A blogger whom
I particularly like and whose reflections I find enthralling some time ago posted
provocative suggestions on how to speed up the destruction process of our planet,
considering that we are already doing a lot to reach that goal, but not yet enough. Among the mocking proposals
were things like “buy the cheapest food at discount supermarkets” or “destroy
all bicycles and travel only by car” or “buy your garments only at chain stores”
or “get your electricity supply from providers which use nuclear power”.
Given that,
though knowing him very little, I am utterly fascinated by the man´s ideas,
that I enjoyed his post -both in content and style- and that I intimately agree
with his irreverent tease, I cannot help but hearing a rational voice asking questions
in return to his legitimate instigation.
I do
strongly believe in the possibility of “saving our world” (hideous phrase) in the
pivotal role of critical thinking and in the importance of individual
responsibility. It´s not by coincidence that I am vegetarian, I don´t own a car,
in the office I am known as the “eco-chick” and my upcoming vacation is going
to see me hiking on a Spanish trail.
But.
There are several buts.
Firstly I
don´t like that if you seem to "care for the future of the planet" you are demanded to fit into the eco-hippy box. That you are supposed to have a certain
style, use - with NO exception – only organic products, even if some of them
are objectively terrible, do certain sports but not others, like some kind of
music, and – no doubt- claim that you unconditionally
love Mother Earth. Unless, of course, you want to be frowned upon.
Let´s assume
that this is just my personal feeling, ok: no compelled organic-shapeless-clothing,
I can play posh-tennis and can be disgusted by rats, right. Thanks.
What I
don´t find a mere personal impression, however, is this diffused occasional simplistic way
of analyzing problems. Like: oh yes, we all should consume less and recycle
everything and eat only organic food and
grow our own tomatoes and sew our own clothes and ride our bikes everywhere. Yeah,
ok, you got me: I am eager to grow my
food and bike to work and recycle things and I am sick and tired of
consumerism. But is it all really that easy, like “we” ecologically,
responsible, smartasses understand it all and all others are only lazy, ignorant,
unhealthy, irresponsible jackasses?! The league of lazy, ignorant, unhealthy, irresponsible
jackasses is quite nurtured, yes, we all know that, but let´s just be a little
more objective and sophisticated, please.
Though it´s
true that we are all manipulated by the relentless induced desires of buying things that neither we need nor actually
make us happy and that if we all started to control our material desires just a little, we would probably have more
resources to invest elsewhere, it is also true that there are many people who cannot
afford to buy organic food at co-op stores. They don´t have time to go to the farmer to buy the freshly-layed eggs of a happy, happy hen. Caught into the system, many don´t
have the privilege of knowing how to
step out of it. Or maybe they know how to, but really cannot.
Moreover, if,
for instance, we suddenly all stopped using cars, we would surely enjoy our
cities more, we would have purer air to breathe and be less stressed. But how
many people would suddenly lose their jobs? How many fathers unemployed and
probably desperately worried of not being able to nurture their children?
If we all
started baking our bread and became vegan (yay!) how many bakeries and animal farmers
and factories would close down? If we
all stated to buy our T-shirts at American Apparel and boycott the big chains (spoiler:
the next sentence is really terrible) are we sure that the situation of the
children or women working in poor conditions in India or Pakistan would
suddenly automatically improve? Would it be better for them not to have that
crappy job at all?
Sometimes, meaning well yet not going deep enough, may even
cause additional problems to the ones we are genuinely trying to solve. Do we,
ecologically, responsible, smartasses think about this? Do we consider all the variables of a problem or only some
of them? The ones that smooth our conscience easily, maybe?
The fact is
that daydreaming about a better world is a much easier matter than actually struggle
to find a way to get out of this destructive hamster-wheel. Don´t get me wrong:
I utterly respect each and every tiny individual
effort to make a difference. I am one of
you: I stubbornly believe that somehow my pathetic recycling the back of printed
paper in the office is a significant
drop into the ocean. Yet, I am also very aware that critical thinking, individual
responsibility and the belief that we can save the planet have to come to terms
with reality.
We have to acknowledge that, as unhealthy, corrupt,
self-destroying and disgustingly absurd our current system is, we cannot just
jump off at the next bus stop.
In order to
keep a sort of balance for “all” (a ridiculous “all”, since we westerners
always speak from an egocentric, conceited blind viewpoint) the change is
going to take an incredible amount of time, effort and sacrifice.
I might
have sounded like an inspiration-killer so far, sorry. Yet, I can tell you that, with eyes wide open, I myself lull into
the words of one of my favorite authors, a truly extraordinary man, who - after
really seeing it all - came to the conclusion that the only possible revolution
is the one within ourselves.
So, fellow
eco-conceited-wannabe-smartasses, let´s keep working!
