Have You Ever...

Have you ever weighed out the options of ditching all you own, all you know, and leading a life of subsistence? If you could choose to opt out of our industrial agricultural system, and depend on a few acres of land year round, would you? Why would you choose this lifestyle? Or, why wouldn’t you choose this lifestyle? Take a moment to contemplate what you would choose to do. However, lucky for you, amongst a group of classmates in Environmental Studies, we devised a pro and con list for subsistence living to help your discernment process. Let me know if we missed any that you can think of!

Reasons to try out a subsistence lifestyle:

(a) schedule would not be dictated by the clock (b) provide an active lifestyle—physically, mentally, and psychologically (c) pride and satisfaction in growing your own food—self empowerment that is not at the disenfranchisement of others (d) know exactly what is in and what went into the production of your food (e) promote community building and engagement (f) a deeper connection with earth’s natural processes (g) increasingly attribute wealth to the land—not to material capital (h) independence from the economic market

Reasons not to live out a life of subsistence:

(a) simply, this lifestyle is idealistic and too isolated to really exist within our society (b) hard to travel—relying on one piece of land limits personal mobility (c) a potential problem with efficiency—able to support only a finite amount of people with subsistence (e) possibly a lifestyle lacking ‘excitement’ or ‘stimulants’—want more out of life than producing food (f) drastic change in diet

I observed two major things in helping compile, and review these two lists. Firstly, many of the attributes to a subsistence lifestyle can be found if you join a community garden. You do not have to convert your whole life in order to participate in food security movements. Secondly, do the potential ‘cons’ shown above have to be seen as downfalls? Assuming that everyone in the world was receiving adequate quality and quantity of food, would a ‘reversal’ to these food system traits really be a bad thing? Some would argue that it would be an inconvenient development. However, a life rich in time sounds a whole lot more convenient than one overflowing with consumer and material wealth. It may not be the lifestyle for everyone; but food is a basic necessity for all human animals. Whether you fair on the pro or con side, a collective movement towards local food security is emerging. Hope you are along for the ride!