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23/05/07
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I am determined to believe that there exists a natural balance in the world. After watching Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", I began somewhat obsessively thinking about the environment, waste, the human condition etc. and struggled to understand how we have allowed the terrible state of the environment to progress to this point. It's such a stressing topic to think about, when you realize that destroying the environment has become a part of our daily routine, albeit unknowingly, innocently, almost sweetly. Even writing what I have just written has wasted five entire pages of paper! I'm razing forests as I write about saving the environment. (I'm now writing on the backsides). I suppose it might save paper if I just wrote directly on the computer, but that too, has its drawbacks. The electricity required to run the computer originates at what I imagine to be a big, disgusting, money-hungry electricity plant spewing smoke and dumping toxic waste into the beautiful Mediterranean (this probably is not entirely true, but this is what I sometimes imagine). Even the very water that I'm drinking as I write is contained within a vile, plastic blue bottle which will take thousands and thousands of years to decompose ! The Kafkaesque neurosis that can develop from thinking about these issues is sometimes enough to make me want to sell my possessions, leave the technological world behind, and move to an eco-hut in the desert where I would live off the fat of the land, wearing nothing but an organic, toxin free loincloth. It seems to be the only solution, right? Or maybe not.
The other day I was practicing yoga, desperately searching for meaning and metaphors and it "came" to me- I will try to explain my thought process: Our body is naturally protective of itself. For example, when stretching out and releasing one muscle in the body (progress) there is generally another muscle which is contracting (resistance) in order to prevent the lengthening muscle from going too far (balance). The muscle that is elongated enables the body to be freer in its movements and the muscle that is contracting is actually strengthened through its resistance. Both muscles are acting in beautiful synchronicity for the benefit of the whole body. Progress + Resistance = Balance.
You can apply this idea to the environmental situation. With all of the advancements in technology, that some of them undoubtedly promotes our well being (progress), there should be higher awareness to the growing expenditure of natural resources and amount of potentially harmful waste emitted, and actions to minimize these effects must significantly increase to protect us from going too far (resistance). The important notion is that these seemingly opposite movements are not working in opposition to one another; they are actually working together for the good of the whole. There should be no animosity between the two sides, no blaming, no anger --- just balance!
Of course I am aware of the fact that is a terribly oversimplified view of the state of the environment, but I'm trying to remain positive. The fact is (I'm basing this on a brief news flash I heard on CNN the other day) we need to drastically reduce greenhouse emissions within the next eight years in order to prevent imminent environmental disaster. Which leads me to a second thought: environmental non-activism through non-materialism. One of the most basic ideas in yogic thought is the idea that through the practice of yoga, a deep process of self-examination, ultimately the true self will be revealed. I remember as a relatively spoiled American child begging and pleading with my sweet, good- natured parents to buy me my little toys, computer programs etc. that I felt I desperately needed to fill my void. (if that didn't work, it eventually led to kicking and screaming). And when my tired, weary parents finally relented, I honestly nine times out of ten played with this new thing once or twice at most and then moved on; if I even bothered to open it. As a young, gay adult in San Francisco being styly was an extreme sport and buying second-hand clothes (euphemistically titled "vintage") was the only way to reappear in entirely new outfits on a daily basis working with a busboy's meager salary. I lived in a small town north of Bangkok, Thailand for a year. My home was a cute wooden oversized bungalow on the bank of the Chao Praya River. The house itself was so beautifully done, so simple, that stuffing it with useless furniture would have actually detracted from its natural beauty that I "furnished" it with a hammock and a mattress. I talked to my Dad after arriving in Israel two years ago with nothing but a duffel bag filled with vintage clothes and he innocently asked me "Isn't it about time you started acquiring things?" as if my progress as a human being was somehow marked by couches and armoires. And when I really sit down and think about that question, its really just silly because no, I don't feel the need to acquire things. As a child, I felt like I needed new things, maybe to keep up with the other kids, but the reality is my favorite thing to play was hide and go seek (from the very basic to the more advanced "ghost in the graveyard") which required nothing. Although I was unaware of it at the time, buying vintage is actually an extremely sophisticated, environmentally responsible way of shopping. It requires actual thought and develops an actual sense of style to sift through the racks of discarded clothing rather than simply buying what the trendy stores have laid out for you and told you were trendy. Back at my house in Thailand, my main room was my personal yoga studio, it was there that I developed a self-practice. I would practice daily on the bare floor, no mat, no teacher. For hours I would struggle, sweat, move, cry, laugh and transform. I would be bored, too hot, too cold; I would be lazy and I would be strong; I'd feel angry and I'd feel love. I experienced the profound and I experienced the mundane and the beauty was that it was all coming from me. I was working with my own body weight, my own muscles, and my own psychology and it was enough to foster a certain degree of spiritual growth, nothing extraneous was required. It might be nice to illustrate an idea that through yoga, I realized that my attachment to acquiring things was pointless and harmful and therefore I decided to give it up..that might make more sense linearly, but it was actually through yoga that I came to the idea that I never was attached to acquiring things, thus it revealed part of my true nature.
