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April 22, 2007 Beyond Earth Day 
I won't lie to you: The past ten years have been tough for the professional tree-huggers of the world. It's gone something like this: "Have you considered carpooling?" says the Professional Tree-Hugger (PTH). "Nah. Gas is cheap, and who needs the hassle?" "Well you know, global climate change is a bit of a problem. We need to do something about that." "Let the government handle it. As long as it doesn't raise my taxes." "Hmm. I see. It might just raise taxes, but it will be cheaper than the long-term consequences of...." "Hey, look! Levi's, half-price!" So if we've looked a little haggard and down at heels, now you know why. If I wanted to I could be bitter that a failed presidential candidate puts together a powerpoint presentation, has it filmed, and overnight the conversation changes: Average Consumer: WE HAVE AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS! Professional Tree-Hugger: Umm, yes. That's true. AC: WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME? PTH: Well, actually.... AC: OH MY GOD! WE HAVE TO CHANGE EVERYTHING! RIGHT NOW! THANK GOD FOR AL GORE! PTH: Sigh.... AC: As long as it doesn't raise my taxes. I have a 2,000 square-foot vacation home in the Kawarthas that's not going to heat itself, you know. PTH: *collapses* So, yes, easy to be bitter. But mostly I'm not. Mostly I'm just overjoyed that at long last, people outside the profession are actually paying attention! And contemplating real changes! It's so exciting! Why, I bought two separate fitness magazines in the month of April and both of them--both!--had substantial environmentally-friendly fitness sections. Do you know I don't think I've ever seen that before. In fact, this April, I don't think I've seen a single magazine cover that doesn't make some sort of token nod to environmental issues. Yay! But. Oh, there's always a but. I'm a kill-joy. Isn't that why you love me? The magazines are still ultimately in the business of encouraging you to want things. That's how they attract advertisers, which is how they stay in business. And as I've said before--a lot--environmental sustainability will not be achieved by buying things. It will be achieved by not buying things. Not buying. So if you're in the habit of celebrating earth day by purchasing a green gizmo that is nearly identical to the green gizmo you bought last earth day, this is a good time to reconsider that practice. When I saw this article on WorldChanging, I did a little happy dance in my seat. My colleagues looked at me funny, but see, they're also Professional Tree-Huggers, so if I explained it they'd probably do a little chair-dancing too. "The biggest problem with Earth Day is that it has become a ritual of sympathy for the idea of environmental sanity. Small steps, we're told, ignoring the fact that most of the steps most frequently promoted (returning your bottles, bringing your own bag, turning off the water while you brush your teeth) are of such minor impact (compared to our ecological footprints) that they are essentially meaningless without larger, systemic action as well. The strategy of recycling as a gateway drug -- get them hooked on it and we can move them on to harder stuff -- has failed miserably." Look at that! Oh my god! Isn't that what I've been saying for, well, years? "If the politics of gesture weren't bad enough, Earth Day is rapidly becoming a firestorm of gestural shopping. Marketers today will shamelessly slap the "green" label on nearly anything, including things that are demonstrably stupid and ecologically steps backwards -- Hello? A solar-powered bikini? WTF? -- encouraging us to mistake shopping therapy for strategic consumption. We've said it before, and we'll say it here again: you can't shop your way to sustainability." Amen! "Of course, perhaps we're less concerned than we ought to be about widespread collapse because the catastrophe has so far overtaken not wealthy white people but poor people of color in poverty-striken regions like New Orleans, Haiti, Rwanda and the Sahel. Here, too, the message of Earth Day is disheartening: while we mark the day in part to help our kids feel a sense of environmental responsibility, on a planet where climate change alone already (by conservative projections) kills 150,000 people a year (think, roughly, of a 9/11 every week) and the forecast through much of Africa, South Asia and the Middle East calls for nothing but climate misery, the other 364 days of our year look like a smokestack-sized raised middle finger." Whew. I'm feeling a little faint. "That measure -- one planet, three decades -- should be the gold standard against which we judge all activism and politics, commerce and innovation. And though we can't say precisely how profoundly we must change or exactly how quickly, we can't let ourselves or others off the hook in that regard: the numbers are close enough to be terrifying. One planet, three decades." Oh, just read the whole damned thing. No, you