WE are a prosperous society. There are many who do not share in this prosperity, but most of us live in what is, compared with most countries today and compared with our own country in the past, a very prosperous society.

This gives us opportunities. How can we benefit from this prosperity? We can now see that we have attached too much importance to material goods that we don’t need and to ways of living that have damaged our environment while failing to deliver the fulfilment that we seek. We do have other choices, however.

The economist JM Keynes recognised the freedom that comes with prosperity. As long ago as 1930, he predicted that once we had solved the economic problem of making sure that everyone had enough for their basic needs we would be free to return to less materialistic principles: “… that avarice is a vice, that … the love of money is detestable”. He thought that, instead, we would come to flourish in the arts, in culture.

Well, that’s not how it turned out.

Another economist, JK Galbraith, in his 1958 book The Affluent Society, recognised that prosperity had already arrived in the richer countries: our economies were based not on satisfying need but in creating consumer demand. He noted that our economic thinking had not adjusted to this state of affairs.

It still hasn’t.

In 1968 Robert Kennedy memorably said that “we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things”: when we measure the economy, we include “everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile”.

We can break away – we can live more in harmony with nature and with our community, less dependent on material goods. Healthier planet – happier people.

How can we start? By taking the jump: takethejump.org. 

Henry Haslam is the author of The Earth and Us.