WilsonDebatePaper2

Adrienne Wilson Sustainability Problems Debate Paper #2 // Is American culture a sustainability problem? // Often articles in magazines, newspapers, and online have lists that read “the top sustainability problems facing the world today” or “the worst issues in America”. Many issues commonly listed in these articles include ocean acidification, overpopulation, climate change, lack of food and clean water, waste, and energy consumption. However, one important problem has been unwittingly left off – the sustainability problem that is the American culture. In only the past 200 years America has become a world superpower – a position seized by them during World War II when American industrialization and technology pushed ahead of other countries. Factors that maintained this status include how America had vast areas of good land, abundant natural resources, stable government, freedom to grow, vast infusions of capital, and a diverse immigrant population hungry for self-improvement. From this, America was soon awash in invention and entrepreneurial zeal from all sectors of society and Americans rendered themselves as the biggest consumers on the planet. The sustainability issue stemming from this development is the American people’s groomed idealistic view that “there is always more” and that “everything will always work out because people are smart”. The stakeholders in this sustainability issue are the political leaders of the United States of America, the American consumers, the resource suppliers, and the businesspeople and corporations that have encouraged this country to be a land of buyers. Sub-issues touched upon include the refusal to stop using oil and why we depend on it so absolutely.

Recently, on TEDWomen, Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, asks her audience, “what makes our culture so prone to the reckless high-stakes gamble, and why are women so frequently called upon to clean up the mess?” She cites the Gulf of Mexico’s recent BP oil spill as her strongest argument that when civilization hits a problem, it appears to them as a new frontier to take advantage of, spurring more expansion and bad decision making (by men). This has resulted in the pursuance of the oil in the tar sands in Canada, permanently ruining the water sources people nearby to that area depend on, and stripping the Earth’s topsoil and trees permanently – which in itself causes a multitude of more issues like runoff and the decline of biodiversity in that area. In addition, our dependence on “narratives”, mediums that can be interpreted to define our culture, have influenced and encouraged this behaviour with stories of conquest and domination – stories that follow the rules of an older world. To Klein, this is exactly how civilizations fail – by committing suicide when they “step on the gas when they should be slamming on the brakes”. Unfortunately, it seems as if the same zeal that encouraged risk taking and entrepreneurship that once allowed the country to prosper has also caused the American people to be seemingly stuck in a rut so deep that not even all the cars in America could pull us out.

Klein’s argument is compelling but seemed as if it had only touched the surface of some underlying message. It lacked depth and seemed to be very broadly applied. The pictures she provides of the tar sands and what process must be followed to acquire the oil was undoubtedly one of the stronger moments of her talk, but her faulting of male leaders (although true!) was not as robust because there weren’t a lot of powerful female examples to use. Klein’s observation about how problems are dealt with and caused in our society is also seemingly accurate and strongly agreed upon even though not many examples were provided, except for the very intriguing concept of how older stories and hubris might play a part that no one really considered. Our carelessness and disregard for the consequences is capitulated on and admonished. Finally, her metaphor of civilizations committing suicide was memorable and powerfully worded.

When Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1979, near the beginning of the energy crisis, he made a well received statement that shared his belief that the American people should not have to change their way of life, or sacrifice anything regarding the growing cost of energy, or consumption of materials. Reagan advised the American people to” live in anticipation of the future, rather than fear the future as a repetition of past failures”. In addition, Reagan put emphasis on the usage of nuclear power and coal for our energy needs instead of solar power because he didn't believe it was viable enough a technology yet (although he supported efforts to find more substitutes for fossil fuels). In this way he exemplified that problems should be dealt with immediately (even if in the most crude or feeble way), but that there will always be more time to work on better solutions (namely, “the future will take care of us”).

In a way that sort of supports Klein’s argument, Ronald Reagan’s speech juxtaposes between how things were and how things are. The disturbing thing is that our society’s current overlying ideology is still based on the factors present in 1979, when Reagan gave his speech and hasn’t developed much since. With our constant introduction of newer technologies, rules and ways of life made in the past should be re-evaluated responsibly, not forced to fit and comply for some homage to the past. It should not be unheard of that circumstances change and adjustments should be made, but it can be argued that those adjustments might also make current problems worse (especially when adjusted by the wrong people). The way that humans think of themselves as separated from nature invites a disconnect that is quite dangerous when society thinks they are exempt from the constructs of nature. The planet does not care about some country’s GDP, how high some state’s unemployment is (what does the planet think a state is anyway?), or who the current president is. It’s all in our heads. In addition, Reagan’s belief that the future will take care of everything is interesting as our society’s optimism was addressed in Klein’s speech. Her examples of “solutions” that researchers had proposed to combat climate change (all quite silly and would invite even more environmental damage than it would solve) is on the same trail of Reagan’s advice to deal with immediate problems first, in whatever way possible. In “The Geography of Nowhere” James Howard Kunstler touches upon the effects of civil planning and the automobile on American society. Kunstler states that for the past two generations Americans don’t know what quality really is and laments how we are still behaving the same way we were when 1800s. This is exampled by American businessmen Charles Pratt who was also a stock owner on the railroad back then and requested to have rickety trains in suburbs that weren’t rich so that the poor would be discouraged to use the train – while the rich could have their own railroad car. Later, when the automobile began its mass expansion over the country, highway planners specifically designed roads to not accommodate public transportation – to urge people to buy more cars, thus fueling the start of our dependence on oil.

My perspective on the issue is as follows: Americans are uncompromising in changing their way of life. They have “eaten the forbidden fruit” so to speak, and don’t want to return to how they were before. My argument though, is that a return to a more sustainable time won’t be possible anyway, and instead, society should work towards supplying a completely new solution, thus inviting progress and not regression. Integrating more than one solution to a problem, for example, instead of stubbornly believing that there is only one right answer to everything, may be key in leading society out of this mindset. Overall, I do believe that American culture is a sustainability issue in itself but many of the poor decisions made that have adversely our environment were not made by individuals, but by those who encourage individuals to reap the benefits of such actions.

Citations:

Kunstler, James Howard. //The Geography of Nowhere.// New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Print.

"Naomi Klein: Addicted to Risk | Video on TED.com." //TED: Ideas worth Spreading//. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. .

"Ronald Reagan - Candidacy Announcement." //Reagan 2020//. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. .