Surely The Omnivore's Dilemma author Michael Pollan is a superhero, he (and Mike Rowe) certainly are my superheros, anyway. His article in the NY Times* (and discussed on Serious Eats) struck the same chord with me that his book did. He asks, "why bother?" Why bother switching your lightbulbs, driving a hybrid, composting and recycling, growing some of your own food, when on the other side of the planet (or the street, really) there's a guy that's more than happy to expand his carbon footprint as far and as wide as he can possible stretch it.
Why carpool when John Travolta can just buy carbon offsets to ease the guilt of flying his own personal 747? (Seriously, John, you're a big guy, but you're not THAT big.) Why pay more for local tomatoes when the ones trucked here from California are 79¢ a pound? I'm just one consumer, we're just one family. How can any little thing we do really make any difference? And why even bother trying to affect the plot, since we won't be here for the denoument?
All we can individually do is little things. But as Mr. Pollan correctly points out, sometimes a little thing is enough to start a big thing. Set an example. Be a beacon. Let change be viral. Vaclav Havel decided to act as though he was living in a free, democratic Czechoslovakia. His example led others to do likewise, and with time, it became intolerable to live otherwise. We must act as though we are living in a world that values its limited resources, we must act as though we are stewards of this planet, and in time, I hope, it will become intolerable live otherwise. Grow some of your own food. Walk, ride, carpool. Just try.
*You do have to register to read the NYT article, but it's free and it's quick.
3 comments:
We're doing what we can--drive a hybrid, shop a local farm market and buy organic when possible, change out the light bulbs, turn off the water and lights, unplug what we can, carry reusable bags to the market, carpool, recycle, donate reusable goods, etc. etc... things that seem second nature now...Every little bit helps and all we can do is what we can do in our own environment, I guess...
Great post.
Yes, excellent point. And of course, every person doing all these things is one more person NOT flying their own 747 and so on...
It is frustrating sometimes. One bicycles and springs for a hybrid, only to see a Hummer roar by towing a speedboat while its driver chats away on a cell phone. Or there are the relatives: they love pickup trucks, even when there's nothing to haul, and sneer at the idea of global warming. "Oh, good! You're using less gas? More for me, then!"
I hope that society's values will gradually change, that we'll become more frugal and quit tossing our hands in the air and saying "not responsible".
As for Travolta, he's a Scientologist. Having aliens fly to this planet in spacecraft which resemble DC-8s is core to his religious beliefs. He probably flies the 747 to keep in practice, in case they come back and need someone to pilot a ship or something.
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