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Reasons for hope
Mar. 31st, 2008 08:04 amThis morning, my rowing buddy K and I spent some time talking about food and our eating habits. K was commenting on how differently different generations approach the matter of food (she compared her eating habits to those of her son), and our discussion and others that I've had lately gave me such a great feeling of hope. My generation is standing up and taking notice of a lot of things, ranging from Earth Hour (symbolic, yes, but still an important recognition) to politics to alternative transportation (yay bicycles!) to shopping at farmer's markets. My generation falls somewhere in between Gen X and Gen Y (or whatever we're called), but we're definitely not characterized by Gen-X apathy. Even when we don't agree about things, we're at least standing up and taking notice.
I hope that this notice transfers over to a better awareness of how to balance out both immediate and long-term global needs. The blog Stuff White People Like could serve as a useful starting point for illustrating what I mean, particularly the entry on recycling, which highlights a most extreme degree of lip service that can be paid towards the idea of doing the right thing. [Aside: if there isn't recycling available, carry the thing with you until you find a place where you can recycle it, white people].
The artist who created the Emergy show included a segment in her artist's statement on what it was like to move to the US from another country and be introduced to the whole "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle" slogan. She wrote that she was quite familiar with the first two statements, but found the concept of recycling baffling. This makes sense to me--in many parts of the world, people don't have the option of buying things in semi-disposable (recyclable) packaging, and they only have the option of going without or reusing what they've got. That statement, as well as The Emperor's Children, have been making me think about first-world vs. third-world troubles. First off, it's an interesting way to frame one's life's work. How do we identify injustices, present and future (isn't it unjust to leave an inhospitable planet to future generations?)? I mean, I probably wouldn't be so worked up over gun control laws if it took all of my time and energy just to feed myself and perhaps my family.
I'm definitely not the only one trying to find some kind of balance between thinking about and addressing global and local concerns. I guess I should just feel damned lucky to have such a luxury as the time and resources to do such thinking, and I just hope I can make the most of it.
I hope that this notice transfers over to a better awareness of how to balance out both immediate and long-term global needs. The blog Stuff White People Like could serve as a useful starting point for illustrating what I mean, particularly the entry on recycling, which highlights a most extreme degree of lip service that can be paid towards the idea of doing the right thing. [Aside: if there isn't recycling available, carry the thing with you until you find a place where you can recycle it, white people].
The artist who created the Emergy show included a segment in her artist's statement on what it was like to move to the US from another country and be introduced to the whole "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle" slogan. She wrote that she was quite familiar with the first two statements, but found the concept of recycling baffling. This makes sense to me--in many parts of the world, people don't have the option of buying things in semi-disposable (recyclable) packaging, and they only have the option of going without or reusing what they've got. That statement, as well as The Emperor's Children, have been making me think about first-world vs. third-world troubles. First off, it's an interesting way to frame one's life's work. How do we identify injustices, present and future (isn't it unjust to leave an inhospitable planet to future generations?)? I mean, I probably wouldn't be so worked up over gun control laws if it took all of my time and energy just to feed myself and perhaps my family.
I'm definitely not the only one trying to find some kind of balance between thinking about and addressing global and local concerns. I guess I should just feel damned lucky to have such a luxury as the time and resources to do such thinking, and I just hope I can make the most of it.
