Lissen to How Smart I Am (Peeple With Big Branes are Smart)

Lately I have been feeling sick of my classes.  Every day from 9-1:30, I sit in the same classroom with some combination of the same ten people, and I am reiterated that the social, political, and economic climates of the United States, India, and the world is, in general, dismal.  Besides feeling antsy and like I need to stretch, I start feeling like I want to scream.  My classmates and I have exhausted our minds and our voices complaining that we are tired of hearing about problems and ready to hear about solutions. 

Today we had an unexpectedly refreshing answer to our complaints.  During our normal class time for Science and Technology, our professor, Dr. Vombatkere and another man, Mr. U.N. Ravikumar held a panel discussion about the social effects of global climate change.  Our discussion began with the idea of small countries paying for the environmental neglect of countries like the US and the idea of taking responsibility for climate change.  From the beginning, the discussion was one of the most exciting I have ever had regarding the environment.  We briefly listed some effects: rising sea levels, lower food production, population migration, changing health patterns and diseases, fresh water availability, and loss of biodiversity.  But quickly we moved onto larger social ideas and the mindsets of, particularly US, citizens.  My friend Sara made a strong point about the interconnectivity between all life forms, and how humans are unaware of being just another species on the planet.  I always love Sara’s comments because she is never afraid to show the heart and emotions she has invested in environmental issues.  You can hear the emotional impact that environmental discussions have on her, and I have no doubt in my mind that she practices what she preaches, and recognizes how connected she is to her environment.  This type of connection is missing from so many people.  I brought up a point in the discussion that one main difference I notice between India and the United States (I think I brought this up in a previous blog post) is that in India there isn’t such a thing as an “environmentalist” really.  In the US, we designate the responsibility of saving Earth to a certain sub-sect of people, that many people also make fun of and love to stereotype.  But in India, a computer software programmer is as much an environmentalist as a farmer.  Each person here feels the effects of human environmental impact with the constant reminders of saving water and food.  The innate scarcity of survival tools like food and water in India makes its citizens much more aware of human impact.  This is missing in the US.

I believe there has been so little global progress on environmental change because the US has refused to take responsibility for its own pollution.  As a country, we have established weak policies that put off changing our consumption habits for as long as possible.  The resources that we are scraping up are going to run out, absolutely 100% inevitably.  Probably in my lifetime.  I don’t need to worry about my children having to deal with these problems, because these problems are such that my generation won’t be alive to have children.  My professors asked us, “Are we on a sinking ship?”  My answer to that was yes, it is a sinking ship for now.  The U.N. and other organizations are tripping over their own policies and trying to avoid changes.  Huge nations are afraid of economic and social impacts of environmental change. 

To go back to Sara’s point for a minute, she was even more correct than she intended.  As much as she or I, or Lady Gaga, is connected to each ant, bee, and flower; the same holds true on a larger, theoretical scale.  The US economy, lifestyle, foreign and domestic policy, and reputation MUST change if we want to make any changes to our environmental degradation.  And we are terrified of this change!  The US needs to point the finger at itself finally, and take some responsibility for the damage it has done, and ideally it could once again be a nation that other nations would want to emulate.  Right now, we are an embarrassment.  To quote George W. Bush:

"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter!" --punching the air as he left his final G-8 Summit. Rusutsu, Japan, July 10, 2008

…A true American hero.

My friend Justin also brought up a great point.  He thought that the basis of the environmental crisis might lie in the American mindset of constant dissatisfaction.  Perhaps consumerism on such a massive scale is the result of Americans placing high value on material objects and having no sense of value for nature.  This idea goes in hand with Sara’s previous connectivity theory, but proves that Americans feel little or no connection to nature.  We do not know where our food comes from, what seeds look like, or sometimes, even what the animal looks like whose meat is sustaining us. 

I agree wholeheartedly with Justin that Americans are dissatisfied with themselves, thus striving to find peace by consuming massive amounts of goods, and in the process using frightening amounts of resources.  The constant strive for something better sounds remarkably like, dare I say it: The American Dream.  We have chosen for 200 years to look at the good ole AD as something positive: it teaches us not to settle, that no matter who are you or where you are born, you can be anything and do anything that you want.  Empowering...in theory.  In reality, the American Dream is an ideal that can never be achieved, thus leaving America’s citizens dissatisfied and working themselves to the point of exhaustion…for what?  Probably because they feel guilty or lazy if they aren’t, since everyone else is.  The American Dream has caused citizens to neglect issues like personal health and the health of our environment in order to achieve “success”.  This brings me back to the fisherman story that I told in my New Perspectives post.  I would be ashamed of myself if I defined success as monetary wealth.  I’d be ashamed of myself if I defined it as anything but personal happiness and internal satisfaction.  I’d rather not live in the shadow of the American Dream, but thanks.

I know Americans can change.  I know eventually, they will be forced to.  If I recall correctly, a few years ago gas prices were about $5 per gallon.  Never before in my lifetime had I seen such a national shift to use less gas.  People walked, biked, and use public transportation as if cars were suddenly not cool anymore.  Everyone, not just my mom (<3), gave Hummers condescending glances.  Anyway, what this proves to me, is that Americans can quickly adapt when their money is threatened.  Without money they’d have nothing with which to buy the goods that help them achieve “satisfaction”.  I think this same reverence that Americans have for money needs to be shifted onto natural resources.  If Americans put monetary value on nature, no one would dare threaten it. 

Here’s my proposal.  Let’s do a little Michael Jackson-ing, take a look at ourselves and start the changes there.  Taking a cue from Sara, I am going to attempt to reconnect to the Earth in a way that I never have before.  There may be no better place in the world to do that than India.  Here, they say bhoomi instead of soil, which can be translated to earth, but it also implies a respect for the rich life that grows from it; and sometimes they say bhoomi deva, Mother Earth.  Already, I see changes in myself.  Being here, I am not as concerned with my art history degree or how I will translate that into a viable job because that's only a small part of who I am.  I'm becoming much more aware of the choices people make and how those define them as human beings in relation to the Earth and to one another.  I'm becoming aware that I want the choices I make to represent my love and respect for the environment and that I have no interest in being defined by the social constructs people have created for themselves.  A job, marriage, children, or money all may or may not be a part of my life, but these will never define me.  

I can’t change that I am American but if I can change my goals and work on my own internal happiness, then I can say for a fact that not every American is living in the cycle of dissatisfaction known as the American Dream.  I’d rather quit dreaming, wake up, and live in reality. 

“We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
-Barack Obama