While temporary living at my parents house over winter break, I’m continually bombarded by a multitude of questions. They range from the relatively benign ‘What you want for dinner?’ or ‘Did you pick up after last night?’ asked by my mother and father. More serious questions are raised by them as well. “What are you’re plans for the summer?” “After college, you’re …?”Both sets of questions are personal. Just as personal are the queries asked by the world around me. Books received on Christmas, our changing political demographic, even the streets and gas lines seem to be asking, “How exactly do you plan on fixing this place?”
This place being my familial situation, the monster that is ‘the suburbs’, and the world as whole needs fixing? This question really goes without asking for sure but the emphasis of the question is on the ‘how’. My mercurial mind wants to spring forth, offering ideologies and principles of Ecofeminism and permaculture ethics. Though threads of these ideals run though our national and global consciousness, I’m hard pressed to find any leaders or people in positions of great influence espousing anything remotely sustainable or egalitarian. I’ve grown hard and calloused by viewing the globalization of this world suck land and people dry and the destruction of marine ecosystems left and right. The refusal of aid to our brothers and sisters based on race, class, sex, gender, sexual orientation, ability, age or any other number of identifiers and classifications has caused me too lose a lot of faith in the human race thus far. This is not say that I view our world as fallen or doomed. I’m merely bitter, cynical, jaded and changeable. Anyone willing to step forward in the name of love and justice has my full support.
I do not have the skill set or frame of mind needed for international politics or diplomacy. I wish to see the world first hand eventually but that day is far from now. Until then I want to stay informed on issues, perhaps formulate my own options, and implore the classical power of earth, silence; less I join the ranks of the hypocrites that so frequent our government, air waves and lives. So closer to home I roam.
Over the last few years we’ve all heard voices calling for change and to have hope. We have cried for change from the beginning of time. We’ve lost and regained hope time and time again. These truths are innate and I don’t see them as great revolutionary chants. Perhaps it is rebellion that needs to be shouted from the pulpits and discussed over dinner tables. Rebellion causes fear in people’s hearts and it is not my goal to create more terror in people’s lives. This would be cruel and so I caveat the profession of a rebellion with saying rebellion by imploring moderation, limits, and critical thinking. These aren’t limits imposed by governments but by the self. We believe that we have anything we can afford. An entitlement has been cast over our minds. Instant gratification though the advent of the internet and sequent technologies allows us to reach forth and have anything we can afford. And if ‘everyone has one be me’ then by majority rule, you as well are entitled to one. I do not include basic human rights of food, water, shelter, love, among others in this entitlement mindset but things that are not nessacary to a relatively stress free life. There are two ways about this. Create complete comfort or create only what is necessary. Again, I do not wish for this to include government or authoritarian intervention, but a sense of what is ethical, moral, or personally right for me and who I am affecting by my choice of consumption. This being said, the way I and many other people across this earth consume, a process of take and give, needs to be re-evaluated. What is valued needs to be part of the conversation. How we live our lives, what we get and what we give are the core of this discussion.
When oil companies ask to drill and expand their monopoly; they say they have to drill unless Americans are willing to make a drastic lifestyle change. Three years ago the American public voted for change. It’s only within the last month that the majority of changes have been implemented. For this I’m glad. Finally some thing is being done. But I can’t help but feel like the changes are done in the nick of time. Is this the kind of system we really want to have. Only when the faced with immanent dead lines does anything get done. Apparently when we shift the responsibility to change from ourselves to our leaders, hope is something to be desired.
What do we fear a drastic lifestyle change would bring? Who would this lifestyle change effect? In our current system, probably those who could not afford to keep what they already have. Is it fair to ask anyone to implement a lifestyle change of limits? I’m not sure but I still have to ask, what would you be willing to share in order for others who have less to have access to more? Would you be willing to give up four bed rooms, two stories, and two baths for something a little more efficient? For those in subsidized housing or in college dormitories, we know what it’s like to live off of little. And this is not what I’m asking to people to a scribe to, it is merely the images of housing situations when the words efficiency are called into consideration. There are other options. Instead of buying eggs from a grocery store which distributes them though another company which gets the eggs from the farm. Wear house would be a better word for such places. If I could be so bold as to offer a few suggestions for radical rebellion.
For eggs, two or even three neighbors could build a chicken coop, no larger than the size of the tool shed in your back yard. Responsibilities for cleaning, feeding and egg collection can be divided between households. A book or two and a weekend project are all that would be needed for the initial start up. Ten chickens between two or three families would provide an abundance of ‘farm’ fresh eggs everyday. This would limit the amount of power of the agribusiness and decrease your carbon foot print. Even still, what if two or three houses can take down the fences between them and build one encasing all their backyards. Build a shelter along onside of the houses for two goats. Fresh milk every day. Again a few books and a weekend for start up and shared responsibility create stronger communities and increase the empowerment of the neighborhood. What build community and friendship better than shoveling poop or collecting eggs. Maybe meals shared from the chickens and the produce grown from the manure.
I understand that many cities have ordinances against livestock in residential areas. I’ve seen places where this privilege to have goats, cows, and chicken (among other animals deemed inappropriate for suburban living) has been grandfathered into so some households. There are ways in which one can have chickens and goats in their back yards. Generally there is a process by which neighborhood consent is needed. In the spirit of community building and respect for others living situations, this is a no brainer and hopefully is done regardless of policy. If in the case of laws out right restricting such animal husbandry, then I implore a certain amount of civil disobedience. Do it anyway. This can seem childish or brash but in the words of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Well-behaved women rarely make history”. Similarly, if we not only want have delicious local food and reclaim some power over our lives then sometimes we have to make a little noise. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be known as the crazy-chicken lady or those people with the goats?
With this change from one way of accessing various products to another there are many obstacles to face. As mentioned local laws are one and neighbors are another. Where there is a will there is a way. One person can rarely change the system. And this is what I’m getting at. It takes a community to enact great changes to society. Before the world wars, the globalization, and the individualization of this country, we lived more agrarian lives. No we all shouldn’t run out and start farm, though we do need more farmers that is for sure. This agrarian life meant we had to rely on our neighbors to help get things done. Harvesting and child rising was a community effort. It still is to an extent. Who’s community is growing and harvesting your food? Are you a part of your child’s schooling? In the 1960’s and 1970’s and even to today there are efforts to reclaim communities and live more conscious lives. These endeavors were and are truly great. Here in the suburbs where the grass is green (or white as it winter now) and SUV’s rule the pavement, this sense of greatness has been transferred from the whole to the individual. Everyone losses in this scenario. Those who don’t have as much as some feel the entitlement. The earth losses from all the greed of individuality. Corporations make out with more money than ever thought humanly possible. It really is time to make a change. Clearly we can’t really on elected official to do the work for us. Lets take responsibility for the mistakes we’ve made or our parents made and do some real work.
As a favorite second grade teacher once said, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.” You everyone makes mistakes. That is human nature. Messes get cleaned up everyday. Sometimes the mess is chicken poop. Personally, I rather clean up poop than have to clean up another river because of agribusiness run-off. It is the taking chances part that is the hardest and this too in your nature. People have taken chances and look where it got them. To the new world. To the moon! Taking chances requires knowledge. Know what you’re diving into. It takes guts. What will people say? There will be nay-sayers and people who won’t understand. But does that really matter. I bet you would more often than not have people asking for a few eggs or to try the goat’s milk. People are inquisitive and if perceived with a loving mind and open heart, will often surprise you.
