Three Tenets
If we are going to create a sustainable economy, we must accept three tenets.
First, that we are doing nothing. Yes, of course, all of our progress stems from our continued efforts, but the scale and scope of our green plans are insufficient. Let’s not continue to argue particulars and simply accept that we have not adequately addressed the challenge of climate change.
This will save a great deal of time.
Second, all infrastructure must become green. There is no point to rebuilding infrastructure that perpetuates an emissions-based economy. Roads and bridges will be repaired, and that is important, but what part of our expenditure is going to create a sustainable way of living? What will we gain from our $3.5 trillion, and how many times can we afford to spend that sum?
Lastly, we must transform all of our jobs and materials into sustainable practices and beneficial components. Each job must help create balance and shepherd the environment, not simply the economy. The materials we use in our everyday lives must have a sustainable, productive endpoint. We can no longer create products whose lifespan is a mere six months, nor can we use fossil fuel-derived plastics to package every item, and wrap each portion of food.
All of this takes determination and will, so I will ask, “Are you willing to focus on these ideas?” Are you willing to accept that we are doing…“nothing?”
The current infrastructure package is certainly filled with green incentives, but how will we ensure their true implementation? Have many localized, fragmented systems worked smoothly in recent memory? How is vaccination going?
The country is significantly split on how to proceed with our democracy, and is still coping with an enormous amount of fear. It’s hard to care about macro-solutions for the environment, when a green agenda directly threatens your job security and perceived way of life.
Apart from sending Kamala Harris off for another round of speeches, I don’t see where this, or any administration, settles down and speaks to the average person about the benefits of a sustainable future. It’s not that the administration is talking down to anyone, but rather a direct result of our not learning how to speak to one another.
Educated Ivy-league types—such as those attracted to government—rarely speak the language of an Oklahoma oil rigger. Yet, that is where the discussion should begin.
We all have commonalities and we must begin to address them. The oil rigger and the Tesla-driving tech worker both need jobs: in this case, one already has one, while the other’s is precarious, but the common thread between them is employment.
Let’s start there.
Does anyone believe that the current economy was established to provide people employment? Employment is viewed as a necessary evil to achieve profits. Automation and robotics, developed with the prospect of enhancing efficiency and reducing burdens, is driven by the reduction of jobs and the resulting efficiencies are not shared in an “equitable” manner. Society may benefit from cheaper goods, but the earth suffers and our dependency on self-destructive practices continues to grow.
We must uncouple Capitalism from self-destruction—a terrible challenge. Perhaps this is where law and power come into play. Whomever has power, makes the laws, and though that table has always favored the corporate, the recognition of legal damages is growing.
Do entire industries have an inalienable right to destroy our future through their continued existence? At some point, “damages” say no. Where are the leverage points and in what way could the law lead to a cessation of harmful practice?
Can a conservative Supreme Court see the peril to our future and balance the man-made advantages of the corporation, relative to the needs of mankind?
Anything is possible.
Pressure our legislators and our government officials on all levels, to put self-interest aside and use sustainability as a yardstick. Become relentless, and switch up your targets.
One day, connect with your government, another, a corporation, on a third, your friends.
The antidote to doing ‘nothing’ is to start ‘something.’ No job will transform overnight into the engine of a green economy. You need to advocate that change. Gain allies. Speak with the departments of your local colleges and universities. Speak to your local and regional school boards.
Talk to your police. Are your police department’s practices “sustainable?” Talk to your grocer. Is the packaging at your supermarket sustainable?
I know. Yuck…
Nobody really wants to talk to anyone. We all just want to be left alone to do what we do…but…you can get over it, and then, we can do it together.
A million conversations, addressing a million jobs, will push the needle from unconscious destruction to beneficial commiseration. It will strengthen unexercised ties that are already there.
Put your oars in the water.
Then…we just have to pull.
Illustration by Paul Antoniades
