Luckenbach

Here are two excellent essays (or two parts of one) that strike at what I consider the heart of the matter. Which matter? Is there more than one? Read them slowly and with an open mind.

The Idols of Environmentalism

The Ecology of Work

….the violence that we know as environmental destruction is possible only because of a complex economic, administrative, and social machinery through which people are separated from responsibility for their misdeeds. We say, “I was only doing my job” at the paper mill, the industrial incinerator, the logging camp, the coal-fired power plant, on the farm, on the stock exchange, or simply in front of the PC in the corporate carrel.

The division of labor not only has the consequence of making labor maximally productive, it also hides from workers the real consequences of their work. People outside of such social and economic organizations might hunt in nature, fish, gather, harvest, use nature to their own ends in countless ways, but they would never knowingly destroy it, not because they are by nature good and benevolent, but because destruction is not necessary, it’s a lot of hard work, and it’s self-evidently self-defeating. For example, the near extinction of the buffalo was not driven by the thought “Well, if I shoot one I might as well shoot them all,” or game sport gone mad, or sheer maliciousness toward the animal. Ultimately, it was driven by the market for buffalo hides in that far-off place that was never once home to a buffalo, New York City. The extermination of the buffalo was driven by the same logic that drives the clearcutting of forests and the construction of high-pollution coal-fired power plants today: entrepreneurial freedom, the desire for profit, and “jobs for working people.”

(Thanks Ran)

V. keeps saying that she really wants to do this and that she is very excited. But I am sure our reasons are slightly different. That’s why the title says “Mike’s reason” and not “Our reason”.

Oh, and my reasons aren’t in order.

The Environment

Whatever your opinion on the mechanisms of ecological damage, I think we all agree that the natural environment just ain’t what it used to be. And the economy drives the damage. The truth of the matter is that the more you spend, the more environmental damage is done on your behalf.

New Zealand’s food is imported from around the world, or at least carted the length of the country. The term ‘food miles’ has been coined to help measure just how much.

Our energy requirements, while far less than the average American, are still pretty silly. Just look at the congestion in New Zealand’s cities now, compared with twenty years ago. We are using our cars more. Hardly a month goes by without someone in the electricity industry telling us that we are headed for blackouts in the near future due to the industry’s inability to keep up with demand.

I am sure that there are a million good reasons why every one of us just has to do the things that we do. And that it should be the other guy who takes the bus to work. Or whose kids should walk home from school (after all it is dangerous out there). But in the end, we are each the other guys “other guy”

So, we are doing something about it. We could have done it a dozen other ways, I’m sure. But this way fits in with the other reasons that will follow.

We will be growing and raising the bulk of our own food. It’s our intention to use organic methods in all of our food production. There are enough organic success stories, and chemical horror stories, to indicate that chemical fertilisers are a huge folly. I’m expecting it to take a while for the soil fertility to get back to normal, but we’ll wait.

There is a stream at the bottom of our property. I’m hoping that the water will be in better condition on the way out than it was on the way in. At the moment it is clearly contaminated by the runoff of the farms up the valley.

We will be reducing our fossil fuel derived energy consumption as far as practical. Fewer trips in the car. Fewer devices in the home (and those devices turned off more). A few simple modifications to the house to reduce heating requirements. When our consumption of electricity drops to a certain level, then we will switch to an alternative source.

We just won’t have as much money to buy things. That in itself will make a difference. I’ve heard that the number of miles travelled on the country’s roads is directly proportional to the GDP. Well, we won’t be spending as much, therefore the GDP won’t grow as much.

I know we are only two people. But we are doing this having been inspired by others. So maybe others will get inspired by our example - and then we will be more than just two.