater emissions.

At the consumer end of the spectrum we are driving up demand. However, if we look at the extraction and manufacturing end of the spectrum. Globalization is helping to maximize margins by providing access to more competition, leading in some cases to exploitation.

This eeking out of margins runs parallel to the scarcity mindset, where for me to win, you as a result have to lose something, often at the expense of trust and goodwill. This is against the principle that Ken Honda espouses, which is to give a little more. This approach builds trust and makes us feel appreciated.

Abundance is being able to figure out what is enough for us. In essence knowing what our right container size is and trusting we will fill it by being grateful for what we receive, and generous enough to others that we all will benefit in the long run.

This container will be the amount you personally take from the earth and put into the atmosphere. If you are able to live with the abundant mindset you won’t feel the need to accumulate more and be more focused on connection with others and experiencing life.

If you do the inner work then this container will only leave a small footprint on the earth, and you can leave it feeling fulfilled and there will be more than enough left over for the next generation.