WALDEN: A Call for Sustainable Consumption from the 1850s
Over 2000 years ago, Horace claimed about human kind that “we are but numbers, born to consume resources,” (Epistles 1:2:27). Throughout Walden, Thoreau questions the role of humans in the environment, alluding similarly to Horace that man has lost himself in a societal construct dictated by consumption. Yet Thoreau’s isolation experience at Walden Pond allows him to reflect on the state of humankind: it is not merely a machine made to consume, but humankind has formed a society disconnected from Nature lost in consumption. From fast fashion to vegetarianism, Thoreau’s reflections of a simpler life connected to the richness of Nature has similitudes to the modern environmental movement that today makes the same calls for a shift towards sustainable consumption.
EXCESS CLOTHING
The industrial revolution brought about an era of mass production, facilitating access to goods previously reserved for the elite to the emerging middle class. Since, fashion accessible to the masses has continuously evolved at a rapid scale. The latest expression of the fashion evolution is fast fashion: low-cost clothing collections based on current, high-cost luxury fashion trends (Joy et al., 2012). Fast fashion stores turn around collections in the lapse of two weeks, a practice that encourages disposability (Joy et al., 2012). Although fast fashion is an environmental ailment of the twenty-first century, an infant century already overloaded with waste, Thoreau had alerted of the trend as the industrial revolution itself was coming to a close in the 1850s.
“We don garment after garment, as if we grew like exogenous plants by addition without. …The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveler’s cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same.” (Thoreau, p. 18)
In his view, clothing are a necessity as far as their utilitarian purpose goes: to keep us warm and to cover nakedness. Anything beyond is a distraction that merely masks personal aspirations. For Thoreau, a wise man need not clothes to earn respect. The clothing industry, rather, benefits third parties instead of the wearer itself.
“I cannot believe that our factory system is the best mode by which men may get clothing … the principal object is not that mankind may be well and honestly clad, but unquestionable, that corporation may be enriched.” (Thoreau, p.19)
EXCESS FOOD
Vegetarianism, the objection to eat read meat, poultry, or fish, is a practice dating back to Greek philosophers who rejected the consumption of flesh because of spiritual and ethical concerns (Ruby, 2012). Today, environmental sustainability is increasingly becoming a reason for adopting vegetarianism, considering that livestock production accounts for 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector (Ruby, 2012; McMichael et al, 2007). Thoreau also seems to hint at this excess need of resources for the consumption of flesh.
“… when I had caught and cleaned and cooked and eaten my fish, they seemed not to have fed me essentially. It was insignificant and unnecessary, and cost more than it came to.” (Thoreau, p.178)
Similarly to clothing, Thoreau considers food a necessity, though this food should be kept at its purest and simplest state in order to elate the human conscious. In Thoreau’s eyes, human evolution will lead to vegetarianism.
“I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animal, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized” (p.180)
SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION
Throughout Walden, Thoreau emphasizes the importance of self-reliance and the importance to live simply in order to be able to care for the world that surrounds us and provides for us. At a time where overconsumption is dramatically changing the environment, Thoreau’s views in controlling excesses seem more relevant than ever. Sustainable consumption is a manner of consumption that covers our basic needs without jeopardizing the needs of future generations — an action we can each chose to put into practice today.
“Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.” (Thoreau, p.271)
REFERENCES
Joy, A., Sherry, F.J., Venkatesh, A., Wang, J., Chan, R. (2012). Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands. Fashion Theory. 16.3, 273–296
McMichael, A.J., Powles, J.W., Butler, C.D., Uauy, R. (2007). Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. The Lancet. 370.9594, 1253–1263
Ruby, M.B. (2012) Vegetarianism: A blossoming field of study. Appetite. 58.1, 141–150
Thoreau, H.D. (1908) Walden or Life in the Woods.