won't be chair-dancing. But it's so worth it, and so true, and today on Earth Day what I'd like for my readers is to take a step back and think about what exactly it is we're trying to accomplish. Yes, Litter Days in the local park are swell, and I'm not saying we abandon this; but a few candy bar wrappers by the children's swingset is not going to be the difference between the existence or the destruction of the human species. Yes, making small steps in your own personal lifestyle is important, and does make a difference; but if you are making the same small steps over and over again because anything else looks too hard, that is no longer helping. We need to change everything. I know most people don't like change as much as I do, so that might seem scary; but if you can't figure out what to do or how to do it, can I ask you nicely at the very least to stay out of the way of the people who are trying to save the planet for your children? OK? It might mean raising taxes. It might mean that a lot of things you are used to paying pennies for might cost dollars, because that's how much they ought to cost. It might mean some things are less convenient. You might not be able to drive as much as you are used to. You might not be able to afford that 3,000 square foot house anymore. You might not be able to afford all the stuff you'd need to fill it anyway. You might not take so many plane trips. And if what you have to do is close your eyes and sob, then go ahead and close your eyes and sob. But that world is going away anyway, now or later, either because everything collapses and we don't have a choice or because we as a society grow up and let it go. We must be past the spring solstice; I'm interested in the world again. I'll try to be less preachy about it in the future than I am today. We in Canada will be facing an election this year, probably. Maybe you can't downsize into a small energy-efficient green home and sell your car, at least not yet; and maybe the thought of giving up a weekly shoe or purse purchase is still too scary. I'm not going to tell you how you should live your life. But I will ask this of you: When that election comes (and it will) the environment will be a big issue. Some of the candidates will promise you the moon. They will blow fairy dust up your ass and try to convince you that they can lower taxes, improve the resource-based economy and prevent global warming without making any significant changes to how we get around, build our houses, or the price of bread or t-shirts. This is a complete and utter fabrication. They are lying to you. There will be other candidates who will say that they want to make difficult changes, and it might cost some money, and it might mean change. That's the one you should vote for. Posted by Andrea at April 22, 2007 9:57 AM under The World EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments Great post and thanks for the link! I think that the small steps can help lead to the big steps. I've been making a much more concerted effort on the smaller steps, and it has made me think more consciously about the bigger ones, particularly in terms of consumption. BUT I've also been putting a lot of thought into this and care (and have cared for a long time) enough to scrutinize my actions in this way--one of my big fears is that most people will either be unwilling or actively resistant to thinking about even the small things. Posted by: Mouse at April 22, 2007 11:26 AM
Extremely well said, Andrea. And to this I would add (since I think we have a limited time license to be uncharacteristically preachy/bossy, in honour of Earth Day): DEMOCRACY IS A RESPONSIBILITY. We have a lot to lose in the current climate (no pun intended). Do your homework on all the issues that matter to you. Don't be a passive voter who gets swayed by sound-bytes and newspaper headlines and campaign attack ads. Find out for yourself what each candidate/party stands for and what they can reasonably deliver, given his/her personal track-record and the party's track-record. Because we have to use our one vote to vote for both the party and the candidate in Canada, you may have to balance out your faith in the local candidate vs. the national party (e.g., if you'd give the local candidate an A+ and that candidate's national party a B-, for example). Make your vote really count because other people who have particular agendas to promote have been busy rallying their troops for a long time and you may not discover until after election day which agendas are being promoted and by whom. Some people have a vested interest in promoting an anti-environment agenda (the same people who have pooh-poohed climate change for a very long time -- do some research and you'll be surprised to find out that many of those people have become environmental chameleons, speaking the language of environmental change because it's now in their political interest to do so, but they're still not necessarily prepared to truly walk the walk). Ditto for any other issue that matters to you. Realize that if you aren't finding out which candidates/parties will best respresent your views and interests, you risk being sweet-talked into voting for the best talker (or the best financed candidate) rather than the candidate of principle who actually stands for something. Posted by: Ann D at April 22, 2007 11:35 AM
