A revolution of thought
Declaring our independence from the treadmill of consumerism might comprise the most important revolution of our era.
Dear ones: It is the day in the U.S. we recognize the declaration of independence and the revolution it codified.
This past week, so many of my friends this week have written these words:
It’s terrifying.
They are referring to the heat dome that smothered our part of the world this past week, and the future it bodes. Is this what summer will be like - this, and worse, as our planet continues warming at an alarming rate?
Pulling back from the close up on small and often petty human problems, expanding our view, the climate crisis is the major challenge of our time.
As a species, we humans multiplied and thrived in large part because of our ability to innovate technologies that exploit the resources in our environments. Many of these same technologies are also the source of our potential demise.
Our evolutionary challenge now - the one we must accomplish far more quickly than natural selection would allow in a species such as ours, which takes years to achieve maturity and reproduction - is to change the way we think.
Instead of replicating the lifestyles that pump carbon into the atmosphere, and then racing to develop technology to fix the problem, we must replicate the lifestyles that reduce carbon emissions. And use technology to make those lifestyles humane and scalable.
In order to do this, we must step off the treadmill of consumerism. We have to come to terms with the reality that high-carbon producing countries are the ones with “high” standards of living as defined by consumption. We have to shift our definition: a “high” standard of living should be the result of clean air, clean water, healthy food, good basic health care, good education, safe living and working conditions. If we have these, we are already wealthy. And a high standard of living should ensure those conditions continue for generations to come.
Not what we own, but how we live, contribute, and care: a radical transformation of what we value, and a radical transformation of our perception of “need.” High consumption = high carbon emissions = damaging the health of our fellow humans. It’s a devastatingly simple equation.
While individual changes in consumption are both necessary and powerful, they will not be enough without systemic changes in the engine of consumerism: the capitalist marketplace that prizes (and subsidizes) high consumption behaviors.
Otherwise, we’re all afraid that we will find ourselves telling subsequent generations stories about the “good old days,” when we spent summers outside, enjoying the warm weather and long, lingering evenings.
Telling stories, because those generations will not be able to experience such delights for themselves.
See a few sources and news items that bring the climate crisis home after the photo. Take good care, be well, and know that your path through this life is important to us all.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/magazine/ezra-klein-climate-crisis.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/03/mexico-pipeline-fire/
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/02/1012698892/canada-hunts-for-survivors-of-a-fire-that-destroyed-a-small-town