[Scpg] Reflections on Cochabamba, Part 2: Living Well instead of Living Better

[Barbara Wishingrad]

This is the second article in the Reflections on Cochabamba series that I am 
posting the full text on the scpg listserv as requested by a friend who said it 
would be easier to read in the body of the email rather than follow the link.  
Thanks for allowing me this opportunity to express what I consider important 
talking points in the arenas of Permaculture and sustainability..
barbara

Reflections on Cochabamba, Part 2: Living Well instead of Living Better
http://hopedance.org/blogs/reflections-on-cochabamba-part-2-living-well-instead-of-living-better.html



On Monday, April 19, the first day I was in Bolivia, and the day  before the 
official start of the conference, I learned about the program  Evo Morales had 
initiated in Bolivia and was promoting as a worldwide  solution to climate 
change and many other issues.  It is called Living  Well instead of Living 
Better (Vivir Bien en lugar de Vivir Mejor), or  simply, Living Well.  I found 
the concept to be remarkably similar to  how I’ve been trying to live for most 
of my adult life, and also aligned  with Permaculture principles and Transition 
Town concepts.  On Monday  afternoon there was a four hour presentation on how 
the Morales  government has been implementing this concept within Bolivia. 
Living  Well, also known as Sumaq amaña, is an ancient Andean concept.  It is  
about “living well collectively” rather than individual well-being or  living 
better than others.  "Living Well" contrasts with "living better"  because it 
means having all basic needs met while existing in harmony  with the natural 
world instead of seeking to amass more and more  material goods at the expense 
of the environment.

I had been interested in the government under Evo Morales after  hearing some of 
his ideas, including an interview some time ago on  Democracy Now, but I had not 
known of many of the fine points of his  actions and proclamations until I 
actually went to Bolivia.  I was very  excited that a government existed that 
validated many of the basic ways  of being that I have resonated toward for most 
of my life.  I had made  different choices from many people born and raised in 
the US, especially  during the 17 or so years I lived in Mexico, and had lived 
in a way  that could have been called Living Well if I had known the term. When 
I  came back to the States, I tried to provide some guidance for others,  
thinking I had a key to help with some of the challenges of modern  America. It 
was an uphill battle to introduce these concepts to  mainstream America, and 
another battle to keep myself on track with my  beliefs in the midst of this 
culture.

One of the obstacles was that rejecting the outer trappings of  success in the 
culture did not look like something successful to a  majority of people already 
sold on the idea of Living Better.  Lack of  cash flow also contributed to the 
perception of failure. Then too, after  months of unemployment and few prospects 
of wage earning work, I  settled on two jobs, both of which required that I use 
my car to travel  between numerous appointments during the day; in a word, I 
sold out on  one part of my dream, something I was advocating that others not 
do.   True, in a more ideal system, housing would have been made out of  natural 
materials that would have lasted for more than a generation, and  shelter would 
have been a right, or would have at least not taken the  80% of my salary that 
it did in the first few years I was back in the  US.  I had searched for less 
expensive housing in this part of the  world, but codes and regulations 
prohibited me (and others) from  simpler, more sustainable shelter. I was no 
longer Living Well; I was  barely surviving, and had to abandon (temporarily) 
any ideas I had about  showing others the way.

There may have been other innovators and first adopters of Living  Well in the 
western world who more easily found a long term sustainable  niche, choosing 
different ways to live outside of the system, perhaps  without the use of money 
at all, actually surviving off of the land,  just bartering, or other 
variations.  They may have been able to create  long term security without 
currency, perhaps by investing time and labor  in one parcel of land; something 
I never found a way to do. The way I  did it, I sacrificed security, and 
sometimes comfort, for my ideals. In  Mexico, I lived without refrigeration at 
home for five years and without  a telephone for twelve, but these lifestyle 
choices were comfortable  for me at the time.  I was put into a position where I 
had to eat almost  all fresh local food and participated in a community based 
phone and  message center. Those experiences fit right in with my intention, and 
I  loved the simplicity and slowness those choices demanded of me.

