Rather than accepting the tempting conclusion of overwhelming futility towards expressing any dissenting views about the present climate talks in Copenhagen, I have decided to use this space for any and all of its potential. and so, not so modestly, I propose ideas like this:
Recently in AM New York, one of our two free daily papers here in NYC, the headline was “A World Divided: Nations struggle over best way to stop global warming. To its left, one of the side headlines read, “Gifts for the little women in your life.” The bitter irony hit me like a sledgehammer — are they really that dim? Among all the international media hype about these talks (which hasn’t really been THAT much, considering the fate of all life on ear this at stake), among the specifics (whenever they are rarely mentioned) of “renewable energy,” “cleaner” technologies, and other “advanced” alternatives that different businesses and empires are proposing, there’s one question that’s so simple, so obvious, that no one (not even the guy from Moldives, bless his heart) dares to broach:
What about consumption?
Why is it that we don’t question our need to buy more (and, we believe, better) stuff every day — especially at this time of year — even when our credit card bills are looming, and our closets are full of things that we never use? Don’t you think there’s some correlation between the facts that the U.S. and China together produce 40% of the world’s greenhouse gases, and the U.S. is the world’s biggest economy, while it seems like everything here is made in China? (Everything from dollar-store knick-knacks to the high-tech iPhones, yes.) When Canada has the Tar Sands oil fields — possibly the most environmentally destructive project in the world — and China has the Three Gorges Dam, where a nation is willing to destroy the homes of millions of people for the mouth of more energy, we would be joking to claim we could build enough geothermal, wind, and solar power plants in the next 5-10 years (the window we have to turn around global warming, according to NASA climate scientist James Hansen) to replace all of these gigantic toxic power structures.
It’s time we start seeing every dollar we spend on new products as one dollar too many. It’s come down to that. There is simply NO WAY our global economy can continue this scale of production for the next 50 years and expect to be able to have enough resources left (and I’m talking basic things, like clean air, water, and land) to survive another generation. Take the example of oil. Everyone talks about oil when the greenhouse gas issue comes up…. people talk about cars and consider them inevitable for their lifestyles, and think wistfully or sarcastically about the new hybrids. But look inside the interior of that Prius, and what do you think it’s made out of? Derivatives of oil, of course! Look at the pen in your hand — OIL! Your tube of toothpaste, your lawn chairs, your insulation, your comb, even your medicines, and you’ll find the same thing — OIL. The media isn’t going to mention that when their broadcast tapes are made from oil. Nearly everything we buy is made from, if not oil, than dead trees, or some mass-produced monoculture crop that requires huge amounts of oil-based pesticide and fertilizer as well as water, or mined from some place that destroys its surroundings and will eventually run out.
So far, even in this short analysis, we’ve touched on two main sources of greenhouse gases: oil emissions/production and direct industry pollution. Then there’s the third – methane – as a result of livestock waste — not for any fault of the animals, but because we’ve bred BILLIONS of them, an increasing majority of which live in intensive confinement — and there’s no way any environment can support that long-term. The global agriculture industries have pushed intensive meat production at a much higher rate in the last few decades, causing even more production of a highly consumptive industry that harms everyone from the workers to the land to the water, and most of all, the animals themselves. And don’t forget the other major source of methane, landfill off-gassing! We throw away so much crap every day that it actually becomes more toxic over time; or else, the trash incinerators end up burning a lot of plastic, which people already know is a toxic thing to do.
So what are we supposed to do about this? Just sit and sulk, from Copenhagen to Christmas? No, actually, the unthinkable IS possible. There is a way we can all contribute. It all comes down to two words:
BUY LESS.
We have to learn to leave well enough alone. If we have something that already works, why get a new one? If it’s broken, seek out that old appliance repair shop before it goes out of business — it might be a simple fix. Shoe repair shops can be very affordable. Ask your grandmother how to sew and knit. Imagine how happy your loved ones would be if you made something new and beautiful out of some old clothes that needed repair! You could go the tech route and fix your friend’s old laptop, upgrade it to run really well, and decorate the front, to make it a truly unique piece. Make it easy to reuse. If you want some new clothes, music, toys, or furniture, scour the thrift stores or garage sales for the most enjoyable, unique pieces, and find something special. Find some music from previous generations, that costs next to nothing on vinyl or cassette, and convert it to CD or digital files. Learn how to fix your mp3 player! Teach the skills you’ve learned to your friends and family. The internet is such a vast resource that we can learn how to do almost anything.
Our production is so bloated right now that we have enough right here, already, to satisfy our needs for the foreseeable future. If we can rely on what we have, we can cut down on the never-ending waste stream of industrialized nations like ours, survive better on less money while incurring less debt, and finally reclaim the creative skills we have neglected for most of our lives. Sure, all the media will say that “consumer spending is down,” that this is hurting the economy — but on the long term, this is the only thing that will save us. We have to consider the impact of every purchase, every material that our possessions are composed of, the transportation and the labor involved in every facet of every last thing that we buy, and realize that THIS, from global warming to habitat destruction to species extinction – is what is destroying our planet. It may look pretty pretty good to us right now, but by the time the effects of global warming really kick in, it will be too late to reverse. The global warming symptoms that we’re seeing now are from the pollution of 50 years ago – when our global population was a small fraction of what it is now. Global warming WILL get worse — but if we don’t radically change our lifestyles right now, our fate will be inevitable.
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