We should aim to reduce globalism, and by this I mean we should reduce global phenomenon by relying on global corporations less than we do now. Communities should be more self-sufficient instead of relying on imports from all over the world.

When I say this, I do not mean that imports are all bad but we have built such an interconnected system that local communities are no longer sustainable and they need to be part of a whole to function. Aside from robbing people of meaning in their lives, taking away their sustainability also robs them of having a standard of living that is simple and pure.

We should attempt to rely less on global companies. Their profits are too great and thus if they are faced with a decision that will degrade the environment and degrade society, they will not stop to consider the consequences because the money is too alluring. Global corporations push consumerism as well and create a system where the only ideas that flourish are the economically viable ones instead of the sustainable ones.

On an individual scale, you should remove your reliance on global corporations and complex technologies as much as possible. That could mean making your own clothes and buying local instead of imported food. Of course, reduction is great as well, and if you can reduce your consumption of products that are highly dependent on the global economy, that is also good.

Ideally, there should be speed limits on technological development to reduce globalism. For example, in the United States, buying a mass-produced t-shirt from China is sometimes cheaper than hiring a tailor to make you a shirt, even though China is about ten thousand kilometers away. But the cost of the Chinese-made shirt is so cheap because it is hidden in various places, not to mention that the environment also pays for your shirt from all the CO2 the cargo ship releases.

With “speed” limits, this would be impossible. Ivan Illich pointed this out in his book, Energy and Equity. If there were limits on the amount of shirts that could be transported at once, the amount of CO2 that could be released by such productions, and the amount of natural resources that could be plundered by raw materials extraction and building factories, then the ridiculous situation of buying a Chinese-made t-shirt could not be possible.

There should be limits on: the speed of the internet, the rate at which Apple and Google create new smartphones, the sizes of the data centers, and rate of consumption of fruits and vegetables from far away places. The news should have a limit on how many times they can update their websites, and farmers should have limits on their pesticide and industrial fertilizer use.

Limits would benefit everyone and reduce the extreme efficiency of globalism that is only possible do to our ability to take advantage of natural resources and destroy them. The ultimate limit would be a limit on human expansion and use of natural habitats, and beyond that limit we would not be able to use more.

Of course, implementing these limits may be hard, but you can already create these limits in your own life. It will actually be a good thing because you will live more simply and be less encumbered by possessions as well. For example, you can limit the amount of clothes you own, the size of your house, and how much water you use. I myself have pledged to not buy any new clothes for at least five years with the exception of shoes. I also like to limit myself to local fruits and vegetables when I can.

We should do everything we can to fight globalism and global corporations.