The
other day someone posted the following on my Facebook page: “Dividing your
energy between so many causes dilutes the effect you have in affecting a
change.” My first instinct was “No, that can’t be right,” but I couldn’t articulate
why, since it seemed so logical otherwise.
Then,
on Martin Luther King Day, I saw that someone had “Liked” the comment. I
became, I will admit, more upset than seemed reasonable, and I replied with the
following.
“If
MLK had chosen to back down over poverty and war, he would not be the man I
respect. All the causes are deeply intertwined. We cannot back down over one in
the effort to win on another. The male abolitionists didn't want the female
abolitionists [fighting for women's rights] to "distract" from their cause, yet as Sojourner Truth
pointed out so eloquently [in her abolitionist speech known today as “Ain’t I a
Woman”], the two kinds of oppression are inseparable. People who will fight
dogs will blow the tops of mountains to get yet more dirty energy. People who
think we can send unmanned drones in to kill other countries' people will
support the ‘externalizing’ of the costs of our global economy. If I stand for
the Earth, I must stand for the whole Earth.”
Now,
several days later, I think I might have been a bit disingenuous, or at least
self-deceiving. If I were doing all I could for the planet, I wouldn’t have
left 14 months go between posts on my environmental blog!
I
am a writer. This means that it is not enough for me to recycle religiously,
spend more than half an hour a day signing online petitions, and give money to
Greenpeace and similar organizations working to combat climate change and
corporate greed. I need to get writing.
So
I’ll tell you about the sustainability retreat that I went on last week and
talk about I struggle to make complex decisions about big and small
environmental problems with an economics that considers “externalized” costs.
I’ll tell you the value of having your own “tribe” of like-minded people to
keep you honest and sane and helpful.
And
I’ll get back to saving the world. A lot.
