Gary Haq: It's time for a greener age of austerity

The scale of the challenge to tackle the national budget deficit has been compared to the challenge we experienced after the Second World War. In post-war Britain, rationing instilled a "mend and make do" attitude which encouraged us to value and appreciate food and goods. Since then we have enjoyed greater wealth, choice and access to a wide variety of goods and services.

Nowadays, we tend to value things less because they are cheap and in abundance. It has become more economical to throw away a TV, radio or microwave and buy a new one rather than have it repaired. Gone are the days when things were made to last and where we would have an item for many years with an occasional service. We now consume to be fashionable – when a new trend comes along the old is ditched for the latest "must-have".

We have become locked in to a modern society where many aspire to wealth, status and celebrity. And where the desire and enjoyment of material goods have become a means of self-expression. Although we have developed the know-how to exploit natural resources and create a variety of goods and services, we find it hard to operate and cope in a world of abundance.

Our level of consumption not only makes us unhappy, but also threatens our future existence. The demands of our increasingly globalised, industrialised, high-consuming society have overloaded the planet's natural ability to absorb, replenish and restore. Our use of the world's resources is being driven by an insatiable appetite to consume more in the misconception that being richer, and distinguishing ourselves from others, will make us happier.

Evidence suggests that although average incomes have more than doubled in the last 50 years, people have not really grown any happier. Research by economists Eaton and Eswaran show that greater affluence can seriously damage a nation's health.

As a nation becomes wealthier, consumption moves increasingly to buying status symbols such as a luxury car which has no inherent value. Their research explains why levels of happiness and feelings of community in wealthy countries have stabilised despite growth in real incomes. As we own more status symbols, we also seem to have less time or inclination to help others, which damages our sense of community.

When it comes to happiness, Denmark is top of the league of the world's happiest nations, with Burundi and Zimbabwe trailing at the bottom. Denmark's happiness is due to its combination of wealth, natural beauty, small size, quality education, and good health care.

In South Asia, the country of Bhutan sees happiness as a better measure of development than economic growth. The Bhutanase government has developed the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index. The GNH is based on the premise that true development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other.

The four pillars of GNH are the promotion of sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance.

Our consumer society has resulted in many environmental problems which have affected our mental and physical wellbeing. A new age of austerity could provide the opportunity to revive those values we abandoned decades ago and restrain our drive to over-consume.

Life in austerity Britain will compel us to rethink how we spend our money and question whether the things we buy are truly necessary – for some, this may mean living a "no-frills" lifestyle.

In the current economic climate, many of us are already beginning to rediscover the value of mending and making do. More people are embracing the idea of "enoughism" which suggests that there is a point where we possess everything we need.

When we reach this point, buying more actually makes us worse off. Enoughism means spending less, buying and consuming fewer goods. Some individuals have pledged to take the 100-thing challenge and reduce their possessions to 100 items.

The new age of austerity will provide the biggest incentive for us to adopt greener lifestyles. However, consuming less and curbing our use of resources does not have to be austere. It means appreciating the value of not consuming, making do, reusing, recycling and buying to last.

The next decade could see us all becoming happier and greener. It could also be the time where we finally begin to live within both our financial and ecological means.