Watching Soros on the PBS news hour, I was struck by what he had to say about the current financial crisis. One of the major points he made was that this nation's and indeed the developed world consumption days are near the end. A line from one of Jackson Browne songs came to mind: “Perhaps a better world is drawing near. And just as easily it could all disappear.” As I thought about it, a fear gripped me. Could it be that the world was in fact spinning out of control. But then it came to me that all this progress, all this madness that characterizes this age of consumption and waste is built upon a planet that has an infinite capacity to replenish itself. That the madness of more like any other human mental illness can be cured with behavior modification.
The “throwaway” society needs to be transformed. Humans can survive for this world renews itself with each cycle. What needs to be done is to live in harmony with the ways of the world. The idea that we need to get our food in a printed cardboard box is sheer folly. The practice of receiving our purchases in plastic bags is madness. The fact that we need to slave away reshaping natural resources into plastic stuff so that it can be useless fill in our dumps borders on the insane. In short, whatever so called modern day so called conveniences that have been pushed upon us, transported to us with diesel trucks will need be eliminated. Same goes with cars that basically send us into corridors of time wasting jams. A new way will be needed, a way compatible with the world.
When you think of it, it might just be the destiny that will sustain us as a species. The idea that the world was an infinite supplier of resources only to be used once and then cast aside flies in the face of the natural order. Indeed, the earth has always been a renewable source of life sustaining gifts. Our presence on this planet is short in comparison to other species. We certainly have the wherewithal to begin to go back to the fundamentals and grow and even prosper. That is certainly in contradiction to the slogan, “Drill baby drill.” In short, there has to be a new world view of what is good and what is bad. And what is good for us is the reshaping of habits, expectations, and culture.
Thus, it always comes down to choices. Currently, in this election cycle, we have the old and the new. The old will tell us that we are the greatest gift to the planet with a government that is the model for all to follow. This proposition ignores the injustices that have been undertaken under this cloak of righteousnesses. It will tell us that experience and traditions are more important than vision. It will extol what we know and believe for what we dream. In the end, all the rhetoric that spews forth from conservatives will only lead us down a road clogged with outdated transportation. We will choke and die in the exhaust of wastefulness and consumption. For drill baby drill is a call from a time that has long passed.
The idea that we can begin a process whereby we can draw our energy from renewable sources, that we can become responsible stewards of this planet, that we can sustain ourselves on a world that has an infinite capacity to provide all that we need to live is an idea whose time has come.
We are now facing the question of human survival because of our consumption. Like all binges of the human spirit it will be a difficult transition. But like the drunk who puts down the drink and stumbles and shakes his way into a responsible person free of his addiction, the growth to this new way of existing just might bring us humans to a place where life is valued above property and the human spirit can flourish as it once meant to flourish in harmony with each other and the world itself.
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