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Part One
Maximum LeverageI mean I hate to be a contrarian but I don't think our primary culpability for the destruction of the natural world comes through what we consume, I think our primary culpability comes by not stopping the system that's destroying the planet, and there's a few directions that I can go with that. One of them is people sometimes talk about voting with your dollars and, hey that's an extraordinary statement about how bankrupt the so called democracy that we live in is when people recognize that the elections themselves are shams and so they talk about well you can vote with your dollars but that's just as much a sham for a bunch of reasons.
One of them is that those of us who are not attempting to destroy things will always be at a severe disadvantage when it comes to money and I can show that in a couple ways, one is, first off, what is production within in this culture? Production is the turning of the living into the dead, it's the turning of living force into 2x4s it's the turning of rivers into hydroelectricity which is then used to convert living mountains into beer cans and that's what production is and that process
Back to those of us who would wish to spend with our dollars being at a disadvantage. What happens if I buy, if i make lots of money, how do I accumulate a lot of money in a way that's not environmentally destructive because if I actually go out and build something, I'm within this culture, I'm harming the natural world. You know, If I write books, well where does the paper come from? Even if it's purely recycled post-consumer, it still involves a lot of electricity, a lot of water, and all those processes are within the industrial system. The whole system is incredibly destructive. So, I'm not saying that we shouldn't write books or do films or do whatever else we're doing, I'm just saying that, okay, so let's say I just go steal a bunch of money because that would be a way that's not environmentally destructive you know, I sneak into Wal-mart you know, it's great, you know, it's always great to take money from Wal-mart. I sneak into Wal-mart in the middle of the night, oh god, I can't break a window because that might be considered violent by some people, but, I go in, I somehow nab some money from Wal-mart or I make a lot of money playing Poker online, because I guess that's not environmentally destructive, except you have to have a computer, okay so let's say I get a million dollars and I sent it aside, well, I just basically lost my whole pile and I've gotta go back to Wal-mart and take a bunch more money in order to get another million dollars to protect more land.
But let's say instead someone accumulates a million dollars somehow and they buy a bunch of land because they wanna deforest it. And they now can cut down all the trees and they've made 5 million dollars and now they can buy 5 million dollars worth of land, and then they can do it again and again and again. The point is if you're attempting to use money in a good direction, it ends up being a hole. I'm not saying we shouldn't I'm just saying that we will always be at a disadvantage that way. That's one reason we can't vote with our dollars. Another reason is, I was doing the math a couple years ago, I actually fly a lot because I do a lot of talks and, so somebody could say "Well you know, you're responsible for, for United Airlines staying in business." Which is a question in any case, United Airlines staying in business is a question. And so I actually did the math and found out how much I spend, remember once again I fly quite a bit, and compare that with their total revenues, and my total input was, I don't remember what it was, it was like 1/9 billionth.
So yeah, I'm responsible for 1/9 billionth of united Airlines staying in business and that's not a lot of leverage. When I think and I talk about stopping the destructiveness, I want to try to find ways that have the most leverage possible. I want to leverage my power. Because we who are opposing empire and we who are opposing the destruction of the natural world don't at this point have the luxury of just using naked force, the federal government has enough resources at its disposal that it can just have people go in with guns everywhere and use overwhelming force. I just read the other day that the United States military is outspending the insurgents in, or the resistance, in Iraq by I think it's 128,000 to 1. For every dollar that the insurgents resistance spent, that's, the United States government sends 128,000. Which is very very short lever from their perspective.
One is, how can we find ways to leverage our power? Leverage our efforts, and I mean I think that, that certainly you know minimizing ones expenditures is a good thing to do on it's own but that's the biggest lever I can think of. And It's like Ward Churchill says we also have to remember that personal change doesn't equal social change. We could all become vegans and, or all of us who care could become vegans and this culture would still be destroying
Part Two
Pathology of the PersonalI got into a big argument with some guy A few years ago because he was saying that because I Use toilet paper I'm just as responsible for deforestation as the CEO of Weyerhaeuser. And that seemed nonsensical to me But that's something that so many of us do all the time is we take responsibility for actions that are not our own and he was saying go ask a tree this. So I did I ask a tree 'you know am I as culpable?' and the tree said look You are an animal you consume things get over it And And then I realized yes I am actually culpable For deforestation but not because I use toilet paper I'm culpable for deforestation because I consume the flesh of a tree but I don't fulfill my end of the bargain by stopping Weyerhaeuser. So what I need to do is I need to stop Weyerhaeuser.
one of the things that abused children often do is because they're in an entirely uncontrollable situation They will attempt to control whatever they can and so if I can merely make it so the dishes are absolutely spotless I won't be beaten So they may obsessively clean the dishes. If i can make sure that I am perfect then the dreadful wont happen. I perceive a lot of over emphasis on personal lifestyle stuff to be the same response because I mean I've heard so many people say "yanno, when I think about deforestation I have to look myself in the face because I'm just as guilty." well, no actually you're not. Charles Herwitz is a lot more guilty, so is the CEO of Weyerhaeuser, so is the CEO of what used to be Georgia Pacific, so is CEO of Sierra pacific so is Larry Craig, senator from Idaho. Um, so are the forest service employees and so I think we need to not take responsibility for things that aren't our responsibility, and yeah I can cut back on my consumption but if I take that to its end then I should just go ahead and off myself right now and that's not how I can best serve. I can best serve by stopping Weyerhaeuser. I think it's really important that we don't identify with the system, and that we don't identify with those running the system
would Tecumseh the Shawnee Indian, would he have said "we're deforesting" I don't think so because he was opposing the forces that were killing his people. and would members of the French or Russian or Danish or German- well German let's drop them off, would members of the French or Russian or Norwegian or Yugoslavian resistance have said in world war II "gosh you know, we're, we're killing the Jews, we're the p-you know conquering Europe." no, they knew who their enemies were. and I think- a lot of people say "gosh derrick you're so decisive" but the truth is the division is already there and the planets being killed, and are you for it or are you against it? and so there's, I think it's really important to say "I am not the US government.
I am not the CEO- I'm not the corporations, I'm not the CEOs of the corporations." either one. so, I am opposed to them. and does this mean that you don't consume anything? once again I try and enter into that relationship, um, I take responsibility for what I can. I didn't create car culture, I didn't create the oil economy. its my job to shut both of them down. and sure I can drive as little as possible, but I can look for other levers too.