Change for a Ten

Umbra on taking the next step

Posted by Bricolage at 12:41 PM on 24 Aug 2005

So you've blasted your way through that list of Top Ten Things You Can Do to Save the Earth and All the Creatures That Walk Upon It, and you're not sure what to do with your days. Does life seem emptier now that all your bulbs are compact fluorescents and all your trips to the organic co-op are made by bike? Fear not! Advice maven Umbra Fisk is watching out for you environmental overachievers, and she says your work is not yet done. It's time to become an agent of social change. Ready, set ... whoa!

new in Ask Umbra: Change for a Ten

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Top This

Less than 100 gallons of gas per year for over 5 years
Average less than 100 gallons of water per month for over five years
Average less than 100 kWh of electricity per month for five years

Data: www.organic-blue.com

Solar Kismet

by solarkismet at 1:59 PM on 24 Aug 2005

change to a more activist job

I've just quit my "mainstream" job to start ecolibrarian.org, an effort to optimize and link the libraries of the numerous environmental organizations in the Puget Sound area. No pay, no benefits, but lots of potential for changing the world.

Jonathan Betz-Zall Seattle, Wash, USA, Earth jbz@scn.org

by jbz at 3:18 PM on 24 Aug 2005

Leverage your influence at work

Focusing on how you can influence decisions at your place of work or what career choice is can be extremely impactful. Who makes the purchasing choices for your office? Who manages your fleet vehicles? Who has influence over how your product or service is packaged or produced? Who sources the materials? Who produces your marketing material? Is it already printed on recycled paper with soy ink? If you are directly involved or have the ear of the right person then spend some time building a case for making changes that support sustainability. Encourage your suppliers and partners to follow suite. It's important to divert as many dollars as we can to companies that support sustainable business practices. If money makes the world go round then let's spend it where it counts.

"Those who say it can't be done should not interrupt those doing it." -Chinese Proverb

by ferrisk2 at 3:21 PM on 24 Aug 2005

Cut CO2

Here's one to add...

Buy a TerraPass.

by jdeely at 9:44 PM on 24 Aug 2005

change the ten (think locally)

Sometimes thinking globally doesn't give the best answer. For example, where I live, "Eat less beef" should be changed to "Eat more beef, as long as it's range-fed." Without fire or bison, our native grasslands need cattle. Well-intended "wildlife refuges," fenced off and left untouched, have deteriorated from native grassland into tangles of woody and introduced plants. Meanwhile, vegetarian food (grains and legumes) is growing on grassland that should never have been broken. Cattle could harvest and fertilize that land much more gently and efficiently than the tractors. So think locally. Write a top-ten list that works for where you live. And don't share it with the world. Just your neighbours.

by LauraH at 12:46 AM on 25 Aug 2005

Change for a Ten

I am able to multiply my efforts many times by starting discussion circles on simplicity and sustainability. People can start their own simplicity circle using the Cecile Andrews method or use discussion guides such as those by the Northwest Earth Institute. Participating in circles is truly a life changing experience. You get a lot of encouragement and support and become part of a community of like-minded folks. Circles are available all over the USA and parts of the world. If one doesn't exist in your area, start one yourself!

Marney Bruce, Bethesda, Maryland, Simplicity Matters Earth Instiute

by marney at 11:56 AM on 25 Aug 2005

Green Teams

Start from the ground up and lead by example: organize and lead Green Teams in your neighborhood and at work. More information (to adopt to your local community): http://www.greenteamproject.org/.

by katie at 12:10 PM on 25 Aug 2005

Wrong, LauraH

Bring back the bison and wildfires, get rid of the cattle.

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 12:25 AM on 26 Aug 2005

Political Change for a Ten

A great way to put your environmental concerns to broader use is to get involved with a regional or national policy board. I recommend the Progressive Democrats of America (http://pdamerica.org/policy/), which allows people to nominate others or themselves to serve on task forces. It is a great organization that is already having an impact on the political landscape. There is a vetting procedure for task force membership and it isn't guaranteed that you'll be selected, but (speaking as the acting chair of the environment and sustainability policy task force) we can really use thoughtful, knowledgeable, and articulate people with good ideas about how to craft strong statements of policy and promote effective action. We have put together a set of position papers that will soon be posted on the PDA web site, and we are about to embark on a bunch of new initiatives, so please consider getting involved! We generally "meet" by conference call once or twice a month and otherwise communicate by e-mail.

Rachel M.

by Rachel M at 7:28 AM on 26 Aug 2005

this is getting OT but...

Really, jdhlax, how far do you want to take that? Maybe bring back the mastodons and lions and get rid of the humans? So I guess the top ten list of what individuals can do would start with #1 - move back to Eurasia.

by LauraH at 9:46 AM on 26 Aug 2005
[ Parent ]

Priorities

My main concerns are wildlife and wilderness, not people. Ideally, I'd like to see all humans back in the tropical savannas where they evolved (Africa, Asia, wherever), leaving the rest of the planet to other species. Humans are hogging the whole planet!

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 8:30 PM on 26 Aug 2005

but what can you do?