I suppose for some people the link between economic materialism and the steady decline of the environment is a little vague so I'll try to establish a direct connection. A standard in most economically stable households, east and west, is the television. As a result of the competitive capitalist market there are constantly new enticing innovations being manufactured and released which can make a TV bought only a few years back seem antiquated or just plain cheap looking. (and who wants to look cheap while watching TV? ) So we must update our TV's every few years. But what happens to the old TV? Do we throw it away? Do we donate it? Does it magically disappear? And what about the new TV..where does it come from? Just by looking at the TV (while turned off) one notices the various parts comprising the set: the exterior, the speaker system, the picture tube and the complicated mass of electronics, wires, cables, buttons antennas etc. And where do all of those things come from? I'm assuming, I don't know for sure, that they were assembled in far away factories receiving their parts from even further away factories employing people who are currently saving up to buy a new TV. 32 million TV sets (a fact quickly picked up from the internet-may or may not be true) were sold in the U.S. alone last year. I challenge you, the reader, to calculate the environmental cost (greenhouse emissions caused through shipping, use of raw materials, packaging, etc.) of the production of just one television set and then multiply that by 32 million. Undoubtedly, the figure would be terrifying. (and then we can all cry together later over the injustice that the damage is being done in other countries as only 4.7 % of those televisions were actually produced in the US). All so that we can feel a little more modern while watching "I Love Lucy" reruns.
I probably sound like some dirty dread locked hippy screaming against the evils of the material world. That's the problem with many activist type people; they are too extreme to relate to mainstream society. So I must say that I recognize that I am an extreme example, I am not an environmental expert, and I must also emphatically point out that I am by no means perfect. I live in my boyfriend's house and he has things (couches, washing machines etc.) which I regularly use and am reliant upon. I can discuss the destructive nature of a television set and new trendy clothes like a true fanatic, yet I regularly, enthusiastically watch Fashion TV like a normal mid-western boy watches football. Please don't tell anybody. I, too, am a product of a consumer culture. We all need to increase our awareness of our own behavior and actions if we are somewhat concerned with what will happen in the future. And if we start to think, to examine our own nature and mentality, we'll begin to see a simpler solution. So much of that solution lies in what we don't have to do rather than what we have to do. I was watching CNN awhile back a couple of hours after the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech. Two reporters were reporting live, from the scene, and awkwardly filling air time as there was not enough information to report to the public yet. One reporter, desperately searching for something, anything to say in order to avoid on air silence, tossed out the idea that maybe if colleges provided Blackberrys for their entire student body, messages could be sent out alerting them if there were to be a shooter on campus. Brilliant! Maybe the administration could provide a semi-automatic for the students as well so they can protect themselves from future, inevitable shooters; that'll cut down gun violence! The more obvious solution would be to NOT have semi-automatic guns thus eliminating the need for a Blackberry for every student. Even the art of discovering your true nature has become a commercial circus. I just have to laugh when I read the articles in Yoga Journal now (and I just read it for the articles ha, ha); it's basically a big glossy catalogue for all the products you need to buy to find your inner light. I can't help but envisioning all the botoxed beauties fumbling their way to their toxin free yoga mats dropping Stella McCartney traction gloves and Gucci eyebags along the way. Looking briefly at possibly non-reliable internet statistics, the biggest polluter in the world is the United States which basically blows my mind after being in the bigger cities in India and wanting to die after a few hours of suffocating from the constant stench of rickshaw fumes, rotting garbage, and cow shit. But a bigger problem actually lies in the pristine blue skied picket fenced suburban America. It might be easy to pass the blame on to a corrupt administration, which is partially true, but it is just as important, if not more, to look at the relationship between our immense disposable income on a massive scale and ignorance when it comes to spending. And before anybody gets a little smug and thinks the problem is a uniquely American problem, remember that the same thing is happening all over the world at varying levels, I just like to point the finger at myself before I point it at others.