One thing that angers me is that sure coal-fired power plants will be shut down eventually, but they're going to be replaced by nuclear energy. Why not wind energy? My friend told me that Canada has one of the best wind profiles in the world for wind energy, but we're not really using it... I am thinking of signing up for this bullfrog power, which uses only certified green energy and wind energy. Do you know anything about that? Is it just a marketing scheme, or will it really help? Posted by: cinnamon gurl at April 22, 2007 11:50 AM
IF I were a voting person and IF you were a candidate, I'd be voting for you. Posted by: LauraJ at April 22, 2007 12:25 PM
Great post! And good on you for addressing the lazy, consumerist approach to environmentalism that has seduced so many of late. Something I find particularly frustrating, in addition to that approach, is people's unwillingness to acknowledge and take responsibility for their choices -- even to see the environmentally destructive things they do as *choices*. In a sense, this resistance is understandable. No one wants to think of herself as contributing to the destruction of the planet -- a planet her own children and grandchildren are going to need in the future -- so it's easier to say things such as, "I'd love to give up my car, but I don't have a choice. I need it to get to work" ... when what is really meant (but rarely acknowledged, even to the self) is something like this: "Taking transit or riding a bike is too inconvenient. I can't be bothered, and besides, I work hard; I have a right to be comfortable." The recognition of individual rights is, in many important ways, one of the great achievements of western democracy. But it seems we've reached a point at which, for the sake of something bigger and more fundamental, certain individual freedoms and conveniences -- often mistaken in our culture for basic "rights" -- need to be relinquished. I think a good part of the psychological battle of environmental sustainability could also be won if more of us (particularly the relatively affluent consumers of the world) were to recognize the choices we make as choices. If it's "impossible" for me to get from my house in the distant suburbs to my job in the city without a car, I need to consider the extent to which I was "forced" into both the large suburban house and the job in the city. If my kids have extracurricular activities that "require" rapid shuttling by minivan, there too, I must consider the choices that created the activity schedule in the first place. On the subject of kids, I find it puzzling that more parents don't share your commitment to the future, Andrea. I know that my friends and acquaintances with children love those children dearly and would probably sacrifice their own lives for them. So what accounts for the apparent blindness to what the parents' own behaviours will ultimately mean for the children? All right, time for me to come down off the soapbox now. I fully acknowledge that none of the changes I keep ranting about is *easy*, and that the problems we all face are extraordinarily complex. Maybe the best thing that we can do on Earth Day is to leave the litter on the ground for the time being and instead devote some honest reflection to more serious environmental problems and to the choices we can make to help avert catastrophe. Thanks again for your thoughts! And sorry if I seem to be entering the discussion out of nowhere (and with a rant no less!) ... I introduced myself in the comments section of an earlier post (April 6, I think), but it occurs to me now that you might not have seen that entry. Cheers! Posted by: Heather Burt at April 22, 2007 12:31 PM
Excellent, educational and thought-provoking post, as usual Andrea! I agree that small steps alone won't get us to where we need to be. I'm always dumb-founded when I meet people that won't even give the small steps a try. You know the ones with the head in the ground, "not my problem" mentality. I was recently reminded of the honey-bee population decline. Pollution and global warming aside, without honey-bees our major crops are pretty much doomed within a handful of years. I'm shaking in my boots. If it were proven that it WAS cell-phone use that was causing the bee population to decline (and I'm not saying it is, I'm just pretending) how likely is it, do you think, that people would voluntarily give up their phones? Me, I'm not so optimistic. Posted by: Miche at April 22, 2007 2:50 PM