How far out of the system as we know it, the mainstream ideology of  the western 
consumer culture, could one live and still survive and  thrive?  (Because that’s 
where we need to go to make a difference in  climate change.) In some ways, the 
farther away we get, the more we  thrive, but there are also challenges.  I was 
one of the few I knew who  chose to not invest in the macro economy to insure 
some financial  security in the present and future.  Naively, I consciously 
decided to  live as common people in most other countries, day to day depending 
on  family and community for long term security instead of individual  
investment.  In my late teens and early twenties, I was aware of the  greed and 
injustice proliferated by most corporations and was determined  not to invest in 
those institutions for my own personal financial  benefit.  I was not very clear 
about the alternatives available to me,  but it seemed that the majority of 
people in other countries didn’t  augment their incomes through stock options, 
and they survived into old  age. Perhaps they did not live within the comfort 
level North Americans  were used to, but many live with more focus on 
relationships than  things, and with contentment and well being.  I was 
searching for a way  of life truly different from the individual striving, 
winner take all,  attitude that is usually considered an essential part of the 
American  Dream.  I wanted to take the best of the United States, including the  
friendliness of so many of our people, the innovations and ingenuity,  and 
channel those traits into community building, honoring and caring  for the 
environment, and working for the broader social good.  I decided  to make my 
life as much as living example of these things as possible.   But sometimes, I 
wondered…

Is Living Well enough?  If we all do it, which is almost impossible  to believe 
will happen, can we save the planet?  Can we all be filled up  just with 
community and having our basic needs met?  Maybe we can do  without the 
luxuries, but can we do without the cushion?  Why do so many  people from all 
over Latin America and other parts of the world  immigrate to the US, western 
Europe, and other industrialized countries  in search of a better life?  I too 
returned to the US to save money  earned here, when the Living Well model I 
advocated did not provide me  with enough capitol to construct an off grid, 
natural built home on the  land I was able to steward in Mexico.  What Evo 
Morales’ administration  is advocating is that we shift our perspective, our 
desires, to fit into  the model of Living Well instead of Living Better.  That 
we realize  that economics cannot provide true security and that we look for it 
in  our relationships with each other, with Mother Earth, and with all  beings 
on this Earth. Many western thinkers prominent in the alternative  media in the 
industrialized world are advocating the same or a very  similar lifestyle as the 
recipe for our soon to be post-peak oil, post-  peak carbon world. But almost 
all of the people I know who have survived  and thrived according to this model, 
at least in the western world,  started out as part of the system, made their 
money inside the system,  and then ‘rebelled, dropped out, retired…’ and went on 
to simplify their  lives, or to shift their beliefs and values, or went on to 
‘finally  live in harmony with their values’.  In a post-oil, post-carbon world,  
we will not have the option of making our money in the system and then  dropping 
out.  We have to create an alternative system that works from  the beginning, 
enabling us to Live Well in the present but have enough  in currency or trade to 
grow, not without limits, but to be able to  innovate, design, create, 
construct, and contain in the material world.   We need a safety net.  My 
personal failure to produce the results I  felt were possible when living with 
health, relationship, community,  social justice, and harmony with nature as my 
priorities was in part due  to there not yet being a system set in place with 
these values and  therefore the infrastructure was not there to help nudge one 
in the  appropriate direction.

It’s kind of like the chicken or the egg.  Supportive community needs  to be in 
place before we can trust that we can focus on relationships,  communication, 
nurturing, and personal and planetary health, yet these  are the elements that 
create supportive community.  How can one let go  of the (false) security of 
investments in corporations that focus on  profits at the expense of Mother 
Earth as well as people’s emotional and  physical health, if there is no (system 
of) community/family who will  provide the safety net in one’s old age/in times 
of illness or  injury/when caring for pregnant women and small children/other 
times of  stress and need, including natural disasters?   


