To Charge it or Not in our New Life in Canada – Lalith Gunaratne, Ottawa, Canada

It is not as if I had not travelled to the west , it is not even as if I have never lived in the west, but moving back to Canada from Sri Lanka after 27 years, I had truly forgotten how embedded consumerism is in life here.

It is also not as if consumerism is not taking a foothold in Sri Lanka - it is there - the media machine is making headway to the remotest corners of the country to sell products and offering credit for things that are not essential to life.  Yet, the credit-card culture is limited to the urban middle class, a small minority of the population.  With about 60% of Sri Lanka being rural, people have not got sucked into the culture of credit as it is in the west.

“Get a credit-card right away and build your credit history” were the first well meaning words of the Bank Manager as we opened our new account in Canada.  “Make sure you use it immediately”, she said. 

At first I was shy to use the card and paid for everything in cash.  Every time I paid for gas, the attendant would ask me, “Sir would you like to apply for a (Esso, Shell) card?”.    When I started using my credit-card, the attendant asks “Do you have a points card or air-miles?”.   When I paid my bill at Costco the bulk grocer with my Visa-card they said only AmEx works here, tempting me to get another card.   This web of commercial interconnections is mindboggling.    

For the uninitiated, getting a credit-card can become a bottomless pit, as the TV ads and walking into any shopping mall or supermarket just entices you to buy.

As, prudent as we are, Samantha and I, furnishing our new home went on a buying spree for things we feel are necessary for life here and the coming Ottawa winter.   

We bought IKEA furniture to keep things simple to be given credit coupons enticing us back to their beautiful displays of furnished rooms to tempt us.   We have trudged through many other stores from Walmart to Loblaws, Canadian Tire to Winners buying groceries and other essentials to be given various promotional material inviting us back.  

Then as the designated garbage man at our home, I am amazed at the amount of packaging and plastics that go into these products and things that await the garbage truck in neighbourhoods.  What a waste.

Coming from Sri Lanka where scarcity is a reality and seeing people do so much with so little, I am yet getting used to a new way of thinking, or I ask myself should I get used to this ?.

I am afraid, I may just get totally immersed into this lifestyle of a larder full of food bought in bulk for relatively cheap prices from places like Costco, but I wonder at what cost to the globe. 

I ponder on the externalities - the hidden costs of getting this food and goods to me at such cheap prices.  These hidden costs arise from using scarce resources like oil; release of pollutants to air, soil and water; carbon emissions - these impacts on the planet and its people not considered in the costs which actually contribute to the tragedy of our commons.

I am seeking alternatives to this mainstream culture.  Canada should be amenable with its cultural and economic foundation based on the protestant work-ethic, where modesty and prudence is embedded in its values.   Canada seems a great example of a social welfare state where people are valued and its free education, healthcare systems and other infrastructure are un-paralleled in the world.  This has so far lent to a nation with relative equity in the society leading to a safe, secure and a healthy place as the book Spirit Level (Wilkinson and Picket) points out.  Yet there is now more pressure to take these safety nets away with the world economy floundering.  

Meeting an old friend Graham Smith in Ottawa, has restored my faith.  He got rid of his credit card thirty years ago when he downsized his life.   The former Chef who gave up his car along with many other trappings, lives modestly serving the community and youth through the arts is not an aberration.  I am beginning to hear of others like him around here too.

Another Canadian debunking the, grow or languish and perish mantra is Dr. Peter Victor of York University in Ontario (author of book Managing Without Growth).  Dr. Victor has created a computer model replicating the Canadian economy by combining and adjusting the various elements - productivity, consumption, population - finding a steady state by reducing the work week, taxing the rich and for carbon without hurting the standard of living.  

Dr. Victor was a panellist at the symposium hosted by the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome on New Economic Thinking on 13th-14th October outside Ottawa where Dr. Dennis Meadows, the original co-author of the book Limits to Growth in 1972 and their new book Limits to Growth; The 30-Year Update is the chief guest. The new book confirms earlier projections of downturns in quality of life on the planet if a “business as usual approach” was maintained.   “The message of 1972 is more real and relevant now, and we wasted 30 valuable years of action by misreading the message of the first book” stated the Dr. Meadows, as the original book had so many critics protecting their vested interests.

There are other initiatives like the Canadian Centre for Policy Analysis developing an Alternative Federal Budget with the participation of researchers, activists and civil society.  Its website states;  The Alternative Federal Budget is a 'what if' exercise—what a government could do if it were truly committed to an economic, social, and environmental agenda that reflects the values of the large majority of Canadians—as opposed to the interests of a privileged minority. It demonstrates in a concrete and compelling way that another world really is possible.

Initiatives like this and people like Graham give me hope that I can explore an alternative way of living and also balance to provide for our family a lifestyle without getting caught up in the culture of credit.   As a first step, Samantha and I seek ways of buying for cash more of our food from a 100 km radius.   Much of our local travel is on two wheels as Ottawa has over 250 km of bike tracks to enjoy until the winter arrives.

Like this we will make a conscious effort to tread lightly and also participate in these important debates that happen around us, as after all North America makes many important decisions for the world’s sustainability and we have to make our voices heard.