We Drive Demand

So let's demand what we need and deserve

Plastics and oil, related animals. In the sky, water, or our lungs or bloodstreams, they all spell our demise. Artwork from 1970s, creator unknown. If you know the artist, please let me know. I would like to credit this person. Thank you.

I read an article recently about plastics, in which it was pointed out we now ingest the equivalent of a credit card every week of the stuff. In the comments section, a well-meaning person made this statement (slightly edited for clarity):

“Change can happen — with air pollution and with plastics. But major changes do not occur by individuals changing their habits. Things change as the result of government mandates, like the Clean Air Act. When the actual costs of polluting are placed where they belong — on the companies doing the polluting — instead of on society as a whole, then the cost of polluting becomes prohibitive, and businesses either stop polluting or close down.”

This statement has much correct, we do need government to create laws that protect us. Legislation does make a difference. Companies, or rather behemoth corporations given First Amendment rights are the enemy, however, and one thought is critically wrong. “But major changes do not occur by individuals changing their habits.”

Outrage and demand have their place, a critical one. We must make those a habit.

Major changes are always driven by individuals. In the case of billionaires, one individual has a grotesquely outsized impact. In the case of you and me, collective action is required. After all, you and I drive demand, both as consumers and the pressure we can exert on government. We have power. Rachel Carson’s seminal 1962 book, Silent Spring, was written by an individual with a deep connection to nature and introduced Americans to the devastation of massive pesticide use, especially DDT. Even bald eagles, our majestic national symbol, were endangered by thinning eggshells. Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane was banned in 1972, largely a result of her work. Thank you, Rachel, an individual who made a difference. Furthermore, the huge environmental movement shortly after was responsible for the Clean Air Act, and that was just the beginning.

Earth Day rally, 1970 in front of Independence Mall in Philadelphia, one event of thousands that involved 20 million people across the country. This is individual power demonstrated and acted collectively. (AP photo)

In January 1969, a Union Oil well in Santa Barbara, California spilled more than 200,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. That following June, oil and chemicals floating on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland burst into flames. These disasters, broadcast across the country, fueled growing outrage over abuse of the environment, especially among young people. Inspired by the civil rights and anti-war movements, the environmental movement was born. The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970. In New York City, 250,000 people marched on Fifth Avenue, between 14th and 59th Streets, all the way to Central Park. The Clean Air Act of 1970, Clean Water Act of 1972, Endangered Species Act of 1973 and formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were born out of our outrage and demand.

We see that outrage today the world over in the hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets over the slaughter, the genocide taking place before our eyes in Gaza. The reaction to that horror gives me hope that when people see wrong, they still have the heart and courage to stand up for what’s right. The battle for human justice is eternal, and the monsters who wish to continue building wealth and power never seen before have no intention of stopping. However, as helpless as we feel, they can be stopped. They know it. They fear it. Why do you think they’re building hardened bunkers? It’s because they know what they have created sooner or later is going to lead to eruption. The key is for us to erupt before it’s too late, in an organized effort. Those efforts are underway, they have been. They need you and me all in.

November 4, Washington, D.C., righteous anger organized over the televised atrocity of genocide. This is moral courage.

The impact of Earth Day came from not just the massive event in New York City, but more than 12,000 such events throughout the country. Twenty million Americans participated. There were 35,000 speakers, from all walks of life, scientists, folk singers, activists, even members of Congress. The US population in 1970 was around 203 million. Just ten percent of the population united and created change for a better future on Earth.

Humanity, in all of its imperfection, has risen up numerous times. The American Revolution was born out of the injustice of England’s treatment of the colonists (colonization, a different injustice, I know and feel). The French Revolution was born out of mistreatment of the “commoners.” In both cases, gross economic disparity were deciding factors in people becoming willing to shed blood.

Today in America, we have grotesque wealth disparity. The same can be said of Britain and France. The French have rioted over it. This is affecting all western nations that have built their wealth on the backs of others. I can write all day about our failing ecosystems and existential endangerment, but the fact is, most people don’t react until they feel personal pain.

We saw that pain on January 6, when the most frustrated and ill-informed of our society stormed the capital. The majority of us are suffering from systemic injustice now. We will all suffer as the Earth fails. The looters have gutted black and brown people, and their target has expanded to everyone else. They’re using racism and ignorance to exploit those vulnerable to those awful tools in spite of remarkable investments and advances in science and education. A small cabal of evil people are perfectly gleeful to take advantage of these weaknesses. After all, their wealth proves they are superior. That is the extent of their wisdom.

Prophesy has predicted the downfall of humankind. It has been predicted over and over again, only to have the time and date proven wrong. We have been fortunate. After all, the threat of nuclear annihilation has hung over us for eight decades now. I believe the writers of the Bible, Koran, Torah, insert your document of choice, were all excellent at understanding human nature, and its potential to self-destruct. However, I also believe that understanding our defects gives us the knowledge to change our course and defy “prophesy.” We make prophesy every day more likely or less with our choices, by fighting for what’s right, throwing our hands up in helplessness, or choosing to look away.

We have tools for this fight. Where we choose to spend our money or not spend our money, to have important conversations or not have them, count. Boycotting and sharing information have power. Donating to great organizations like Greenpeace, whose members often put their lives on the line, count. Choosing to eat less meat and dairy counts. Choosing a fuel efficient vehicle, and driving less, counts. Supporting a good writer trying to do the right, whether it’s me or someone else, counts. Enough small acts for the common good accumulated affect change for the better.

“But major changes do not occur by individuals changing their habits.” Bullshit.

We cannot succumb to this kind of thinking, or we self-fulfill the most frightening prophesy, our end through inaction. That is exactly the kind of thinking the oppressors wish us to have. They’re counting on keeping us running ever harder on an increasingly steep treadmill for survival, continuing to soften our brains through entertainment, settling for an owned and disingenuous news media, and ensuring we have no time to find the truth. We all have a role to play, whether it’s taking a police baton at the barricades, being conscientious about how we use our money, or potentially risking our own freedom for calling out a system that promises to destroy us. This year will be the hottest ever recorded on Earth. Our weather patterns are becoming increasingly extreme. Groundwater is disappearing in the face of drought not seen in millennia and over pumping. Our government’s solution? To find more energy through mining, which directly conflicts with drinking water and crops. It depends on the fossil fuels that are killing us, that just happen to be running out as well. We are in danger of agricultural collapse, as farmers will be unable to adapt as conditions gets worse. The time to fight is now in whatever way we can. The system has to be profoundly changed, it has to degrow and will one way or another if not profoundly changed or overthrown. I am no radical. I am shocked to be forced to write these words, but staying on our current path is what’s radical.

You are my ambassadors. My words mean nothing without you. Please share my warnings, and take heart from acting. The more people that hear my word or those with similar thoughts need you. I’m not in this for me.