Thanks so much, Karl Your explanation fleshes out more fully and clearly what I was aiming to say in a very brief format. Policy change is extremely important, but cannot effectively happen without people who are both living and modeling the changes, in spite of the structural obstacles, and from that grounded place, educating others and/or advocating for policy changes. It's a chicken-and-egg-come-first situation. Elan
>Hi Elan, > >I strongly agree with your advocacy of personal sustainability. You >suggest, however, that policy changes are not the main way to solve the >problem: > >On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:01:44 -0400 Elan Shapiro ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >when we face vast challenges like global warming, habitat >> destruction, growing income inequities, rising fuel and food costs, >> and social fragmentation, it's easy to assume that policy changes are >> the main way to deal with the problems. It's also easy to feel >> isolated, overwhelmed, and "too-busy-to-deal-with-it-all;" unable to >> afford the more expensive aspects of green living; and trapped in a >> culture where our car, computer, and media dependencies encourage us >> to live at a frenzied, self-destructive pace. It's easy, in short, to >> feel powerless. > >I propose a different interpretation, one that includes yours, but >recognizes that we are not only "trapped in a culture" (a set of values >and beliefs) but also trapped in a political economy (and the policy >framework that sustains it) that makes significant personal change >impossible without great personal sacrifice. Individuals will make only >so much sacrifice unless policy changes reward and enforce lifestyle >changes across the whole society or at least the local community. Policy >changes are necessary to reconfigure the economy to eliminate the >dependencies you point to, on social structural elements like car >transport, suburbanism, the distance food system, and what Wendell Berry >long ago called the colonial economy. This last element of our political >economy creates inequality, then poverty, then social conflict, crime and >the prison industrial complex. > >Sufficient policy change will occur only if forced on governing elites by >mass movements. Political education creates mass movements. This is where >your personal sustainability comes in. People who are willing and able to >model at least some of the necessary changes in our lives (that the end >of cheap energy will eventually force on everyone) AND DO IT IN WAYS THAT >MAXIMIZE POLITICAL EDUCATION, can make personal sustainability serve the >ultimate goal of restructuring our economy and resource use. > >A local example is our Ithaca Farmers Market. Only a tiny fraction of the >food consumed in the Tompkins County foodshed comes through that market. >After all these years it has had little impact on the local food system. >I believe that is because we built the institution to serve limited >goals. We should have built it as part of an aggressive political >strategy to build a local mass movement. Those of us who did think of it >in political terms assumed that this food production and market model >would simply proliferate once we showed the way. How naive! As soon as >our farm was involved in the development of the market 20 years ago, >people would tell me, "We can't afford that food!" > >The point is, it is unfair and unrealistic to expect individuals to >change significantly without policy changes that enforce change on >everyone. Moreover, without structural changes in the political economy >to pave the way and make lifestyle change fair and accessible for >everyone, little will happen until the shit really begins to hit the fan, >and cause great suffering. > >My two cents, > >Karl North >Northland Sheep Dairy, Freetown, New York USA > www.geocities.com/northsheep/ >"Mother Nature never farms without animals" - Albert Howard >"Pueblo que canta no morira" - Cuban saying >____________________________________________________________ >You'll never get over going Down Under. Click now for great >Australia travel deals! >http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3nvNiqhCLR5xeQ1SrSobbfTLfB27Ve7On5POxRiK7A01PrAJ/ >_______________________________________________ >For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County >area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > >RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: >[email protected] >http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins >free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org -- Elan Shapiro Sustainable Tompkins Community Partnership Coordinator Sustainable Living Associates, Principal Frog's Way B&B 211 Rachel Carson Way Ithaca, NY 14850 607-275-0249 607-592-8402 Cell "We must be the change we want to see in the world" Mohandas Gandhi _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
