Too often, I ignore the little things – walking the walk – as I dedicate most of my waking energy to the meta-challenges of our time – climate justice and sustainability. Now and then, you can spot me holding a disposable coffee cup in my left hand as I passionately gesticulate with my right, attempting to convey the urgency of these problems and the promise of their solutions. It may seem petty, but this image is a vulnerability for our movement.
Just as those who seek to derail our movement exploit the ironic image of climate activists mobilizing during a March snowstorm, you can be sure that they will hit us with similar inanities. If they are resorting to these tactics, it means: A – We are strong enough to be perceived as a threat to their interests. B – Our message and vision of sustainability and prosperity is so compelling, that it cannot be substantially attacked. Our image, however, can be exploited.
On March 2nd, the day we held hundreds of lobby meetings and mobilized thousands at the Capital Coal Plant, a friend of mine launched a blog called Going Green: Cutting Environmental Impact on Campus. It is a familiar undertaking; for a month he’s living as sustainably as he can within the constraints of 21st century college life and each day, he’ll write about it.
I’m often a critic of such undertakings. Individual lifestyle choice solutions fall far short of solving systemic problems. That said, doing the simple things to which all our peers can relate can be a good starting point for developing an understanding of our relationship as individuals to larger systemic problems. It’s not a strategy, but it can be a tactic to ensure that in our focus on systemic solutions to systemic problems, we keep one foot grounded in the mental space of all our peers, not just the people we work with day in and day out.
It’s also a way to polish our image. For good reason, those of us who participated in the Capital Climate Action were asked to dress our best. We are always conveying an image. As our movement grows in scope, lets not forget the little things. I say that as much for myself as I do for y’all. We already have a powerful collective image, but I think it is time to plug the leaks. I’ll do my part – keep tabs on what sustainability 101 looks like to college students on my friend’s blog. It’s definitely not a road-map to climate justice, but for some of our peers it is starting point. Lets use it.
Thanks for this post Andrew. I completely agree. I know people say attention to the small things isn’t going to solve the climate crisis, but the climate crisis is made up of those trillions of small things. We may have to pass laws and legislation to get most folks to give up their disposable, inefficient lifestyles, but as the young people leading the charge, we have a responsibility to walk the talk and lead our lives as sustainable models. Anything less is a tad bit hypocritical and gives our opponents annoying fodder.
Hey Andrew,
I agree with you that disposable coffee cups are a bummer — and I think it’s important to evaluate yourself and your walk– but I also feel like this is a line of thinking can be a real trap.
First, it perpetuates the “other sides” attempt at negating our truth about global warming or coal etc. by saying we typed it on a computer–thus we bought into the system thus we are just baby children rebelling into our parents. Blah Blah Whatever. These arguments are too stupid to validate with a response. When someone pulls that, just ignore it and get back to the facts — it’s a trap.
I think a lot of people new to activism think, “If I can just be serious enough (well dressed/carbon neutral enough), THEN they’ll take me seriously.” Which is kind of true, but do you think that people for the last 100 years fighting for clean energy weren’t serious and well dressed? (I know you don’t Andrew, it’s a rhetorical question). Your “opponents” will always find something stupid to hate you for, that’s their job.
Sages like Wendell Berry put it well — when he said something along the lines of, “We’ve been patient and hard working and following the rules for 30 years–patience isn’t working–it’s time for action”
Of course you should cut your carbon footprint and be nice and reasonable and do good work. But as my email quote says,
It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.
Sydney Smith
By that I mean, don’t act like you aren’t allowed to stand up and shout and use your voice like crazy to stop global warming, whatever your voice or the place you come from is — because you are right, and the world is burning, and the clothes you wear and the computer you type it on can’t negate that.
Best,
Dana
PS, I hear Massey is suing you Andrew, which is so BAD ASS! Bummer though.
I’m going to steal this straight from Lauren Gazzola (supportlauren.com), a political prisoner here in the U.S. serving a federal terrorism sentence for political speech (read more about the case at SHAC7.com):
Presentation Matters
I’ve attended more than a few demonstrations holding ratty signs, passing our flyers copied on horrible machines, wearing big pants and band t-shirts, surrounded by people with greasy hair and tattoos on their necks and just generally looking like a bunch of idealistic kids taking up a cause because that’s what idealistic kids do. Did we really think this didn’t harm our efforts?
I spent way too much time early on debating this point, with myself and with other activists. Should we look more like the people who saw us at the demonstration? Or should we look like ourselves? On the one hand, I saw that people were more likely to listen to us if we looked “presentable.” But on the other hand, I didn’t want to be required to conform in order for people to be willing to hear us. I now recognize how asinine the latter view is.
True, we shouldn’t have to look like the people to whom we’re outreaching in order to get them to listen to us. But we do. And we advocate from where we are, not where we wish we were. And where we are these days is in a place where people respond most to the message in the prettiest package. Advocacy is marketing.
Advocacy is also an effort at balancing positives and negatives in order to yield the most net good. Among the opponents I’ve had when arguing the “conformity” side of the debate are those who say we shouldn’t compromise one set of values for another (and this point extends beyond the relatively minor matter of personal expression in our appearance). But some forms of oppression, exploitation, and suffering are simply worse than others. Believing that we can advocate for any cause and never compromise any of our other values is both impractical and unrealistic. Every time we get in a car to drive to a demonstration we decide that the good we’ll do at the demo yields more good than the bad done by driving the car.
I’m going to go a step beyond saying “look presentable” and say “look attractive.” This goes for your personal appearance (at least while representing the animal rights message, which I realize is arguably always) as well as your propaganda. People respond to celebrities, advertisements, and some images more than others because they’re “pretty.” Look pretty. Make your flyers eye-catching. Does this perpetuate unrealistic standards of beauty. Mhmm. Does it place more value on appearance than substance? Yup. But dying in a vivisection lab is worse.
To the extent that we endeavor to convince people of our own message (and no matter how large a contribution is made by direct action campaigns against specific exploitative companies and industries, the fact remains that the job isn’t done until we change the minds and habits of nearly every person on earth), we should endeavor equally to give it to them in the most palatable package. To the extent that we care about other issues along with animal rights, we should deliver those too in a manner that will yield the most benefit to that cause with the least cost to others. But at various times one will have to take precedence over others. Otherwise you can tell an animal slated to die in a slaughterhouse that you won’t comb your hair/ put on make-up/ cover your tattoos because it perpetuates unrealistic standards of beauty.