Okay, so we've chosen #degrowth. Now let's try to imagine what our daily lives might be like in this strange (yet somehow familiar) new world...
This is what fancy terms like “degrowth” and “sustainable living” actually mean. They mean we consume less energy and buy less stuff. It is the world our grandmothers knew.
It means that you fix the umbrella you broke, you sew your t-shirt with a needle and a thread when it gets torn, and certainly you don’t throw it away and buy another one when it gets out of fashion. Perhaps you first wear it for going out, then you wear it at home, and lastly, you use it to dust the bookshelves.
It means you grow your own food (if you have land) and cook from scratch. You save meat for special occasions. If you buy food at a market, it doesn’t come in colorful plastic bags, but the clerk will wrap it for you into an old newspaper or something. Or she’ll ask you to bring your Tupperware and glass jars next time. And if you actually do buy something wrapped in plastic or aluminum foil, you will definitely save that for later re-use. Just like your grandma did.
You don’t travel as much, mostly you just stay home because there is lots of stuff to do (remember: gardening, sewing, and repairs). You don’t replace your phone every year, not even every two years, but you keep it as long as it works. And work it should for a long time because, again, no planned obsolescence.
It is a life of fewer changes and a much calmer pace. Less hustle, fewer toys, but more time to read books and listen to each other.
It is not such a grim lifestyle. Most people enjoyed the 1960s (or perhaps the 1970s in Europe; we were lagging behind because we had to rebuild our cities after they were bombed to the ground in WWII). It was a time that already had all the perks of modernity but none of the pathological perversions of capitalism.
People could enjoy a well-developed medical service, abundant food supply, relatively cheap travel, and lots of opportunities for self-development. Most of them were no longer forced to be farmers (by harsh conditions) but could pursue other interests if they fancied them. In a sense, it was the best of both worlds. It wasn’t a bad life at all!