Here's what's going on at our house: we're shopping less. We've also made the decision that as our two cars age, we're going to trade them in for environmentally-friendly cars (very high mileage, either hybrid or whatever) and no longer cart around the minivan (19 mpg currently) or the Jeep (20 mpg). We're also trying to make fewer trips. But we could be doing a lot better about it all. Posted by: liz at April 22, 2007 5:50 PM
The Earth will be perfectly OK regardless what temp. it is at or how much ice there is. All YOU are concerned with is your own personal little habitats. Your worried that you may be personally inconvenienced, this is selfishness at its worst. You decided to play(too much) and now you realized there are reactions to you actions. Just sit back and enjoy yourselves it appears that’s all people are good for anyway. Tyler Goines
Posted by: tyler at April 22, 2007 5:53 PM
Hey look, it's my first ecotroll! (Remember not to feed the trolls, everyone.) Posted by: Andrea at April 22, 2007 6:24 PM
Could we change 'outside the profession" to 'outside America' or would that be too mean? And slapped wrists for buying two magazines in a month! That's at least a couple of branches just there. Posted by: mcewen at April 22, 2007 6:52 PM
Remember the '80s? How we were all worried about the Brazilian Rain Forest? Then the eco-fad passed. This time, I'm hopin' against hope that its not a fad. Having had a miserable time at my local Earth Day rally (focussed on preserving a university-owned woodlot from being sold to create big box stores--while the mall sits empty) I find myself dreadfully aware that there really is little real commitment. Hey, I may own a 10-year-old Toyota Tercel and I may walk to work every day but I fall for the desire trap hook, line and sinker. As you know b/c I confess it all the time. Posted by: Mad Hatter at April 22, 2007 8:11 PM
mcewen, I think it would definitely be too mean. A) I'm outside America. B) Europe has been leading in environmental change for about two decades. Mad, I do! Barely. Sadly, that was before my time, environmentally speaking; and it's been a pretty cold world for the ecofreaks among us ever since. Posted by: Andrea at April 22, 2007 8:38 PM
i feel a bit faint too. damn that Al Gore for figuring out the climate crisis. Kidding. And thank you. Posted by: jen at April 22, 2007 10:46 PM
Once again, Andrea, you steal my post idea and then write it better. [Shakes fist in your general direction!] Kidding. Here's a little Earth Day Head Explosion Catalyst for you: My mother-in-law, an elementary school teacher, said that her students spent Friday picking up litter in the surrounding neighborhood. Wonderful! And Eli Lilly donated HUNDREDS of disposable gloves for the kids to wear during the process. Are you laughing or crying right now? Posted by: Casey at April 23, 2007 8:06 AM
Since I don't live in Canada, I can't vote, but if I could, I would. Change is hard and potentially expensive but the planet is irreplaceable. And isn't adaptation supposed to equate to survival? It's gotten that important, that if we don't adapt, we won't survive. I only hope we ~ as a whole and not just the people who saw this coming ten years ago ~ aren't becoming aware of our situation too late. Posted by: Andrea at April 23, 2007 10:39 AM
Everybody take a minute and think about how great grandma kept house. Then go on a product patrol and eliminate the toxins. It's amazing what you can do with baking soda and vinegar -- doesn't take any more time, and if you really need that clean lemon scent, use some lemon. Posted by: Mary G at April 23, 2007 10:52 AM
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Change is God (Octavia Butler, Parable Series) "If the writer is a socially privileged person--particularly a White or a male or both--his imagination may have to make an intense and conscious effort to realize that people who don't share his privileged status may read his work and will not share with him many attitudes and opinions that he has been allowed to believe or pretend are shared by 'everybody.' Since the belief in a privileged view of reality is no longer tenable outside privileged circles, and often not even within them, fiction written from such an assumption will make sense only to a decreasing, and increasingly reactionary, audience. Many women writing today, however, still choose the male viewpoint, finding it easier to do so than to write from the knowledge that feminine experience of reality is flatly denied by many potential readers, including the majority of critics and professors of literature, and may rouse defensive hostility and contempt. The choice, then, would seem to be between collusion and subversion; but there's no use pretending that you can get away without making a choice. Not to choose, these days, is a choice made. All fiction has ethical, political and social weight, and sometimes the works that weigh the heaviest are those apparently fluffy or escapist fictions whose authors declare themselves 'above politics,' 'just entertainers,' and so on." Ursula le Guin Email Frances! frances AT athenadreaming DOT org You can email her mother too (that's me):
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