The Sustainability of Happiness
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development/(Rio+20)/was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. Leaders from 192 states/met to plan the future. The focus was on creating a sustainable environment/and leading the world out of poverty.
One of the participants was José “Pepe” Mujica,/President of Uruguay. Mujica,/known as “the world’s poorest president”/because of his simple lifestyle,/had a message/that surprised many of the participants:/Don’t forget human happiness.
We’ve been talking all afternoon/about sustainable development,/about how to get the masses out of poverty. But what are we thinking? Do we want to follow the model of development and consumption/of the rich countries? I ask you now:/What would happen to this planet/if Indians had the same proportion of cars/per household/as Germans? How much oxygen/would we have left to breathe?
Does our planet have enough resources/so that seven or eight billion people can have the same level of consumption and waste/that we have today in rich countries? This level of consumption/is harming our planet.
Will that ever be possible?
We must start a different type of discussion. We are the ones/who have created this civilization/in which the market economy and competition/have produced great material progress. The market economy has given us globalization,/which means being aware of the whole planet.
But are we in control of globalization/or is globalization in control of us? We talk about “being all together.” How is that possible/in an economy based on ruthless competition? How far does our “being all together” go?
I am not questioning/the importance of this summit meeting. On the contrary,/we are facing a huge challenge. But it is not environmental. It is a political challenge.
Today,/we are no longer in control/of the forces we created. Rather,/these forces are controlling us. We did not come onto this planet/simply to develop it. We came onto this planet/to be happy. Life is short/and it slips away from us. Nothing we own/is worth as much as life. But our lives are slipping through our fingers/as we work harder and longer/just to be able to consume more.
We live in a consumer society. Consumption drives everything. If consumption slows,/the economy slows,/and if the economy slows,/we fall into stagnation. We know/that too much consumption is harming our planet. Nevertheless,/we need to keep consuming. We make things that have a short life/in order to sell more. So/we make light bulbs/that do not last longer than 1,000 hours,/even though we can make light bulbs/that last 100,000 hours! The long-lasting bulbs are not manufactured/because everyone has to work/to sustain this “use-and-throw-away” society.
We are trapped in a vicious cycle. These are political problems. It is time/to start fighting for a different culture.
I’m not talking about returning/to the days of the cave dweller,/or building a “monument to backwardness.” But we cannot continue like this,/indefinitely,/being ruled by the market. On the contrary,/we have to rule over the market.
This is why,/in my humble way of thinking,/the problem we are facing is political. The old thinkers/… Epicurus,/Seneca,/and even the Aymara put it this way,/“A poor person/is not someone who doesn’t have much/but someone who always needs more,/and more and more.” This is a cultural characteristic.
So/I salute the efforts and agreements/being made at this conference. And as a president/I will follow them. I know some things I’m saying/are not easy to digest. But we must change our way of thinking/that the water crisis and the destruction of the environment/are the main issues. In fact,/the main issue is the model of civilization/that we have created.
We must completely revise/our way of life.
I live in a small country/with lots of natural resources. Almost 90 percent of the land is fertile. There are only a few more than three million people,/but there are 13 million cows/—some of the best in the world—/and eight to ten million excellent sheep. We export food,/dairy products,/and meat.
My fellow workers/fought hard for the eight-hour workday. Now they are working/to make that six hours. That’s progress. However,/the person who works six hours,/now gets two jobs/and works longer than before. Why? Because he needs to make more money/to pay for the motorcycle,/the car,/for more and more and more. The payments pile up,/and before you know it,/he is a rheumatic old man,/like me,/and his life is already over.
Is this our fate/as human beings?
What I am saying now is very basic:/development cannot be the enemy of happiness. It has to work/to increase human happiness,/to promote love of our Earth,/human relationships,/caring for children,/having friends,/meeting our basic needs.
