I remember reading an article by Derrick Jensen called Forget Shorter Showers, in which he talks about how small personal actions do nothing to shift power away from the corporations and the current political systems. That led me to question the act of doing things on a personal level for the environment when the corporations are going to use orders of magnitudes more resources than us individuals to power their gargantuan machines of control and domination. Is it true that what you do may not matter, but it is still very important that you do it? Or is that just something self-righteous hippies and environmentalists want you to think? Is it more important to do small personal actions to save Earth or is it more important to change the system from a much larger perspective, or both?
I would argue that the whole system needs a serious overhaul, and not just the branches. Sure, doing these small personal actions like recycling and conserving water will have a small impact on the problem, but isn’t it more revolutionary to take down the very systems that are allowing this outrageous waste to occur in the first place? Wouldn’t that create a much larger net savings in the future? Wouldn’t the ultimate destruction of factory farms be superior to 5 or 10 people going vegan to express their personal qualms about the way animals are treated today? Sure, you can do the little things to serve as an example for others, but in a way I feel that it is mostly a way to show how more environmentally-conscious you are than other people. It is, I feel, a form of mental masturbation. It is kind of, “I drive a hybrid, so I’m better than you.” In case you didn’t know, hybrid cars are the leading cause of smug.
Sure, you are doing positive things for the environment, but you are still suckling at society’s teat. You still need electricity, running water, and air conditioning to survive. You are still contributing to the problem. You still buy foods with excessive packaging and take showers every day, thereby using resources that are in short supply. You are still dependent on the system and the corporate structure. Even if you did everything right, it would not make a significant dent in the problems we face today. It would only make a significant dent if EVERYONE did it and cared enough to do it. Most people are not even ready to listen, so it will most likely be decades, even centuries, until any real change takes place. This civilization is holding on for dear life and will continue to do so until all options are exhausted and has no choice but to crumble. We will come up with a few innovations to continue our pathological and destructive ways for a few more decades, but once they fail as well, we will be left with nothing but ourselves and the Earth (or what is left of it). That is the time we can truly start over and live in balance, along with increasing diversity of species by helping nature accomplish ecosystems that have multiple species of plants, animals, insects, and fungi.
We can become stewards of the Earth, and not just use it to benefit our own race, but the races of all other animals, plants, etc. We can become the true crown of creation, and not the most destructive species ever to live on this planet. But trying to do this within this destructive system is counterproductive, but it does allow you to learn the skills you will need whenever this civilization does crash. So I’m not demonizing environmentalists here, just saying that what they are doing is very insignificant, but it is important preparation for when our collapse truly comes and there is no more oil to make plastic bags or to power automobiles. Bicycles will be harder to manufacture as well. Planting our own food won’t just be the right thing to do, but a necessity. At least in the beginning. Eventually, if we do it right, we will never have to plant food again because it will be growing all around us all the time. Conserving water will be a must because we will not have the abundance of water we have today. Running water may become a thing of the past, and although we take it for granted, we lived without it for thousands of years and we survived. There will most likely be no more television or internet, never mind the absence of electricity. It will be very difficult in a post-crash world to patch together an electric grid, and even if we do, don’t expect it to be consistent. So getting off the grid, like some super-environmentalists and anrcho-primitivists do is a great idea in preparation of what may come. You don’t have to live in a Unabomber shack full-time, but going up there every few months for a few days will put in perspective what is coming.
In a way, I agree with Derrick Jensen when it comes to the little things not really mattering, but I also know enough that in the future the little things will matter very much so. The people who do not know the skills to live on their own will be in much more trouble than those who have prepared for what is the inevitable collapse of civilization. It may take 50 years, but at least you’ll be prepared when it comes. Otherwise, you’ll have to rely on the government for food, water, and maybe even shelter, which will never happen, especially after a crash. The choice is yours.
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So what you’re saying is that we should start learning how to be more comfortable doing “the little things,” the things that make us more self-sufficient, for in a few decades we will truly need these skills? What about getting at the root of the systems? There must be ways to change them for the positive without destroying them in their entirety.
Love the article, very true.
“Smug” You watch South Park, don’t you?
Of course I watch South Park. It’s one of the funniest and brilliant satires, at least most of the time.
Yes, we also need to get to the root of systems, but we have to be self-sufficient first. If there are no systems to keep us alive as they are doing now and we have no other way of living, what are we going to do? We will probably suffer for it if we are unprepared. Civilization is going to collapse regardless of what we do or don’t do. It’s just a matter of when. I would rather be prepared for it than to just hack away at systems because it is going to be a large mental and physical adjustment. We don’t need to dismantle civilization, it will dismantle itself. Give it time.