Earth Day?

Chris Clarke has written a thought-provoking post about Earth Day this week.  The basic gist of it is that he fails to find it compelling, seeing it as a feel-good day for corporations, and arguing that celebrating our connection to the planet and its inhabitants isn't something that should be reduced to something so shallow.

I basically agree.  It's strange that something so vital to our existence and well-being is feted on one day out of 365 (or 366 in leap years) and more or less ignored by the majority during the rest of the year.  It's wrong that the event functions as a kind of bumpersticker for most, a token meant to garner social approval without sacrifice.  It's disturbing how so often Earth Day activities promote simplistic, limited, and individualist solutions (buy fluorescent bulbs!) while shying away from more radical ones, or ones which might cause discomfort to CEOs.  And yet...

I have an affection for Earth Day.  The first one took place the same year I was born, and I've felt a personal interest in it ever since.  The thing that makes Earth Day special to me is that it is one day when my beliefs and values are in the public eye, held up for praise, and celebrated by large numbers of people, openly.  The rest of the year, if I want that feeling of social relevance and community feeling, I have to search out small groups of like-minded people (surprisingly hard to do, especially offline).  Then I go home, and the tv is full of advertisements about the latest wingding, the news is ignoring the problems of water shortages and habitat destruction, politicians are filling the airwaves with dismissive rants about anti-capitalist radical environmentalists (if they mention them at all), and so on. 

If I express my love and affection for trees, I'm a loony tree-hugger.  If I admire an insect, I'm strange.  If I question the way we've been doing things, I'm anti-American.  I am told that the only way to be a patriot is to strip our lands for coal and to plant genetically modified monocrops for ethanol and to taint the desert with military tests for actions overseas to protect our oil.

In short, for 364 days out of the year (365 in leap years) I am made to feel like a freak by the dominant discourse of our society.  Is it little wonder that I cherish the small sanctuary Earth Day represents?

Of course it is not enough.  But when you are hungry, even a crumb looks pretty damn good.  I want more than a crumb, and will keep asking for more. I will continue to celebrate Earth Day in the spirit in which it is intended, until the time it is just one more day of the year, yet just as special.

Comments

[marja-leena]

YES! You have voiced my feelings exactly and very well! I do feel a bit of hope this year, noting more people seem to be listening and responding to the reports and call for changes, at least up here in Canada, though not in government yet. The biggest challenge is changing the powers in big oil, automotive, agri/chemical/drug business etc.! That seems hopeless, and only by everyone coming together enmasse to persuade our governments to put in measures to reduce, and in some cases stop harm-producing consumption. But how to get people out of SUVs and trucks, etc etc? I swing betwen hope and despair... Thanks again for your voice!

[Rana]

Well, our government is pretty useless down here, but I do think that there is potential for persuading people to think a bit differently - people weren't interested in SUVs before, so presumably if the manufacturers and advertisers want to push public opinion in the other direction, they can do so.

On the other hand, there's only so much we can count on corporations and capital to do, because, currently, they rest on a foundation of consumption for consumption's sake, and, honestly, that's not sustainable. Eventually Americans are going to have to get over their love affair with the myth of aggressive individualism, and realize that without sacrifice and working together, we're not going to make it as a species. But the attitudes in question are a long time in the making, so it's not likely we're going to overturn them overnight - and I'm afraid that it might take something massive to cluestick the apathetic majority.

That's the real trick - getting people to change before the choice is "change or die."