Category: Solutions

a “can” or at least a “maybe”

One of the more frustrating things about being a community activist is the number of people that tell you and others what can’t be done or why X is not possible or won’t work. I’m all for a “reality check” and no question I am a bit too optimistic about things sometimes. However, the core of my frustration stems not from people who have taken new ideas seriously but those that either flippantly reject them out of hand or offer none of their own.

From my vantage point, humanity is in a very precarious position. A good number of people in my community don’t disagree with this sentiment. However, where we tend to disagree is how we should go about doing something in response to it. I tend to want to act more than think deeply and others prefer thinking deeply first. I am comfortable with this continuum and actually think diversity of thought is something we should value rather than extinguish. However, diversity of thought doesn’t mean that negativity (or, worse, fatalism) should trump positivity, optimism, or “out of the box” thinking, most of the time.

Einstein is famous for saying many things, but perhaps the most relevant to this conversation are his definition for “insanity”: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” and his related insight, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” We have created lots of problems in the last two centuries and many ecological systems are at their “boiling” point. We have to begin thinking differently and doing things differently.

Spend some time watching how people interact with each other and how often people will “shoot down” someone’s new idea. This mentality is so pervasive we often do it to ourselves as a reflex action. Self-censorship is off the charts. I hear it from my colleagues and friends, who say things like, “it is too risky to say X or Y,” “it might identify me as M or N,” “I might be wrong.” In this cultural environment, isn’t it time to say what we think and feel and be open to honest responses? And, isn’t also time to listen to others more fully, especially those that are trying desperately to make things better before criticizing them or their ideas. Perhaps, a simple, “maybe, that seems plausible” or “perhaps that can work” will be that contribution that keeps us moving where we haven’t been.

out of sight

Most of us know that terrible things are done on our behalf each and every day. These awful deeds may come at the expense of the our food which, if meat, probably comes from animals living in concentrated feeding operations (CAFOs) where they are pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones on a daily basis, or, if vegetables and fruits, probably come from farms where the laborers are grossly underpaid, overworked and exposed to harmful chemicals broadly sprayed by industrial agriculture techniques (farm workers have poverty rates double other paid workers) (ref 1, ref 2). They could come from the clothes we wear, many which are made in factories here or abroad where workers are treated horribly and suffer many human rights abuses (ref 3). They also come by way of our ubiquitous use of electronics. Nearly all electronic devices that transmit Wi-Fi (which includes phones, video games, and computers) have a metal alloy called coltan in them. Sadly much of this rare metal comes from regions of the world mired in war and conflict (such as The Congo), which the valuable resource has largely exacerbated (ref 4). And every time we use energy, in virtually every form it comes in, whether its source be fossil fuel or renewable (e.g., in solar panels that are increasingly made in China), large amounts of toxic material is produced and many humans are abused. (The Story of Stuff puts a lot of this into perspective: the Book & the Videos).

Not a fun paragraph to read, was it? Well, if all this harm is being done on our behalf, especially those of us fortunate enough to live affluently, why aren’t more of us doing anything about it? Many answers come to mind but the most telling may be that the bulk of the harm done is done “out of sight,” somewhere far from us. I believe that humans are moral beings. Most of us are not intentionally and purposefully doing harm to others. We wouldn’t. Most of us would be sick to our stomachs if we were forced to live this way. Wouldn’t we? Perhaps this is why when presented with “facts” that implicate us, and our lifestyles, we ignore them or get defensive. This creates a real existential problem then. The people that need to change (us) to make the world more humane aren’t willing to accept responsibility for the damage being done. So what can we do about it?

This blog is largely dedicated to exploring answers to this question but I think the first step for everyone is to familiarize themselves with the various “pains” created by our way of life. This knowledge can be very liberating. It motivates us to do something to make others’ (and by extension our own) lives better. This revelation is extremely eye-opening for many. And many of us definitely recognize this. Consider how many people in your community donate/volunteer 100’s of hours a year for the greater good! We do get greater satisfaction from intrinsic rewards even though our culture (especially that component that is trying to sell us something or another) puts so much emphasis on extrinsic ones (ref 5). So by knowing more about the true impacts of our lives and, then, intentionally acting to make them more humane, we can all begin to heal and feel better all the while.