David Cameron has told us we are entering an ‘age of austerity’, a time where we need to focus on ‘more for less’. He is mainly talking about an increase in public goods through less public service and more efficiency. What he should be talking about is a theme he seems to have lost of late – but for a time spoke eloquently of – wellbeing. He’s said many times that money and growth do not per se equal happiness. So if he wants to show true vision and leadership – and link wellbeing and sustainability – he could start to articulate how this age of austerity could actually be quite good for people and planet.
No one’s wellbeing is going to be improved by losing their jobs. And the unplanned reduction in economic growth we are experiencing now is entirely due to the incompetence of our politicians. But, as we show in Citizen Renaissance, people less focused on wealth and position have higher levels of wellbeing and more rich, flourishing lives. They are also likely to have lower consumerist-led environmental footprints. What goes for people goes for countries, economies and for the planet. If we just slowed down our race for ever more ‘stuff’ we could be just as happy ( if not more) and give our badly damaged planet a respite and breathing space. But this has to happen in a planned way not by incompetence and mis-management.
Maybe this Depression we are entering has come at just the right time? Without the momentary slow-down in economic growth we would have plunged into terminal decline and climate-chaos meltdown. The real question for us now is just how much – if any – more economic growth can we afford without yet again plunging off the cliff? We are dangerously close to that cliff – indeed the climate science tells us that if we don’t halt and start to reverse emissions (climbing fast currently) then its game over forever.
In an interesting new book by journalist Andy Beckett we are shown that the 1970’s may not have been as gloomy as some would like to suggest. In fact in the 70’S we were far happier then than people in many other countries – something that the Happy Planet Index shows is far from the case today . Beckett shows how pre-Thatcher Britain was delivering progress on inequality, and gay rights and green issues were finding their place in politics.
Race back to 2009 and the IFS warn that our deficit will cost very UK family £2840 a year to fill by 2017. They also predict a slump of 4% on UK growth this year and low growth for years to come. Certainly that will give headaches for Darling’s successor but will it necessarily mean we are less fulfilled flourishing people?
Maybe we will spend more time with our friends and families instead of rushing off shopping. Maybe we will grow our own food. These are all things which make you more fulfilled – shopping has the reverse effect. And as Professors Peter Victor and Tim Jackson have shown such a LOWGRO economy could have positive effects on progress for people and planet.
The marketing profession are being advised to tune into Cameron’s Age of Austerity with predictions of advertising dying off and the emotional qualities of brands coming to the fore. If the IFS is right and Darling wrong (my money is on the IFS) and the Depression lasts a long time, then consumer trends away from bling and towards quality and ‘less is more’ will become firmly ingrained for many years to come. So the canny brands and marketers had better tune into this trend – and those with any values had better help drive them.
For the sake of people and planet we need to tune out from the adverts and relax into ‘less is more’.
