Conclusions

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not"

-Dr. Seuss

The Lorax gives a dreary but motivational parallel to our contemporary environmental situation. Big businesses taking over land and polluting resources. While there may not be a Lorax who pops out of trees to try and protect his surroundings, we are all Lorax's. We can all speak up and protest against corporate destruction of resources.

One thing I have learned in my year of sustainability classes has been that man is a resilient creature. While a small action may be just a small action, it is better than no action. However, it is important not to forget about the bigger picture. No matter how much you use reusable bags and turn your thermostat down, climate change will not be stopped in it's tracks until corporations get the message that they are destroying the only planet they have to live on, and the people are not okay with it. The real issue lies with them, not our small emissions. We must stand up and make our voices heard, speak for the earth, like the Lorax spoke for the trees. The best part? We're not alone. There are tons of groups leading the way. The planet is changing, there is no going back, but it is not to late to change the path humanity is headed down.

We are nature, a realization that should stop us in our tracks. It is time for

humanity to reorganize ourselves.

-Hawken 171 - 177

Clock of the Long Now

An additional post for week 6: 10,000 Year Clock of the Long Now.

When I read about this in Blessed Unrest, I was intrigued. I finally had time to visit the Clock of Long Now's website, and have decided it is the coolest thing ever! Hawken writes that the clock is an attempt to remind humans of the idea of the future. We are living not just for today but every action we take will affect those farther down the road, just like we are affected by historical events behind us.

The Long Now website states that civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short life-span and some sort of balancing corrective to the short-sightedness is needed to encourage the long term view measured in centuries. This could not be more true. We are driven by fast moving technology and a world of constant new commodities. Even our democracy is short sighted. The election process starts at least a year in advance and when one party replaces another they simply spend their time undoing everything. It is a cycle of stagnant near-sightedness.

Hawken asks, will there be anyone around to hear the clock chime in 12,006? He argues that if you do not believe so then you should not have children, because by having children you are are betting on the Clock of Long Now. If you do place the bet that someone will be around to celebrate when the Clock chimes, how could you possibly not do everything in your power to ensure the generations that precede you will inherit a safe, clean world?

I would like to have hope in the clock of long now, and I think it is a clever tool for thinking about the future. Even if I never have children, I am a proud Aunt to ten adorable children and sure hope their descendants are around when the clock chimes. This is enough for me to try to live as simply as I can, and you should too. Bet on the future.

*Excerpts taken from Paul Hawken, "Immunity," Blessed Unrest (Penguin Books: New York, 2007), 154.

Voting With Our Wallets

"From the [World Trade Organization's] perspective, a fish is a fish is a fish, and it doesn't matter what happened to sea turtles, dolphins, or workers when that fish was caught." -Hawken, 120

This statement was very striking to me. Fall term I learned about the Bretton Woods Institutions, World Bank and International Monetary Funds, along with the WTO. These systems claim that they are helping developing countries but in reality, they are exploiting them and hindering them from every developing. An argument my professor in International Studies mentioned was that it seems as though, in order for the West to function, we need the Global South to stay impoverished. We are riding on their backs, and the big global leaders intend to keep it that way. When a developing country needs a loan, the WB opposes structural adjustment programs, demanding that in order for the country to receive their loan they must privatize and open their markets. This has little to no benefit for them at all. In the process of this closed-door money transfers and contracts, the environment is left in the dust. Globalization has woven its way into society but is not a glossy picture. Hawken writes that, inevitably, it entails the corporatization of the commons, i.e., water, seeds, media, and the human genome (121).

"Privatization... removes assets from the hands of the state and place them into the marketplace, where consumers vote every day with their wallets." -Hawken, 129

We are born to consume. When the economy is in crisis, the government gives us more money so that we buy more stuff to stimulate the economy again. What is wrong with this picture? EVERYTHING. We have come a far cry from the simplicity of our ancestors. As Professor Barbara Brower said in class today when talking about how Native American's and other indigenous cultures survived for so long, "They defined their needs and wants. They did not want what nature could not give them." We want what nature cannot give us and this has led civilization down the path of environment and potentially self-destruction. Restoring humanity is not about fancy words such as 'sustainable', 'organic' or even 'environmentalist'. We need to revert, in some strides, back to nature. To put it simply: There are no tomatoes in Oregon in the winter so we should not eat them. Also, modern technology needs to be used as a tool for spreading the message, connecting, and learning, but not a hinderance to face to face communication.

