While the organizational magnitude of McKibben’s efforts is truly
astounding, one has to wonder if it all will even make a bit of
difference, even if Congress takes heed. Is McKibben even calling for
the right kind of measures? As McKibben writes, “Those of us who know
that climate change is the greatest threat civilization now faces have
science on our side; we have economists and policy specialists,
courageous mayors and governors, engineers with cool new technology.”
Indeed
he is right. Global Warming is happening and almost all renowned
scientists are in agreement that humans have something to do with it.
But I have to differ significantly with McKibben on one key point: I
don’t think this “civilization” is worth saving. Especially if it
continues to be industrial and militarist in nature. The United States
armed forces are the single largest polluter the world has ever
witnessed. And I don’t think our culture of exploitation, whether of
natural resources or human bodies, is in any way “civilized”. Quite the
opposite. We are a civilization of corporate and individual greed, and
an 80% reduction, while a positive step forward, is hardly the answer.
I wish McKibben and his cohorts had the guts to call out the 800-pound
gorilla in the corner of the room that so few are willing to talk
about: Capitalism.
I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when
I say that the Prius-driving lifestyle activists will likely be showing
up for Step it Up! in large numbers. But no matter how much we may like
the idea of hybrid or vegetable powered vehicles, I don’t think Toyota
or big oil companies are going to save this dying planet. We are facing
a much larger crisis that goes beyond the well-worn facets of global
warming. The thawing of the Earth is only a symptom of a much more
rampant and infectious disease that has plagued virtually every corner
of the globe.
Paul S. Sutter, an environmental historian at
the University of Georgia, argues in his book
Driven Wild that the
modern day environmental movement was sparked by a fight against the
automobile in the 1920s and 30s, which was only a indication of a much
larger mechanized, corporate society. Henry Ford was a true
industrialist. He made cars affordable to many. As a result road
development ravaged America. Highways ripped through our forests and
across the plains. People began to speed through the wild instead of
stopping to actually experience what it had to offer. It was industrial
capitalism that perpetuated this cycle -- a deadly sequence of despair
that we are still coping with today as China dams its rivers and
Indonesia pollutes its air. They’ve simply followed our path of
destruction without remorse.
The American West faced, and is
continuing to face, the same massive unfettered development. One need
look no further than the car-jammed sprawl called Denver or the
clear-cut cemeteries of the Pacific Northwest. Habitat is being lost at
an exponential rate, yet few are talking about the true cause. Or cure.
It’s not just logging companies or fisheries that are killing off
salmon and grizzly bears; it’s the system that fosters such behavior.
And
that’s what we need to start talking about. In fact, that’s what we
need to start opposing. As Derrick Jensen, author of
Endgame, has said,
“What do salmon need? They need for dams to be removed. They need for
industrial logging to stop. They need for industrial fishing to stop.
(I’m not saying they need for fishing to stop; they need for industrial
fishing to stop.) They need for industrial agriculture to stop, because
of runoff. They need for global warming to stop, which means they need
for the industrial economy to stop. They need for the oceans not to be
murdered. And each of those is pretty straightforward.”
Imagine
if Step it Up! was a call to take on the industrialization of the
entire planet? A plea to oppose industrial capitalism? An appeal to
halt the global economy and turn toward the local? As Jensen asks, what
is our threshold before we start to fight back? When will we say,
“enough is enough”? What species will have to be killed off before we
shut down the system? Will it be the polar bears or the spotted owl?
Songbirds or your grandmother? I think those are questions we all need
to start asking.
I’ll give the last word to the great Edward
Abbey, who, peering out over the monstrous Glen Canyon Dam in the
Spring of 1981, had this to say to the crowd that had amassed:
The
domination of nature leads to the domination of human beings.
Meanwhile, what to do . . . Oppose the destruction of our homeland by
these alien forces from Houston, Tokyo, Manhattan, Washington DC, and
the Pentagon. And if opposition is not enough, we must resist. And if
resistance is not enough, than subvert. After ten years of modest
environmental progress, the powers of industrialism and militarism have
become alarmed. The Empire is striking back, though we must continue to
strike back at the Empire by whatever means available to us. Win or
lose, it is a matter of honor. Oppose, resist, subvert, delay, until
the Empire itself begins to fall apart.
Writings 
This weekend will see the largest gathering of environmental activists in the US since the first Earth Day held almost 37 years ago. It may even be larger. 
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