Widespread Sustainable Consumerism is More Vital Than Taking Individual Actions
Perhaps no one knows better than I do what it means to take individual responsibility for my environmental impact. For those of you familiar with my blog, you know that for the past three months, I have been trying to live 100% environmentally sustainably within urban Pittsburgh. A formidable task, indeed.
In Robin Shreeve’s provocative article, “Whose Responsibility is Sustainable Consumerism?”, she champions the youngest generation’s recognition that the responsibility for our actions lies with us individually, not mainly with corporations. Three months ago, I would have toasted to her conclusion. (Of course, I then believed we don’t need corporations whatsoever and we could live without them and be sustainable.) Today, however, my reaction to Robin’s article is different. I’m inclined to deeply disagree.
During the sustainable living experiment called the Sust Enable Film Project (which concludes by midnight today), I would argue that I succeeded in living sustainably less than a dozen days of the 3-month project. Does this fact disappoint me? At first, it did. But I will tell you why my experiment failed.
There are systems in the United States–for getting food, for getting rid of our trash, for flushing away our body wastes–that collectively (and historically), we have all agreed to adopt and abide by. They seem(ed) like the best solutions for problems we all face, and as a society (through the government) we
reinforce these systems. This was clear to me every time I flushed a public toilet, and another huge chunk was subtracted from my sustainable water use for the day. This became even clearer when I learned that many sustainable living methods–such as dumpster diving, squatting, and building a composting toilet–are outright illegal in many towns.
Doing something illegal (like dumpster diving) if it seems right to you… that’s one thing. Civil disobedience: often harmless, functional, and a true expression of freedom. There’s nothing wrong with that. But going hungry because the society-subverting alternatives are more difficult, demanding or have greater consequences than the unsustainable, mainstream options?
