The following is an excerpt from Derrick Jensen's essay, "You Choose," that I have borrowed from a book of essays titled Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril. I chose where to break the paragraphs.
"When most people in this culture ask, 'How can we stop global warming?' that's not really what they're asking. They're asking, 'How can we stop global warming, without significantly changing this lifestyle...that is causing global warming in the first place?'
The answer is that you can't...
Those who inherit whatever's left of the world once this culture has been stopped - whether through peak oil, economic collapse, ecological collapse, or the efforts of brave women and men fighting in alliance with the natural world - are going to judge us by the health of the land base, because that's what's going to support them, or not.
They're not going to care how we lived our lives.
They're not going to care how hard we tried.
They're not going to care whether we were nice.
They're not going to care whether we were nonviolent or violent.
They're not going to care whether we grieved the murder of the planet.
They're not going to care whether we were enlightened.
They're not going to care what sort of excuses we had not to act (e.g., 'I'm too stressed to think about it,' or 'It's too big and scary,' or 'I'm too busy,' or 'But those in power will kill us if we effectively act against them,' or 'If we fight back we run the risk of becoming like they are,' or 'But I recycled,' or any of a thousand other excuses we've all heard too many times).
They're not going to care how simply we lived.
They're not going to care how pure we were in thought or action.
They're not going to care if we became the change we wished to see.
They're not going to care whether we voted Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, or not at all.
They're not going to care if we wrote really big books about it.
They're not going to care whether we had 'compassion' for the CEOs and politicians running this deathly economy.
They're going care whether they can breathe the air and drink the water. They're going to care whether the land can support them. We can fantasize all we want about some great turning, and if the people (including the nonhuman people) can't breathe, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters but that we stop this culture from killing the planet...
Those who come after - presuming anyone survives - are going to wonder what the fuck was wrong with us that we didn't do whatever it takes - and I mean whatever it takes - to stop industrial capitalism from killing the planet...
It is long past time for us to be the miracle we've all been waiting for."
-------------------------------------
"When most people in this culture ask, 'How can we stop global warming?' that's not really what they're asking. They're asking, 'How can we stop global warming, without significantly changing this lifestyle...that is causing global warming in the first place?'
The answer is that you can't...
Those who inherit whatever's left of the world once this culture has been stopped - whether through peak oil, economic collapse, ecological collapse, or the efforts of brave women and men fighting in alliance with the natural world - are going to judge us by the health of the land base, because that's what's going to support them, or not.
They're not going to care how we lived our lives.
They're not going to care how hard we tried.
They're not going to care whether we were nice.
They're not going to care whether we were nonviolent or violent.
They're not going to care whether we grieved the murder of the planet.
They're not going to care whether we were enlightened.
They're not going to care what sort of excuses we had not to act (e.g., 'I'm too stressed to think about it,' or 'It's too big and scary,' or 'I'm too busy,' or 'But those in power will kill us if we effectively act against them,' or 'If we fight back we run the risk of becoming like they are,' or 'But I recycled,' or any of a thousand other excuses we've all heard too many times).
They're not going to care how simply we lived.
They're not going to care how pure we were in thought or action.
They're not going to care if we became the change we wished to see.
They're not going to care whether we voted Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, or not at all.
They're not going to care if we wrote really big books about it.
They're not going to care whether we had 'compassion' for the CEOs and politicians running this deathly economy.
They're going care whether they can breathe the air and drink the water. They're going to care whether the land can support them. We can fantasize all we want about some great turning, and if the people (including the nonhuman people) can't breathe, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters but that we stop this culture from killing the planet...
Those who come after - presuming anyone survives - are going to wonder what the fuck was wrong with us that we didn't do whatever it takes - and I mean whatever it takes - to stop industrial capitalism from killing the planet...
It is long past time for us to be the miracle we've all been waiting for."
No comments:
Post a Comment