One of the Biggest Opportunities in History - Part 1
Listening to: Lamacq Live - BBC Radio 1
Introduction
If the suburban environmentalist (of which I count myself a member) put as much time into thinking about pragmatic solutions as they did into uttering “companies need to…” and “the government ought to…” we might stand a very good chance of instigating serious change. People have got to stop being Monday refs and get on the pitch and start punting the ball.
Times they are a changing and it is now becoming more and more practical to implement sustainable change in the production and consumption of goods and services. Furthermore these changes can be shaped to provide significant benefit to the environment. It takes is imagination and some one to put their money where their mouths are. It’s time to stop complaining and time to start doing.
Environmental change represents a huge pressure on humanity and like all pressures it will force change. This pressure can be harnessed to change the way things are produced, the business ethics that exist today and the way things are consumed. A “run for the hills” mentality will mean that we will miss the massive opportunity that we have inadvertently created for ourselves. People who care need to stop running and turn around and stand for a fight.
Sticking it to the Man
When I was about sixteen there was an election here in NZ. From my perspective all the options looked the same. Look right, look left – the road was pretty much packed with the same make of Soviet Zil – for me it was safer (or more accurately easier) to stay on the side of the road. I decided that I was going to stick it to the man by not voting. When I imparted my deep insight to my mother I was told in no uncertain terms that it was a dumb idea. It was my responsibility to express an opinion and action a vote. Sure of my mother’s fallibility and my own towering genius I didn’t vote. I felt good – I had stuck it to the man.
Fourteen years later I would’ve given me a slap up the side of the head. My mother was right – I needed to express an opinion AND I needed to express that opinion as an action.
The suburban greenies that I am exposed to are just like that sixteen year old Dave. They have opinions and they buy their organic veggies but they don’t put anything into action. Action is not buying your organic veggies; any more than eating fish on Friday makes you a good Catholic (I feel I can say this as I have belonged to both groups at one time or another). You’ve only got to see the big sixteen wheeler that pulls up outside Eco-Organo-mart every morning to see the façade. It is the same meaningless “sticking it to the man.” Action is stepping up and taking a risk and putting yourself on the line – to reap the rewards for yourself and others.
The most galling aspect is the cloying self righteousness. I revel in it, and I know others do it too. But it now bores me – I hate it in others and I recognize it in myself. I’m tired of it because it lulls a person into a false sense of security - they think they’ve done their job and that they are doing as much as is required. I’m tired of it because it blinkers a person’s view of the world - the only solutions to the problem are the ones they’ve implemented or even worse they stick to these
crazy utopian dreams of pre-dark age wooded villages. Their imagination atrophies and we all suffer. They are essentially running for the hills - practically and intellectually. The concept of local action and global effect needs to be looked at carefully – global action and global effect is a far more attractive equation.
It is time to pack those angels wings away and start getting down to business. A rudimentary bout of honesty would force any of us to admit that the angel wings weren’t going to change our personal glide ratios any – we’re still plummeting like a brick along with everyone else. Personal statements are all well and good, but in this case there needs to be a lot more.
April 28th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
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