Happiness is the most precious treasure we have. Happiness! When we fight for the environment,/we must remember/that the essential element of the environment/is human happiness.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development/(Rio+20)/was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. Leaders from 192 states/met to plan the future. The focus was on creating a sustainable environment/and leading the world out of poverty.
One of the participants was José “Pepe” Mujica,/President of Uruguay. Mujica,/known as “the world’s poorest president”/because of his simple lifestyle,/had a message/that surprised many of the participants:/Don’t forget human happiness.
We’ve been talking all afternoon/about sustainable development,/about how to get the masses out of poverty. But what are we thinking? Do we want to follow the model of development and consumption/of the rich countries? I ask you now:/What would happen to this planet/if Indians had the same proportion of cars/per household/as Germans? How much oxygen/would we have left to breathe?
Does our planet have enough resources/so that seven or eight billion people can have the same level of consumption and waste/that we have today in rich countries? This level of consumption/is harming our planet.
Will that ever be possible?
We must start a different type of discussion. We are the ones/who have created this civilization/in which the market economy and competition/have produced great material progress. The market economy has given us globalization,/which means being aware of the whole planet.
But are we in control of globalization/or is globalization in control of us? We talk about “being all together.” How is that possible/in an economy based on ruthless competition? How far does our “being all together” go?
I am not questioning/the importance of this summit meeting. On the contrary,/we are facing a huge challenge. But it is not environmental. It is a political challenge.
Today,/we are no longer in control/of the forces we created. Rather,/these forces are controlling us. We did not come onto this planet/simply to develop it. We came onto this planet/to be happy. Life is short/and it slips away from us. Nothing we own/is worth as much as life. But our lives are slipping through our fingers/as we work harder and longer/just to be able to consume more.
We live in a consumer society. Consumption drives everything. If consumption slows,/the economy slows,/and if the economy slows,/we fall into stagnation. We know/that too much consumption is harming our planet. Nevertheless,/we need to keep consuming. We make things that have a short life/in order to sell more. So/we make light bulbs/that do not last longer than 1,000 hours,/even though we can make light bulbs/that last 100,000 hours! The long-lasting bulbs are not manufactured/because everyone has to work/to sustain this “use-and-throw-away” society.
We are trapped in a vicious cycle. These are political problems. It is time/to start fighting for a different culture.
I’m not talking about returning/to the days of the cave dweller,/or building a “monument to backwardness.” But we cannot continue like this,/indefinitely,/being ruled by the market. On the contrary,/we have to rule over the market.
This is why,/in my humble way of thinking,/the problem we are facing is political. The old thinkers/… Epicurus,/Seneca,/and even the Aymara put it this way,/“A poor person/is not someone who doesn’t have much/but someone who always needs more,/and more and more.” This is a cultural characteristic.
So/I salute the efforts and agreements/being made at this conference. And as a president/I will follow them. I know some things I’m saying/are not easy to digest. But we must change our way of thinking/that the water crisis and the destruction of the environment/are the main issues. In fact,/the main issue is the model of civilization/that we have created.
We must completely revise/our way of life.
I live in a small country/with lots of natural resources. Almost 90 percent of the land is fertile. There are only a few more than three million people,/but there are 13 million cows/—some of the best in the world—/and eight to ten million excellent sheep. We export food,/dairy products,/and meat.
My fellow workers/fought hard for the eight-hour workday. Now they are working/to make that six hours. That’s progress. However,/the person who works six hours,/now gets two jobs/and works longer than before. Why? Because he needs to make more money/to pay for the motorcycle,/the car,/for more and more and more. The payments pile up,/and before you know it,/he is a rheumatic old man,/like me,/and his life is already over.
Is this our fate/as human beings?
What I am saying now is very basic:/development cannot be the enemy of happiness. It has to work/to increase human happiness,/to promote love of our Earth,/human relationships,/caring for children,/having friends,/meeting our basic needs.
Happiness is the most precious treasure we have. Happiness! When we fight for the environment,/we must remember/that the essential element of the environment/is human happiness.