Earth Week Series: The Illusion Of More

Is more actually making things better? A perspective for Earth week. 

“Our concept of progress as endless growth is naively cancerous. Our meaning making apparatus is disconnected from life itself.”

— True Human

For centuries, we’ve been told that progress means more.

More growth. More production. More consumption.

And we’ve followed that path.

But if we pause and look honestly—

Has it created what we were hoping for?

Even with all this “growth”,

half of the World still struggles to live with dignity.

With all of this “growth”,

the Earth systems that sustain life are under massive strain.

Can this path really create a life of dignity for all? 

We have 10x the number of natural disasters since the 1980's. 

We have crossed 7 out 9 healthy planetary boundaries. 

Our climate is becoming hotter and more unpredictable every year. 

At a personal level,We feel the disconnect as well.

Mental health challenges are rising. 

We’re becoming sicker as a society. 

The loss of meaning is real.

We are becoming more commoditized,

and less connected. 

Yet we keep chasing more,

because we don’t know another way.

Consider that,

life doesn’t grow endlessly.

It grows, balances,  regenerates.

Perhaps ours is also no longer a story of growth,

But rather of balance, connection and regeneration. 

How might you shed the illusion of more? 

- Nitin