Want what you need. Think before you buy. When you buy that out of season fruit, cheap Made in China toy, or Happy Meal, you are casting your vote and letting your government know you approve. How we use/do not use our wallets can change the world.

Universal Language ≠ Peace

"If languages are living things, inextricable intertwined with biological diversity, the loss of 'verbal botanies' is irreparable, and a monoglot globe is as unthinkable as a world with only one species of tree, flower, and bird." -Hawken, 96

The chapter in Blessed Unrest titled "Indigene" discusses loss of indigenous cultures and languages through extermination and the great 're-naming' (use of the Linnaean taxonomy). I grew up knowing everything has two names: common and scientific. I was a human but I was also a Home sapian. When I fill out paperwork, I fill the circle beside 'caucasian'. In truth, every object has more than two names; each language has its own way of describing things. Especially people, who Linnaeus broke up into multiple subspecies (or races).

What did this mean for the population of the world? They had their own language, and their own names for themselves and now Europeans were imposing a new system upon them with no consideration. This need to classify, while it may seem orderly and useful, cut out a huge chunk of rich world language. Hawken compares language to a living thing that grows, changes, and dies with the last person who could speak it.

Colonists assumed that native languages were inferior, simply because they could not understand them. Darwin himself said, "Their language does not deserve to be called articulate" (Hawken, 91). However, a study done on the Yámana language showed that they had around 33,000 words, and a way to describe nearly everything.

"Yámana is a language of finesse and subtlety. It has sixty-one words for kin, compared to twenty-five in English. There seems to be a precise word to describe every moment in their life." -Hawken, 92

There is a muted debate in America about a national official language. The debit sliders at most stores have an option for English or Spanish. Customers never realize that if they can read that it says 'select language' it is already in English so they punch at the button and say, "Gosh, wouldn't it be easier if everything was just in English? People who come here should speak our language." I never say anything, and I have grown so tired of hearing this I do not even give them my best service clerk smile. The ignorance that pours from a simple fly off the handle statement like this is sad. Would it be easier if world language were monoglot? Of course, we would understand each other all the time. But would that be that great a thing?

Languages are art. They represent the environment they are formed in. When translating between languages some terms simply just do not translate perfectly, because each language has its own was of describing something. My favorite example is the one Hannah gave in class that Italian's do not have a word for privacy. Simply knowing that says so much about their culture.

The wiping out of cultures and language done by conquistadors and colonialists in the 15th century up until now made extinct, or endangered, half the world's living cultural heritage (Hawken, 94).

"As cultures disappear at the rate of thirty a year, we find ourselves placing our species' cultural eggs in fewer and fewer baskets."

-Hawken, 94

Maybe we could all understand each other better if we just listened to what each person is trying to say, no matter how they say it.

Corporation and State: A Dangerous Marriage

"The environmental movement discovered that to protect the environment, it had to confront power, corruption, and mendacity in the world of commerce." -Hawken, 59

While reading "The Rights of Business" in Blessed Unrest, I was reminded of Annie Leonard's (the Story of Stuff lady) latest web video. In this chapter Paul Hawken discusses the power of businesses and the power they hold over government. When reading about these multinational corporations (such as Exxon and Shell) I was picturing a giant machine. We discuss corporations as if they are people, when really, they are a label with multiple real persons behind them. In order to fully launch environmental change - clean energy, emphasis on mass transit, less housing developments - the power has to be returned to citizens. It is nearly impossible to shift America's solo commuter mindset when oil giants like Chevron block the view. This video addresses corporate funding for presidential campaigns but the visual images are what I was picturing while reading.

*This is just a thought post and does not count towards my weekly assignment. See below for week 2 post.