Take Me to Your Compost!: Hipsters are Cool with the End of Economic Growth

By Kai Nagata

Vancouver! Gateway to the fabled markets of the Orient. Headquarters to the world's more discerning mining barons. Soon to be North America's largest exporter of coal – fuel of the future! Vancouver, my hometown, where you can dream of owning a million-dollar stucco bungalow while you intern as a busboy.

That's not a joke. Earlier this month, the Fairmont Waterfront hotel actually put up an ad for an unpaid internship as a "Busperson." Perhaps we should applaud the Fairmont for offering young candidates an honest lesson in modern economics: if you're just putting on the apron now, chances are, you'll never catch up to the people you're serving. Now smile while you clear away those oysters.

If I sound sarcastic, that's because I'm 26. My generation is on the wrong side of some grim mathematics. Consider this: the largest segments of the B.C. economy are those relying on real estate and retail. At the same time, British Columbians have the largest, fastest-growing consumer debt in the country. For the economy to grow as it is currently structured, people have to buy new houses and shop more. But how do you pay off a mortgage if you're interning as a busboy? Most of my peers couldn't put together a down payment in the first place.

Growth is ending, and that's OK. Economic opportunity remains limited only by imagination. Wealth is taking on new definitions. People will always find ways to thrive. But perpetual growth is neither desirable nor physically possible. Talk to young people, and you'll find this is pretty intuitive. Our square footage on this planet is finite. So are non-renewable resources. So is credit. If that's true for the overall system, then it's true for the B.C. economy.

British Columbians have little influence over when this transition arrives. But we are better positioned than most to enjoy it. While we have time, I suggest we take a few lessons from a much-derided group: hipsters. Yes, those young people on vintage bicycles with the tattoos and the haircuts. Here's a secret: Their avant-garde hobbies hold clues to what our province should think about on a much larger scale.

Take thrift shopping (as celebrated by rapper Macklemore), sharing houses and cars, fixing old machines, or composting. These are natural activities for people without a lot of income. But they are also a reaction to the waste built into the consumer economy. Like how 40 per cent of food is thrown away. Or how three-quarters of trips in B.C. are made by car, and three-quarters of those drivers are alone. As margins tighten, there will be huge incentive for businesses to find the embodied value lost in current supply chains.

One part of the problem is that sloppiness is subsidized. We take collective resources for granted, like the companies that bottle free B.C. tap water and sell it. Same goes for the industries that have dodged our carbon tax, like oil and gas extraction. The more we factor in the true costs of resource use, the more efficiency and environmental conservation will take priority. Luckily, B.C. is still home to many healthy ecosystems. We haven't entirely fouled our own nest.

Speaking of nests, let's get back to hipsters. What about backyard chickens, farm-market produce or craft beer? We can laugh, but all of them taste better than the versions that ride in trucks from California or Ontario.

It may still be cheap to buy food from across the world. But if you change one variable – fuel prices – eating local begins to make a lot more sense. As the world shrinks, and climate change threatens crops, people will want goods produced closer to where they live. B.C. is lucky again: We have the largest proportion of protected territory of any province, along with a few people who still know how to harvest and make things.

It's time to abandon the idea that we can extract ever-expanding profit from the same ecosystems we depend on. Or that there will always be other places to settle, over the horizon. First Nations have been telling the rest of us since we got here: if you don't take care of the land, it can't take care of you. Now indigenous people across B.C. and around the world are poised to deliver a reality check.

In hard political terms, First Nations leaders are still waking up to their true power. Like it or not, their authority to steward these shared territories is woven straight into our Constitution, and in many cases into our treaties. These leaders are rebuilding their nations at the same time as they build legal walls across the paths of companies desperate for short-term growth. We should all be thankful.

Our job is to be nimble enough to make the most of the coming transition. One more time, B.C. is lucky. Our diverse society, top-notch education system and strong First Nations cultures will combine to produce some of the world's best innovators and problem-solvers. We'll be in good hands. Meanwhile, if your kid would rather plant heirloom tomatoes than toil as an unpaid busboy, that's a good sign.

Kai Nagata is a consultant, commentator and fourth-generation Vancouverite.

——–

Join the conversation on how best to chart B.C.'s economic future Beginning Sept. 16 the SFU Public Square asked thought leaders to share their ideas with Vancouver Sun readers on how B.C. can create wealth, address social equity and protect the environment. We invite you to join the conversation during our Community Summit Sept. 28 to Oct. 4. Please visit www.sfu.ca/publicsquare for more details.