Beauty vs Efficiency and the Tensions between
Walking through my local town the other day, I saw a butterfly, bouncing haphazardly around the grey, urban space. It’s unusual to see a butterfly in the UK in October, and I assumed that this rare siting would have pleased me — instead, it made me feel sad. The butterfly didn’t belong in the built-up area; it should have been wending its way through peaceful fields or woodland, enjoying the beauty of nature. Instead, its internal satnav had misfired, and now it was sharing a tarmacked tundra with me and many more of my kind, the species who ‘paved paradise and put up a parking lot’ (Joni Mitchell, 1970).
Beauty is a Human Need
Through my many musings during lockdown’s respite, I came to the following conclusion: humans need beauty. On the face of it, that sounds like a sappy, superficial thing to say, as if I’m talking about something only skin-deep. But let me assure you that it is a deep-seated need in all of us. Picture the gang member, holding his new-born child for the first time — the beautiful intimacy of that precious moment. Or the lady laid-up in hospital, taking solace and strength from the view of the park from her window. Think of the times you’ve lain awake in the wee, dark hours, your taunting thoughts like monsters, and how the dawn has chased them away. When I watched ‘Prison Break’ and considered what life must be like behind bars, it filled me with terror. Not just because of the loss of freedom and the gaining of bad company, but because of the lack of beauty. Prisons are dark, grey places, full of spiny security and lacking in natural light and growing greenery. How can anyone put in such a hopeless place hope to rehabilitate?
What is Beauty?
Beauty awakens, inspires, refreshes and resets; it makes us smile, sigh and cry; it moves us; it helps us find strength to face another day. Beauty takes many forms and stimulates all of our senses — the tropical sunset; the smell of freshly-cut grass; the piano’s melancholy melodies; the softness of a fluffy cat, warm to the touch; that first sip of wine at the start of the weekend. Some would argue that every season is beautiful, but there’s a reason that people struggle in winter that goes beyond the dark and the cold. This is the time when beauty hibernates, locking herself underground for months on end. Daffodils are my favourite flower — by the time they raise their happy, yellow heads, trumpeting the arrival of spring, I’m literally aching to behold beauty once again, having been starved of it for so long.
Beauty is power and strength. There are doors that open only to the beautiful, explaining why fashion and beauty are multimillion-dollar industries. I watched a documentary about plastic surgery yesterday — who goes for it, what they have done and why. While it is not something I plan to do myself, as I approach 40, I see wear and tear creeping into my features, dulling the fresh face of my youth. The grey is infiltrating my hair, like a monochrome army, and I constantly strive to cover it because I hate the thought of my colour leaching out of me like a T-shirt left out in the sun.
Where is Beauty Now?
Beauty used to lie all around us, as far as the eye could see, back when our ancestors were chasing wild animals with spears. They’d never heard of pavements, roads, complexes, office blocks, airports and multi-storey car parks. But through the ages, man constantly created conveniences — the automobile, the motorway, the supermarket, the shopping mall. What once was convenient is now considered essential to our modern way of life. Time is of the essence, and we need cars to take us to work and pick the kids up from school, roads to get us from A to B as efficiently as possible, and supermarkets because we no longer have time to visit the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, let alone the energy, knowledge, land and will to grow our own food after a day spent in the office. But convenience and efficiency come at a cost. Putting aside the cataclysmic impact of destroying natural beauty on the climate and environment, the beautiful aspects of nature have been pushed back to the margins of our world.
Beauty versus Efficiency
I’m lucky enough to live next to a wood. As I type, I watch the trees through my window, swaying in the sunshine, tinged with autumn’s first fingers of rust and jaundice. When we moved here, the wood seemed like a nice-to-have, a leafy novelty at the end of our garden. Since lockdown hit however, it’s become a personal lifeline, a peaceful, green oasis where I go to ease my anxiety through communing with nature. If someone took my wood away, not only would it break my heart, but it would change my environment to such a degree that I may have to consider moving house.
Yet, I don’t live in a forest. I choose to live on the edge of a town because I want to be close to the range of amenities that I consider essential — my place of work, the post office, shops, restaurants, takeaways and bars. I want the beauty of the wood, but equally want to be close enough to ‘civilisation’. In short, I want it all. And I don’t think I’m alone.
I can say no to ‘fast fashion’, until I fall in love with a top in New Look, or I’m flat-broke, need some gym gear and can only afford to shop in Primark. Sustainable cotton is fine as long as it’s cost-effective, wears well and I can put it in the tumble drier. I would consider getting an electric car, but the prices need to come down first and the infrastructure to be in place so that I’m not delayed when travelling long distances. Green energy is fine as long as it’s affordable and my supply remains unaffected. I’ll pick a supermarket delivery slot with a van already in my area if it fits with my schedule. I’ll stop using planes when trains can fly and take the same amount of time to get me to my destination. And if we’re honest with ourselves, this is where many of us are at.
Conclusion
So, while I want beauty around me — correction: need beauty around me — I don’t want to give up my convenience to have beauty. In short, I want beauty on my own terms and not at the cost of efficiency because, at heart, I’m a resource-guzzling, time-poor consumer. What’s the answer? Is there one that strikes the balance between beauty and efficiency in an overpopulated world? If there is then I don’t have it, though I sure as hell hope someone somewhere is working on it!
