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Paradigm Shifts, Y2K and the Green Blowback

While muddling through a pile of throw-away books at work yesterday, I found this: The Complete Y2K Home Preparation Guide. And oh what a gem it is!

Now, bear in mind that I’ve been haunting online survivalist enclaves and befriending well-armed mountain men for years now, so it’s pretty hard to catch my eye. But this book did, not because it’s the best out there — far from it — but because, beyond its TEOTWAWKIness, it contains countless useful links.

So I grabbed it and tucked it into my bag, to be added to my ever expanding collection of dystopia-wrangling tools.

Then, while wasting my time at work contemplating whether a superior I happen to know is insane or suffering the early stages of dementia or maybe she’s just plain downright mean, I ran across this:

Do small steps actually lead anywhere? We all know the theory that small steps lead to bigger steps, which lead in turn to real change. And there are certainly a lot of small steps on offer these days, from the latest home energy tracker to the solar bikini. But it’s not at all clear that the ready abundance of small steps is actually making any difference. Indeed, between greenwashing and green fatigue, emphasizing little behavioral changes may actually be hurting.

Until recently, suggesting that “going green” in this fashion wasn’t a correct path was a quick route to condemnation. But now, some of the world’s most prestigious environmental advocates are beginning to call for a whole new approach.

WWF recently published a major report, Weathercocks and Signposts: the environment movement at a crossroads, which launches a major assault on green consumerism and social marketing as avenues to sustainability, and encourages instead a new and more committed values-based approach.

Specifically, the report says:
Pro-environmental behavioural change strategies often stress the importance of small and painless steps – frequently in the expectation that, once they have embarked upon these steps, people will become motivated to engage in more significant behavioural changes.

…

We talked with Dr. Tom Crompton, the study’s author, who shed some interesting light on their conclusion that to create lasting change, groups working for environmental change should be targeting the intrinsic set of values that motivates the public, rather than tantalizing their extrinsic desires.

…

The current marketing-based approach is fatally flawed, Crompton says. His work debunks the popularly held “foot-in-the-door” mantra (change your light bulb today, and you’ll move to a walkable neighborhood and sell your car before you know it!)

…

But the report’s other findings are even more worrying: small steps, even when they do open the door to greater environmental understanding, are rarely followed by calls for the kinds of profound change that sustainability actually demands.

And yes. It’s true.

I agree. You see, green consumerism is still feeding the American lust for goods, for that 15 minutes of fame, for gimme gimme gimme I want it and I want it now. The only way to flush that consumerism from our lives and our minds is to submit ourselves to a complete change of mind — a paradigm shift, so to speak, one which isn’t hooked into our socio-cultural mapping.

The problem is that’s impossible, not without significant upheaval of either the personal or collective kind. Or maybe both.

I mean, have you ever found yourself wondering at the irony of having to purchase “things” to diminish dependence on “things?” I remember suffering that cognitive disconnect and immediately stopping in my tracks, just stopping everything I was doing because I couldn’t quite resolve the conflict.

Besides, it’s really hard.

But we can do it with a little self-reflection and a lot of effort.

There’s really no reasonable conclusion for this. There isn’t time for me to write a reasonable conclusion. I suppose I’m just throwing some thoughts out there, things my mind is meandering around and starting to form into a relatively rational system of thought.

So I’ll leave you with a list from my wonderful catch of yesterday:

Selecting a Food Reserve System

The following questions will assist you in identifying a system for you and your family:

1. Under what scenarios do you anticipate the need for using food reserves?
2. Will you be mobile?
3. Will food preparation facilities, supplies, and fuel be available?
4. Have you determined the length of time you desire the system to sustain you and your family?
5. How many people will be depending upong your food?
6. Are there any special nutritional requirements?
7. How important is ease of preparation?
8. Have you considered your budget?
9. How many calories do you require per person?

Considerations
1. PURITY OF INGREDIENTS
2. FAMILIARITY
3. SHELF LIFE
4. PREPARATION CONVENIENCE
5. PROPER ROTATION

I‘ll post more lists tomorrow. For now, I have to go mow, then settle in with a good dystopian novel.