1 Well written and argued Andy! And as we both know, doing things in an uber-efficient ultra-reneweable way feels so cool and sexy and fun that going back to the dinosaur habits we were raised in (literally dinosaur, considering the source of the fuel!) feels troglodyte stupid. I’m reminded of Malcolm X’s insight: don’t tell a man his glass of water is filthy. Give him a clean glass of water to drink and let him choose for himself!
If I can make only one change to the rhetoric we descendants of the Ghandian/Mother Teresa school of reform tend to use (for which everyone from right wing actors like Charleton Heston to iconoclast comics like George Carlin has roundly made fun of us) it would be to stop using the terms “save the world” or “save the planet”.
Heston used to say (with characteristic gnashing of teeth and an outjutted jaw “Gyagghrrrrrnnnnh.... the.... ahgnnhhh… planet… doesn’t need our help… it was here long before us… nnghyahghhh… and it will ... be ... here… long after we’re....gnnnnehhh… GONE....!” George Carlin ridiculed environmentalists saying “save the world? I don’t give a@#$% about saving the world, I want to save My ass...” (or something like that).
But the point is that we who have said our whole lives that we wanted to “save the world” MEANT that we wanted to preserve the systems (both ecological and social) and living creatures (both non-human and human) that make life worth living, for all of us. But we boxed ourselves in a semiotic corner using debatable terms like “planet” that were at a scope too big for small minds to deal with. So we were ridiculed.
Okay, let’s change that rhetoric, just as we have changed our role models, as you point out. I’m putting on our Solar CITIES site : “We don’t want to save the world or save the planet. WE WANT TO SAVE SENTIENT LIFE FORMS, HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN, WE WANT TO SAVE (AND IMPROVE) OUR CIVILIZATION AND WE WANT TO PRESERVE THE CO-EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES THAT SUSTAIN US ALL.
Viewed like this we ally ourselves with all those who have bumper stickers that read “save the planet”, “save the whales” “save the spotted owl” etc. as well as those whose stickers read “save the humans”, “save our jobs” “save the economy” and “save more at safeway”. There is no longer (and never has been) any divide.
Blessings,
T