I founded The  Rebozo Way Project (recently renamed Nurturing Across Cultures 
http://www.nurutringacrosscultures.org ) in 1988 and since then have  been 
involved in teaching other about “honoring the wisdom of ancient  ways and 
diverse cultures, indigenous babywearing and traditional  birthing lore.”  One 
of our tenets is “Prompt response to baby’s cries.  Children learn to be 
comforted by people, not things.” which helps to  break the cycle of 
consumerism.  So in a sense I have been working to  create that safety net I now 
feel a more urgent need for, by shifting  the way we nurture children at the 
very beginning of life.  The idea is  to meet children’s needs in the first 
years or life so that they have  the inner security and self confidence, as they 
grow older, to create a  more cooperative and nurturing world.  It is a slow 
process, though,  spanning a generation or more, and to date has reached only a 
small  segment of the population.

There are many legal and social barriers to Living Well in the US,  although 
visionary thinkers continue to provide new models for us to  move in that 
direction. For example, in the last thirty years or more,  the economic system 
shifted so that two members in a family group need  to work outside the home in 
order to cover the cost of most mortgages.   This system keeps people so busy 
making ends meet that they don’t have  time and energy for family and 
relationships, civic awareness and  duties, or spending quiet time in nature if 
they are inclined to do so.

A successful economic system for our times would legalize  sustainability in 
building, energy, and community, value work-rest  cycles and times for 
reflection, recreation, and ritual, and provide  incentives for work that is 
both financially and socially profitable.

There is hope. Riane Eisler, in her book, The Real Wealth of Nations,  provides 
a blueprint for “a new economics that values and supports the  most essential 
human work, caring for people and the planet”.  She  outlines proposals for new 
economic measures and policies to shift into a  caring economy that fulfills 
human needs.  Woody Tasch of the Slow  Money movement, says, “If we don’t 
produce anything ourselves, then all  we have is purchasing power.  Our money is 
our only protection against  deprivation”.  Slow Money offers one part of the 
solution to runaway  economic growth and exploitation.  Art Ludwig, in 
Principles of  Ecological Design, says, “True progress actually solves 
problems.  Most  of what is commonly called ‘progress’ is the relocation of 
problems out  of sight in space or time…We appear rich, but most of our ‘income’ 
is  from the liquidation of age-old assets.”  He then discusses a variety of  
ways to integrate technology, economics and ecology that follow  nature’s 
example, use resources moderately and efficiently, and provide  true comfort.

And then there is Evo.  Quietly, calmly, OK, sometimes not so  quietly, he has 
persisted in presenting the model of Living Well to the  Bolivian people and to 
colleagues and community organizers worldwide.

Living Well intrigues me.  How can we get people across the globe  behind it?  
What will the planet look like if we do embrace it?  How can  we make the 
switch?  I am imagining that’s where Transition comes in.   And listening to the 
ancient indigenous wisdom that is available for us  to benefit from, if we just 
pay attention.

A Permaculture designer, water harvesting advocate, and longtime   environmental 
steward, Barbara Wishingrad, attended the Peoples’ World   Conference on Climate 
Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 19-22, 2010,   along with 35, 000 other 
people. She also traveled with a delegation   from SOA Watch to Venezuela to 
visit clinics, schools, cooperatives,and   other social programs under the Hugo 
Chavez government. Barbara has   worked as an herbalist, homebirth midwife, 
street artist, interpreter,   and with special needs babies, among other things; 
she is currently   organizing a Water Harvesting Co-op in the Santa Barbara 
area.   Barbara   has lived and worked among indigenous artisans and midwives 
and has   made sharing indigenous wisdom an important part of her life work.  
She   is founder and President of Nurturing Across Cultures, formerly The   
Rebozo Way Project: http://www.nurturingacrosscultures.org .

This article is copyrighted by a Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, 
distribute, transmit and adapt this work and other essays in the Reflections on 
Cochabambaseries by this author under the following conditions:
  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/



 "Be aware of the influence humans have on the health and 
viability of life on earth. Call attention to what fosters or 
harms earth's exquisite beauty, balances and 
interdependencies. Guided by Spirit, work to translate 
this understanding into ways of living that reflect our 
responsibility to one another, to the greater community 
of life, and to future generations."


~ Orange County Friends Meeting 
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Santa Ana, California



      
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