Wherever I look today, new companies, Web sites, magazine features and television reports are focusing on eco-friendly everything. Be it alternative energy, hybrid vehicles, “offsetting your carbon imprint,” brand name organics, whatever, the strength of environmentalism is growing and I’m happy to see it. The country seems to have finally woken up to the crises we are facing; or, at least, the economy has.
I have a small problem with the motivations, though. It seems purely selfish to me, both individually and as a species. Individually, it has gone from being hip — hence all the celebrities driving Prius’s and having “eco-friendly weddings” and the whathaveya — to being profitable — hence all the start-ups trying to sell new gadgets related to this hipness.
As a species, the reason that we have suddenly woken up to the looming ecological threats seems to be purely self-preservation. While the movement had been accelerating before it, those levies breaking in New Orleans last September seem to have been the real watershed moment, no pun intended, of this new movement. As the United States watched the near-destruction of one of its great cities, we thought about our own homes destroyed, our own lives turned upside-down, and we decided it was time to start paying attention.
Ultimately, I don’t care how people discover their inner green, because today I feel like there’s at east some promise we’ll change the direction of our consumption before it’s too late. I’m glad people are paying attention and trying to do things to change our anti-Earth ways, but I can’t help feeling that it’s all kind of empty. If it wasn’t for the hipness or the self-preservation, nobody would give a damn.
What I feel is missing from all of it is a true love for the Earth. I think of a quote from Sigurd Olson:
“There can be no real, lasting land ethic without love.”
As I see more eco-Web sites and eco-blogs and eco-gadgets and eco-marketing popping up, I feel like we’re at risk of losing sight of some priorities, some sense of what is important and why.
Loving the Earth is important to me because this planet is amazing, because the creatures that live here with us are some sort of miracles, and because the sum of it all is more than I can comprehend.
Last spring, I attended a talk by Dave Foreman, who defined the term “eco-warrior,†and he stressed that things like the discovery that lynx are breeding in northern Minnesota for the first time in many years is important not because it would be cool to see a lynx someday, or because it represents some sort of success by the environmental movement, but “because they are just doing what lynx do.”
That type of love needs to be at the core of environmentalism for it to be an ethic, rather than merely a new-and-improved form of exploiting Mother Earth. It’s not too late to change anything, that’s for sure. The sphere is young and will grow. Already, I see signs here and there: articles about conservation and spirituality, a new green aesthetic that could stand on its own, a sincere feeling of higher purpose, and yes, the necessary collision of green and popular
culture.
There’s no sense in criticizing without trying to change it, and I’m still trying to figure out how I can be involved and effective. For now, I write about what I love and why I love it, but it’s not enough. Anyone want to figure out a way to do something more together?
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5 Comments
I think being present to the world–as we are when we are “in love”–and celebrating that love with others is the greatest thing we can do. If people, as you said, can come to love this place with its creatures and mountains, they will be less motivated by the consumptive culture we live in (I love the irony of new companies selling eco-gadgets when what we really need is less companies making any gadgets) and more motivated by their relationship.
Really nice, thought provoking piece.
I agree, “eco-friendly”, and even “environmental education” are industries that attempt to market an idea using today’s consumptive, destructive practices. It’s an image, a status symbol. But whatever “market saturation” these ideas attain, there still remains the fact that there are very few among us who are exposed to the kinds of experiences necessary to cultivate the love–and love is really what it’s all about.
I am reminded of a Greg Brown quote: “Brook trout are God’s reminder to us that creation is a good idea.” I like Greg Brown because his lyrics often show the kind of love you’re talking about, without being preachy or being marketed as “environmental music”.
Writing and blogging are a good start in effecting change, but I agree it doesn’t feel like enough. I often feel like I’m just preaching to the choir. I try to live my life with less impact, and I guess how one lives one’s life is the best evidence of one’s convictions, but am I creating any kind of ripple effect in living my secluded, private lifestyle?
You’ve got the wheels rolling in my mind now. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
As a guy writing technical engineering material, I’m constantly questioning how what I’m promoting or looking into fits into environmentalism. I don’t distrust the field I work in, but it deals so often with really awful stuff (haz waste, for example); which means there’s a profit angle. In my field, we aren’t making things better so much as working to keep things from getting worse. Sometimes that feels like a bitter pill, you know? I want more action.
Hey: I’m with you. But please don’t ever sell short the value of what you do in writing about these issues and posting the writing openly. That makes a difference.
-cK
hey guys, thanks for all the thoughtful comments. this blog is constantly evolving and one thought is to make the main show about love, but to also use it as a portal to news and the such about conservation. maybe the first step looks pretty small, but my little “recent reads” widget in the sidebar is the beginning of that.
sorry, your comments got my wheels churning too, but i don’t have the time or the focus to respond in full right now. just wanted to say ‘thanks’ for commenting.
This is a great read, and as mentioned above it’s got the wheels spinning. I think it goes even deeper than conservation, yet is within all of our grasp. It’s Love, as you said, and Respect. For our natural world, for each other, and for ourselves (sans excessive pride). To be able to give without expecting anything in return is a tough pill to swallow, especially in a world that is all about earning as much, taking as much, and using as much as possible.
Great read… Thanks bum.