Learning from Japan’s Edo Period: What Is Just Enough?
This seems to be an oxymoron to us – how is it possible to have a better quality of life without consuming more?
Edo period
Knowing what ‘just enough’ is
One of the most extraordinary books I have read in recent years is Just Enough: lessons in living green from traditional Japan by Azby Brown.
Living with just enough
By now we are all extremely familiar with the litany of challenges we face as a global species, the threats of scarcity which pit state against state and community against community, problems manmade and visible in nature: growing population, increasing urbanization, deforestation, damaged watersheds, overconsumption of resources, energy shortages, waste, pollution….All of us could easily add to this list. We know there will be no easy fixes, no panaceas, but nevertheless as we try to set priorities and search for the most promising ways to approach these problems, many of us find ourselves looking to different cultures and to earlier eras for inspiration. In this regard, the Edo period of Japan has a lot to teach us.