Hogging the planet, yes, definitely. (Maybe the term "hogging" will in some future age be changed to "humanning.") But getting back to the topic, what can one person do? Volunteer not to exist? I don't believe that the kind of changes you are suggesting could be accomplished through individuals making personal choices in favour of the environment. Even for a much less ambitious change, such as shifting most cattle production to range-feeding, you would need many, many people on board, and you don't get that kind of support when you start with the premise that huge numbers of us abandon the only land we know as home.

by LauraH at 9:22 PM on 26 Aug 2005
[ Parent ]

Bison

Bison substituted for cattle, that's a good compromise Laura. Eat more bison! ( and venison...here in our local area plenty of protein exists all around on the hoof, way too many deer, humans are not eating enough of them.)

"Volunteer not to exist?"

Or volunteer not to reproduce? Those are going too far.

Stick around and solve problems and raise children that solve problems. All moving towards one solution, bring humanity back into harmony with mother earth.

Bring natural spiritual energy into the lives of those you meet, even if you only meet them on the world wide web.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 4:33 AM on 29 Aug 2005

I Agree On Comrpomise ...

if Laura does.

However, I totally disagree with Amazing that we shouldn't volunteer not to breed. Humans are grossly overpopulated, and the only ethical way to solve that is to limit families to one child or not breed at all. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement has a great idea: http://www.vhemt.org/

Stop worshipping humans. We're not inherently better or more important than any other species biologically or ecologically, and the planet would be far better off if we never existed.

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 11:49 PM on 29 Aug 2005

on compromise

jdhlax, thanks for the tip about the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. Very entertaining, well written, perhaps a bit weak on some minor points of evolutionary science but strong on logic and certainly worth sharing as food for thought. I particularly appreciate the idea of doing something great with your own good genes rather than creating another mix in the next generation and hoping. But it's too late for me, I'm enmeshed in hopes for my children and my community like so many others, so I look for compromises that can gather support. Bison as a compromise? I have no objections to bison (except that they are a hard sell), but just substituting bison for cattle in our current system wouldn't solve anything. The big, difficult, high-pay-off changes are to get the grazers out of feedlots and get the marginal cropland back into grass. This will take some serious community and political will, and I don't expect to build that by talking about bison and wildfires. Some land managers are using bison as just another form of livestock, to help manage pastures a little better, and that's a step in the right direction. Controlled burns are showing good results. Big nature preserves may be able to use bison and wildfires to maintain some benchmark natural areas. But bison and wildfires as the answer for the Great Plains? This just won't gather the public support it would need to succeed.
Sorry if I seemed dismissive - that's never my intent. I only mentioned "going further and getting rid of the people" to make the point that there is no ecological state that science can say is "natural" or "ideal". Humans are a part of nature - and if you want to argue that human society has become unnatural, just where would you draw the line? I think there may be a line that we can find, but it will be rooted in our cultural values, our sense of beauty, and it will be broad and blurry. I believe we need to share our sense of values, of ideals, and listen, listen, listen, if we are to find a harmony that can work for all. amazingdrx, I appreciate your comment about spreading natural spiritual energy to everyone you meet. Thank you both for your comments.

by LauraH at 11:48 AM on 30 Aug 2005
[ Parent ]

What Alex Steffen has to say

On the topic of reverting back to an older model of human civilization, I direct you to Dave's interview with Alex Steffen.

by Chris Schults at 12:09 PM on 30 Aug 2005
[ Parent ]

Line Drawing

Thank you for your comments also. After seeing that you didn't mean to be dismissive and that you're trying to restore some semblance of grassland, I fully respect your point of view. Our main difference is that I'm radical and don't favor one species over another, including humans. I have no problem removing humans or, as in this case, their domesticated species, from areas where they're causing significant ecological damage just by being there. Below is my response to your philosophical question.

"[I]f you want to argue that human society has become unnatural, just where would you draw the line?"

A clear line is the very ecologically destructive move from living as hunter-gatherers to living as agriculturalists. Even before that, humans over hunted some animals to extinction or extirpation, but the discovery of agriculture was a clear line that humans crossed in going from living naturally (i.e., in harmony with the planet) to living unnaturally. Beyond that, industrialism is another, further line we've crossed in the wrong direction. Just about every new technology makes our society more unnatural.

BTW, my definition of "natural" is "of nature" as opposed to "of humans."

Jeff Hoffman

by jdhlax at 3:54 PM on 30 Aug 2005

oy

BTW, my definition of "natural" is "of nature" as opposed to "of humans."

Tautology much?

grist.org

by David Roberts at 4:56 PM on 30 Aug 2005

Re: what can you do?

I'm dismayed how quickly Umbra's call for practical suggestions on ways to become agents of social change has degenerated into this debate on human self-annihilation, moving to Eurasia and eating bison and venison. I have another suggestion: let us all ignore the urgent problems before us and instead set up committees to study the issues... oh, sorry! That's taken. The president beat me to it!

But seriously, I second Chris Schults' suggestion above: read what Alex Steffen has to say:

"When environmentalists suggest that the proper goal is for us to go back and wear furs and shoot deer with longbows, we make ourselves irrelevant in the planning of the future.

"And that's a terrible thing, because we're in the midst of making vastly important decisions about the fate of our planet, and environmentalists need to be heard in that debate."

by sukumar at 9:17 PM on 30 Aug 2005

ADVERTISING POLICY

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