我曾经以为真相会让我们获得自由。和许多关心环境的人一样，我多年来一直认为信息会带来改变。我当时想，只要人们意识到我们星球的现状有多糟糕，一切都会改变。于是我撰写报告、发表演讲，甚至在国会作证。
有些事情发生了改变。可惜的是，大局并没有改变。
很长一段时间我都不明白为什么。现在我意识到，我们不需要更多的数据、白皮书或纪录片来告诉我们处境艰难。每天的新闻都充斥着极端天气灾害、有毒化学品恐慌以及经济不平等带来的残酷后果。到了现在，大多数人都心知肚明。
好消息是，大多数人都很关心这个问题。我们大多数人都渴望拥有一个安全健康的环境。我们大多数人都对婴儿出生时血液中就含有有害化学物质感到震惊。我们大多数人宁愿看到对清洁能源的投资，也不愿看到数十亿美元的补贴流向化石燃料巨头。我们大多数人都希望生活在一个公正的社会里。
所以，如果人们都知道，如果人们关心，为什么我们没有产生扭转局面所需的变革？我的新电影《变革的故事》认为，部分原因是我们已经陷入了消费模式。
我逐渐意识到，我们自身由两部分组成；这就像两块肌肉——消费肌和公民肌。我们的消费肌不断被滋养和锻炼，变得异常强壮：强壮到“消费者”已成为我们的主要身份认同，我们存在的意义。我们如此频繁地被告知我们是一个消费型国家，以至于当媒体将“消费者”和“人”互换使用时，我们早已习以为常。
与此同时，我们的公民意识却日渐松懈。没有任何宣传活动提醒我们积极参与公民事务。相反，我们却被各种清单轰炸，上面罗列着一些简单易行、无需费力就能拯救地球的物品或方法。
难怪面对棘手的问题，又被现状的顽固不化所打击，我们会本能地以我们唯一知道的方式——消费主义——来展现我们的力量。塑料垃圾堵塞海洋？那就自带购物袋。婴儿洗发水里含有甲醛？那就买带有绿色环保标志的品牌。全球变暖威胁着我们赖以生存的生活方式？那就换掉灯泡。（正如阿勒格尼学院政治与环境科学教授迈克尔·马尼亚特斯所说：“从来没有人对这么多人提出过如此少的要求。”）
这些都是很好的做法。购物时，我们应该选择不含毒性化学物质、包装不必要、由善待员工的本地企业生产的产品。另一方面，抵制那些对工人、社区和地球有害的产品，也能向那些仍然固守陈旧经济模式的企业发出明确的信号。有时候，不买——用现有的物品凑合着用或者和朋友分享——才是最好的选择。
但我们真正的力量不在于从有限的菜单上选择，而在于决定哪些内容应该出现在菜单上。要确保所有消费者，而不仅仅是那些买得起的人，都能用安全健康的替代品取代有毒有害、破坏气候的食品，关键在于公民的积极参与：携手合作，推动比个人消费层面所能实现的更大、更彻底的变革。
回顾那些成功的运动——民权运动、反种族隔离运动、早期的环境胜利——你会发现，要实现我们今天所需的变革规模，需要三件事。
首先，我们需要一个关于如何让世界变得更美好的宏伟构想——一个在道德上令人信服、在生态上可持续、在社会上公正的构想，它不仅能让少数人的生活略微改善，而是能让所有人的生活都得到极大改善。全世界数以百万计的人已经拥有这样的构想：一种基于人类和地球需求而非企业利润的经济模式。
其次，我们需要共同努力。在历史上最具变革性的社会运动中，人们并没有说“我要完善我每天的个人选择”，而是说“我们要携手合作，直到问题解决”。如今，无论线上线下，合作都比以往任何时候都更加便捷。
最后，我们需要所有认同这一宏伟理念的人行动起来。我们需要从共同的担忧、沮丧和恐惧，转变为积极参与的公民行动。只有这样，我们才能凝聚力量，实现真正的变革。
我们必须志存高远，携手合作，大胆行动。这并不简单，也绝非易事。但历史站在我们这边。让我们立即行动起来，去实现我们知道能够实现的变革。
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I agree cent-per-cent with this article - The Story of Change - Why Citizens (not shoppers) hold the key to a better World), by Annie Leonard. Annie has hit the nail on it's head by saying "...... our citizen muscle has gotten flabby. There’s no marketing
campaign reminding us to engage as citizens. On the contrary, we’re
bombarded with lists of simple and easy things we can buy or do to save
the planet, without going out of our way or breaking a sweat."
Citizens have forgotten their responsibility as true "citizens" - may it be living in an environmentally sustainable manner, speaking up against injustice, mis-governance, corruption, etc.
Let's be the change we wish to seen in our World. Let's lead by example.
Regards.
G R Vora
Mumbai - India
============
Eating
vegetarian, re-using, a smaller carbon footprint, driving less, buying
"green" products, washing with cold water, driving a hybrid car, if
you're rich enough to afford it, or not driving, buying farm-raised
animals, having a little garden, bringing your own bags, buying organic
vegetables, saving water by showering with a friend, wearing all-cotton
peasant dresses and undies...... etc., etc., etc., etc..........
Treating the symptoms, blinding yourself to the cause.
Delaying tactics only.
One Band-Aid after another.
"I
used to think the truth would set us free. Like many who care about the
environment, I spent years thinking that information would lead to
change. If only people realize the mess our planet is in, I thought,
things will change."
So I thought when I heard about overpopulation when I was a kid in 1970. The earth's population was 3.6 billion then. I thought, "All we have to do is limit population. People don't have to die off en masse. There don't have to be shortages and droughts, destruction of habitat, pollution, low water quality, starvation, urban sprawl, city "growth", congestion, housing crises, loss of farmland, traffic, housing costs, hunger, loss of farmland, destruction of rainforest, species going extinct, sewage overload, landfill, water quality problems (pollution), air pollution, traffic, high housing costs, high medical costs, carbon dioxide, smog, polluted runoff, hostility in crowds and traffic, shortage of resources, high prices, pavement, loss of green lands, dams, overcrowded abusive factory farming with animals living in poor conditions, muddied streams that used to be clear, heavy fishing regulations, fewer fish, endangered wildlife, rapid spread of swine flu and other viruses. We can prevent much of it with population control and reduction."
"And the good news is that most people care. "
B***S***! Apparently we (well, not I and a few others) have bred ourselves into a nation (or world) of idiots with reduced mental capacity, because some people seemingly "care" about these issues but lack the mental capacity to associate them with the causative factor o overpopulation.
So we see environmentalists with their little carbon footprints to feed, and "mothers of two" complaining about their city's congestion, after they have already added to it. (Seattle Times report on congestion 1998)
Apparently some think it is racist. No way: I hold white suburban mommies running with their strollers as accountable as anyone else. More so. Their little carbon footprints to feed are larger than those in other cultures. No use cutting your carbon footprint in half when you've added several more carbon footprints to feed.
[Hide Full Comment]Replacing just about anything is so easy. Much easier than
taking care of what we already have. Deciding not to purchase something is a
major consumer shift. This concept might fall in between the easy road of using
canvas shopping bags and a major movement.
It would be a start to making a difference.