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February 24, 2005
Basic Human Needs - Subsistence
Fundamental | Being | Having | Doing | Interacting |
subsistence | physical and | food, shelter | feed, clothe, | living environment, |
Subsistence is about physical and mental health. By meeting my most basic human need for food, water, and shelter, I am meeting my need for subsistence. At the beginning of this exercise into my wealth and poverty, I would estimate that the need for subsistence is the one I meet most easily.
First, thoughts about my current state of subsistence. I was lucky enough to have a strong foundation of economic stability. My parents were able to provide a middle-class lifestyle that, while it did not include new cars and fancy vacations, taught us about economic trade-offs and budgeting. I was fortunate that my parents paid for my college education, contributed to my graduate education, and continues to stand by in case of emergency. As for myself, I am finally standing on my own, with money in the bank that is financing my year in
Because I have money (not a lot, but enough), I have the capacity to meet my subsistence needs. To be truthful, I should really be examining whether or not I have overindulged in subsistence-related things. Of all the needs listed by Max-Neef, I imagine that "subsistence" is the one that most people in American have met and exceeded. Let me do a quick personal check-up.
- Water – I have access to clean, plentiful water whenever I want it. Currently, I don't pay for water (and even when I did, it was a pittance), yet I can take long showers, brush my teeth, and wash dishes without worrying about whether I am squandering drinking water. I have improved on this issue lately (now I turn off the water while I brush my teeth and I'm trying to take quicker showers), but much remains to be done. Along these same lines, I don't anticipate water being a subsistence issue in the future.
- Food – if anything, I have too much food. What I need to do is re-evaluate the choices of food I eat. Like most Americans, I eat too much starch and fat, and not enough fresh produce and fiber. I know that this will be struggle for the rest of my life, since I don't anticipate apples suddenly tasting better than chocolate. But at the same time, I don't anticipate food being scarce in the future, so I'm not worried about starving.
- Shelter – for all my complaining about Kungsmarken, I am lucky to have an apartment that is moderately priced, with free heat, and two bathrooms. And even though I would rather live by myself, I am fortunate to have roommates that are fun, even if they are messy.
- Clothing – again, my problem is too much clothing, rather than the opposite. Here, though, I have to wonder if too much clothing is really a problem. Yes, I suppose it just feeds a materialistic society and a vicious consumer cycle. But come on! I go through cycles of clothes buying. My last fun shopping splurge was this past summer, and then there was a warm-clothes spree when I got to
- Work – I'm not quite sure why "work" is on the list of subsistence actions. Maybe because work leads to income, which allows us to purchase the satisfiers for subsistence needs. At any rate, this is the big one for me right now. Because I'm in school, I am devoting my "work" time to my thesis. While this "work" is intellectually stimulating, it is not contributing to my income (the reverse is actually true), nor can I reasonably say that it is better preparing me to generate income. In fact, the more I look at this program, the less I think it will help me in finding a job later on. I would almost certainly have been better off staying at my previous job until I found another one, rather than going to school. But on the other hand, living overseas certainly has its allure on the resume, so maybe I'll get lucky. It's too soon to know for sure, but I'm not feeling optimistic that this program will help me find work in June.
The overall findings: I am meeting my needs for subsistence, and have an excellent chance of meeting them in the future. Because I actually overindulge in most "subsistence" areas, I consider this a "wealth" issue. Perhaps I'm too wealthy and need to cut back a little.