A common, slightly arrogant idea I've heard floating around is that we now have the capability to destroy the world. We don't, we have the power to destroy ourselves; the earth, slightly damaged will survive, regenerate and continue, ambivalently, without us. What we do in fact have is a choice. Our lives are inescapably intertwined with technology and to reasonable degree that is okay, its part of the balance. But what we don't need is the excess. We don't need to drive everywhere, and we don't need a Hummer to get there. Our true nature is that we are simple beings; we need to eat, drink and a comfortable place to sleep. We need love, connection, and laughter. Why complicate things? We may feel a little more glorious when we fly around in a private jet, but ultimately that feeling of gloriousness passes and we are left with ourselves.
This, being the last paragraph in my "environmental essay" should adhere to the formula I was taught in high school. I should now creatively reword my initial argument thus wrapping everything up like a pretty little made from recyclable materials package. But, interestingly, since starting to really think and examine the situation, my ideas have changed, or gone deeper, and moved on. As pathetic as it is, what I have written has taken me over three months. I initially wanted to write a cute little article about how we can all change the world by turning off lights when we leave a room and taking shorter showers and tie those ideas in with some basic yogic ideas. And I wanted to avoid at all costs, being preachy, because nobody likes to be preached. However, as I searched more, the plot thickened. Just through basic internet searches, one is made aware of the complexity of the issue; it's not as simple as turning off lights and short showers. Some of the shocking things I've read: the most fragile of all ecosystems, ,coral reefs, all over the world are being destroyed, an entire island, home to 10,000 people, has SUNK due to global warming, the snowcap covering Mount Kilamanjaro has almost disappeared, it is estimated that by the year 2050 almost a BILLION people around the world will be displaced due to global warming. Of course, as it is with everything, there are also hundreds of conflicting arguments as well, some scientists say that global warming is a natural phenomena, some say that the effects will not be felt for centuries to come, and some argue that global warming could also potentially have positive effects, but it all boils down to the one undeniable fact of existence: we just don't know. Morally, I can’t present the situation as being simple. I started off by saying that I was determined to believe that there exists a natural order in the universe, a belief I still hold onto, but my definition of order has morphed into something less idealistically harmonious-the natural order of the universe is chaos, destruction and rebirth, ambivalence, and intense beauty; this is
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Yes,it is a fine tightrope between accepting a natural order of things and actually saying no, this is not right. i can change, and thus make a change. I felt it strongly when I decided to become vegi. Being a vegetarian has been one of my greatest decisions in life - and may I say, not an easy one given i love the taste of chicken. In a talk with my cousin over lunch one day who was vegi before me, i argued the cycle of nature - there is no harm in eating meat. animals kill, why shouldnt we. dog eat dog and its tasty. Its the Natural Way of Things. I never thought ever that I would give it up. but when the time was right, the choice just came naturally. i should not and cannot eat flesh. and then one thing led to another, and it dawned on me that my choice has instantaneously redeemed me from a cycle of cruelty, abuse, consumerism, greed, tabloid, and yes, capitalist, ways - and thereby, change consumerist habits, i have to say that was the start of putting into practice a whole philosophy - which stemmed merely from idealism and thus began a whole new way of life which actually was not as foreign to me as I thought it might be.Many things changed. and It came Naturally. i guess what i'm relating to here is the fact that one can be empowered by the choices one makes - and that they can surely resonate. one small piece belongs to a bigger cycle and chain which does not have to be natural - and i sincerely hope that one small action can release something into the bigger picture. I guess what I'm saying, with no intention of being preachy of course, is that you can change your lifestyle. easily. naturally and lovingly. once you take responsibility for yourself and not be blinded by a taste.