Time to Change Our Ways

More talk is happening on Human Landscape in regards to Ian’s earlier entry about the way we live. In his previous entry Ian talks about how our problems in life maybe due to our current paradigm and not ‘human nature’. Ian received an interesting comment back about this entry, that we shouldn’t be telling people what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, and that change will come when people are ready to change. To this Ian backed off his initial post a bit by marginalizing what is right and wrong.

I am going to come out and say the way we live, our current paradigm is wrong. I say this with confidence, because it is easy to see for me, it is right in front of all of us, and I think you will find most ecologists, biologists, scientist and other ‘ists will agree with this as well. Why can I say this so confidently? Well I take a look around me, I look at how all the other living species of this planet are living and see right then that we are living at odds with the system on Earth. Every other species on this planet lives within the system of the earth, it contributes to the system and helps sustain the system, and because of this there has been life on this planet for several billion years. Now fast forward to present day, it is very obvious we are not living within the system.

We haven’t always lived at odds with the Earth, it has been dated that things changed several thousand years ago (speaking in terms of billions of years of life this makes this number very small). Since that change our population has grown at an exponential rate. At the start this wasn’t such a big deal (as is usually the case in the early stages of exponential growth), however now when our population is in the billions this growth is causing major problems for us and the earth around us.

I have gotten a little off topic, so back to Ian’s post, he goes on to say that change happens when there is a conscious effort to do so, which I fully agree. He then goes on to site some changes we have seen in our recent history such as human rights and the environmental movement. The changes Ian talks about though are not really the solution, but rather small fixes that are caused by the larger problem. Daniel Quinn wrote an interesting parable called the sinking ship which goes:

The ship was sinking—and sinking fast. The captain told the passengers and crew, “We’ve got to get the lifeboats in the water right away.”

But the crew said, “First we have to end capitalist oppression of the working class. Then we’ll take care of the lifeboats.”

Then the women said, “First we want equal pay for equal work. The lifeboats can wait.”
The racial minorities said, “First we need to end racial discrimination. Then seating in the lifeboats will be allotted fairly.”

The captain said, “These are all important issues, but they won’t matter a damn if we don’t survive. We’ve got to lower the lifeboats right away!”

But the religionists said, “First we need to bring prayer back into the classroom. This is more important than lifeboats.”

Then the pro-life contingent said, “First we must outlaw abortion. Fetuses have just as much right to be in those lifeboats as anyone else.”

The right-to-choose contingent said, “First acknowledge our right to abortion, then we’ll help with the lifeboats.”

The socialists said, “First we must redistribute the wealth. Once that’s done everyone will work equally hard at lowering the lifeboats.”

The animal-rights activists said, “First we must end the use of animals in medical experiments. We can’t let this be subordinated to lowering the lifeboats.”

Finally the ship sank, and because none of the lifeboats had been lowered, everyone drowned.
The last thought of more than one of them was, “I never dreamed that solving humanity’s problems would take so long—or that the ship would sink so SUDDENLY.”

What Quinn is trying to express with this parable is that while all of these issues may be important they don’t address our fundamental problem, and that is our way of life is quickly destroying life on earth, and this should be the primary focus for us. Our ship is sinking, and we need to worry about fixing it before we all drown. What is even more interesting is that a lot of the issues talked about in this parable are problems caused by the larger problem. Thus if we solve the larger problem the other issues will be easy to fix.

In the end it comes down to being able to live sustainably on this earth with all the other species. People are realizing around the world the double dividends of sustainable living and the benefits it provides.

Ian does an excellent job of finishes his entry by disputing the notion that change will happen when it is needed:

Believing that “change will occur when change is needed” doesn’t take into account that it must be worked towards. Of course, I don’t advocate running out on the street and shaking people by the shoulders, telling them their beliefs are “wrong.” I think the worst action someone can take is to believe someone else’s truth before test-driving it for themselves. The only thing we can ever really do without causing unintended suffering is to lead by example. If others see the postive effects of our personal truth, I believe they’ll begin to ask themselves the same questions and find their own route.

To add to this, often people don’t see or know that the problem exists. In such a case change will never happen, or it will happen too late, like that poor frog. Thus helping people see the issue, or the problem around them I think is the least we can do.