Affluenza and The Beverly Hillbillies Syndrome

Two weeks ago at our weekly Tuesday dinner, Leslie showed up wearing a fabulous black wool Albert Nippon coat with fur collar and cuffs. “Can you believe this,” she said twirling around to show it off, “I found it at the Swap Shop at the dump.” I have long envied Rockport dwellers and their access to that place.

This week Jane showed up looking stunning in a white fox jacket with Joan Crawford shoulders, a stand-up collar, and a white satin lining. “I got this at the resale shop,” she said modeling it. She looked gorgeous.

I am genuinely happy for my friends and proud of them for frequenting places like the Swap Shop and resale stores but it always makes me wonder about the sort of people who can discard such incredible garments. People like Jane and Leslie benefit — good for them — but who can afford such amazing things and then just dump them hardly worn?

Last night I was invited to attend a seminar, “Sustainability and the Natural Step Framework: Possibilities for the Basilica, Our Community and the Earth”. It was held at the Essex Conference Center and conducted by Terry Gips of the Alliance for Sustainability in Minneapolis. I was impressed with how many people attended. This is an issue that more people who genuinely care about the earth and its future are trying to educate themselves and incorporate into their lives.

The focus of the Alliance for Sustainability is to educate people in a positive and scientifically informed manner as to what we have done to our planet so far and how we can begin to undo it. The damage is advanced — very advanced. We all know that but really don’t want to face it. The cover of a recent Time Magazine read “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” Our planet’s resources are getting used up at a horrific rate and far too many of us are in denial, have an infantile sense of what science can, and cannot do, or just simply don’t care.

Much of the discussion last night was about conservation practices that can and have been implemented by cities, states and countries. All of us know about recycling, using eco-friendly and post-consumer products, reducing gasoline consumption etc. but the bottomline is we have to stop gobbling up resources at such a furious pace. It is killing us and it is destroying our planet.

One of the things I love about living in New England is the old Yankee tradition of thriftiness. Coming from a Pennsylvania Dutch background where thriftiness is a virtue comparable to honesty, this old Yankee value system is much appreciated. But the thrifty old Yankees are a dying breed and they are being replaced by a generation of self-absorbed consumers who simply cannot find enough ways to waste resources. People today are enjoying a level of affluence unprecedented in this country and what are they doing with their money? Showing off. I drive out the back shore or up Route 1A and an astonished at the humongous, gaudy, overblown private homes that are sprouting up everywhere. It reminds me of the old TV show The Beverly Hillbillies about a family of mountaineers who strike oil and move to Beverly Hills into a mansion and a lifestyle they are totally unprepared for simply to demonstrate what their money can buy.

Money is good, we all know that, and money can be used wisely to build or renovate homes in ways that will benefit the environment and humankind. But this disease we are infected with, this “affluenza” as John deGraf termed it, is destroying our planet and we choose not to see that. It’s fun when someone like Jane or Leslie benefit from someone else’s profligacy but the planet can’t keep bearing that. If you are interesting in learning more, contact Terry Gips in the Hillel Center at the University of Minnesota. By learning and using the principle os sustainability everyone’s needs can be met - there is unlimited learning, creativity, community and meaningful work for all. And we can save the planet for our grandchildren’s children in the process.

Thanks for reading.