Editorial |
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by Jim Tarbell
Who knew that our purchasing patterns have so much power? Within three weeks of people sheltering in, not driving gas-guzzling cars and flying from here to there, they changed the world we live in. They cleared the smog-choked skies of megalopolises around the world. They brought fossil-fuel corporate executives to their knees begging for help from the American taxpayers. Most importantly, they slowed the looming depletion of our limited natural resources.
On the public policy side, the federal response to the pandemic displayed their ability to pass out huge quantities of cash, establishing the real possibility of a guaranteed income that we all may need in an age of growing artificial intelligence and production automation. While sheltering in has caused chaos for parents now home-schooling their kids, and the pandemic has put all essential workers in danger and caused massive economic hardship, for many it ended their stress-filled anxiety from high-speed life styles and reawakened the importance of relaxation and calm in their lives. It provided us the opportunity to reconnect with our families and understand a common bond we have with all humans and nature.
Think about what we could do if this life style went viral after the COVID-19 pandemic reduces to a common cold. We could use it to create a political movement leveraged by consumer abstinence that cries for public policies that; stabilize or reverse climate change; make the air we breathe good for our health; guarantees the water we drink and play in invigorates our lives; and regenerates the soil of our fields with the nutrients and microorganisms that are so important for producing healthy food. Such a political movement could restore all of earth’s natural systems that pollution and irresponsibility in the search of profits have degraded.
Such a political movement must be a great ethnic mixture of young and old, rich and poor, and look like a joyful celebration of the abundance of life. It would also give us an understanding of the depravity and destructiveness of an overly indulgent consumer culture and acknowledge how consumerism is a cultural construct to feel safe and good about ourselves. Now is the time to change our political and economic systems as well as our relationships with nature and each other.
Who knew that our purchasing patterns have so much power? Within three weeks of people sheltering in, not driving gas-guzzling cars and flying from here to there, they changed the world we live in. They cleared the smog-choked skies of megalopolises around the world. They brought fossil-fuel corporate executives to their knees begging for help from the American taxpayers. Most importantly, they slowed the looming depletion of our limited natural resources.
On the public policy side, the federal response to the pandemic displayed their ability to pass out huge quantities of cash, establishing the real possibility of a guaranteed income that we all may need in an age of growing artificial intelligence and production automation. While sheltering in has caused chaos for parents now home-schooling their kids, and the pandemic has put all essential workers in danger and caused massive economic hardship, for many it ended their stress-filled anxiety from high-speed life styles and reawakened the importance of relaxation and calm in their lives. It provided us the opportunity to reconnect with our families and understand a common bond we have with all humans and nature.
Think about what we could do if this life style went viral after the COVID-19 pandemic reduces to a common cold. We could use it to create a political movement leveraged by consumer abstinence that cries for public policies that; stabilize or reverse climate change; make the air we breathe good for our health; guarantees the water we drink and play in invigorates our lives; and regenerates the soil of our fields with the nutrients and microorganisms that are so important for producing healthy food. Such a political movement could restore all of earth’s natural systems that pollution and irresponsibility in the search of profits have degraded.
Such a political movement must be a great ethnic mixture of young and old, rich and poor, and look like a joyful celebration of the abundance of life. It would also give us an understanding of the depravity and destructiveness of an overly indulgent consumer culture and acknowledge how consumerism is a cultural construct to feel safe and good about ourselves. Now is the time to change our political and economic systems as well as our relationships with nature and each other.
