A call to get together: From the lone woods to the living forest

I just found out about shale gas yesterday.

My professor was talking about how a foreign company is appropriating land in her county in the Richelieu Valley in order to drill for shale gas. More fossil fuels will be exploited to feed the consumer habits of millions of Americans south of the border, who themselves will pay top dollar for the stuff and contribute to the pollution of millions of liters of water in the process.

So yes. Land appropriation is happening less than fifty kilometers from Montreal in 2010. After Copenhagen. Of course, who expected otherwise? Reactions to this can range from dazed incomprehension to abject cynicism. Or maybe shale gas really is less polluting than the tar sands—though that is like saying the lesser of two evils is a darn good choice. Most people would sigh in resignation and change channels. Like it or not, we really do live in such an upside-down world.

A lot of rhetoric about greening the economy has been thrown around in the past few years. But fundamentally, we still remain bound to this idea of economic growth, that it is somehow good for all of us. This is one reason why, in spite of social and environmental injustices, mega-projects still get the go-ahead and wars are still waged overseas.

Sometimes, when I’m not feeling too optimistic about the state of the world, I feel like we are the sick puppies of a lost generation, the lone wolves who have been weaned on corporate media and consumer excess. We shuffle around like proud animals, showing off our clothes or our ideas or our good looks, or maybe even our passion for change and justice.

Other times, in more inspiring moments, I see how awesome we are through our hard work, our convictions and talents, our resilience in the face of struggle and our grace in the midst of hardship. Humans are marvelous; we are far from the virus or vermin that the cynics say we are. Have you looked at some of the incredible things we can do lately?

Many of us having been doing a lot—and I think we all sort of feel that we need to do a lot more. And the sooner the better. But just like an orchestra, if everyone is doing their own thing without listening to the others, the result is a cacophony that few want to listen to —and with a message as important as ecological justice, can we afford to not get the message right? I am leery of using economic metaphors for something so precious, but this economy is bankrupting our future, and only people who care enough to act can help shift directions.

Let’s face it. We’re really hung up on fossil fuels, and extracting them at such a rate that we can maintain an economic growth rate between two and five per cent. That’s the bottom line—we are eating the hand that feeds us, folks. The longer this savagery continues, the more difficult it will be to clean up the mess later. Dangerous climate change is just one symptom of a system that is killing our future, but one that needs to be addressed seriously.

How do we break the pattern of social addiction and transition into a clean and green future? What can we do to help facilitate this process? There is much to be sad, angry, depressed and frustrated about, just as there is a lot to get really excited about. I don’t think there’s any point in sugar-coating reality—at least amongst ourselves, it’s probably better to be honest than polite. At the same time, the changes we want to see (along with the many initiatives that are already happening that need more support) are so hopeful and inspiring, so powerful and positive, how can we not get pumped if we are speaking together coherently?

Many people have been wondering where have all the green promises gone—it all sounds like green-washing to me. Maybe those promises are at the bottom of the St-Lawrence with all the methane hydrates they plan to suck up to feed our addiction to fast gas and cheap oil. But I think we are the green promises of our generation and the ones who will come after us. Many of us have been telling ourselves to be the change we want to see in the world. I don’t think we can do it alone.

And we have a long way to go. There is an African proverb that says if you want to get there fast, walk alone. I think more important than getting there fast is going far—really far away from where we are today. I think we’d all agree, we need some major changes. And the proverb says that if you want to go far, walk together. That’s why I think a weekend retreat in the forest with dozens of passionate, different people is a good idea, so we can come together and listen to each other’s concerns and learn how to move forward together.

-kgarooo (aka Kristian Gareau)