Charity

A couple of points on charity:

"To me, charity is often just about giving because you're supposed to, or because it's what you've always done, or it's about giving until it hurts. I'm about providing the means for providing something that will grow and intensify its original investment, and not just require greater giving next year, not trying to feed the habit." - Majora Carter, from a TED talk

Also, see RSAnimate's version of Zizek's First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

TSA scanners and gender

"After all, masculinity implies sexual privacy -- the privilege of moving through life unmolested. Or unnoticed. The most powerful, and to men, mostly invisible, sexual privilege of masculinity is the ability to remain unaware of oneself as a body."

I suppose I never included that in my concept of male privilege, but it seems dead on.

Quote from an interesting (and concise) take on the TSA scanners:
http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=screening_for_gender

Environmental Justice

Every time I hear about the environmental justice movement I hear it contrasted to the environmental movement: while I was at Greenpeace, in some classes in college, and most recently at the US Social Forum. The environmental movement is mostly situated within middle-class white hegemony and seeks to reduce the problem by individualizing it - giving each individual the power to act, you know, like the good ol’ American Dream. Change your bulbs, save the world. Get a job, end poverty. Use birth control, reduce world population. That kind of thing.

The environmental justice (EJ) movement, on the other hand is grounded in the context of historical social injustice. EJ issues are generally also spatially grounded, and a generically recognized EJ issue is some sort of hazardous waste in the backyards of poor people of color. EJ points out that many of the problems of the environmental crisis lie in the roots of colonialism. So EJ is grounded both historically and socially, as well as spatially. In this context, the way to stop dumping hazardous waste is to stop having poor people.

This week I heard a lecture that talked specifically to the historical/spatial aspect, that of burying the past, of burying social inequity. The work of EJ then is to study the material wastes -- or “imperial debris” -- of the past, making visible social inequalities. EJ, then is the antidote to our “green consumption,” “greenwashing” rampage.

This new wave of “green” consumption is a response to a basic understanding that this treadmill of production and consumption is flawed. However, rather than making any significant changes, we make the superficial addition of “green” consumption, “green” production and continue on our way. Don’t worry that the whole system is flawed; at least it’s green now. Now you can feel good about driving.

Seriously. The slogan for Toyota's new Prius is: "Welcome to the 3rd generation Prius, where man’s wants and nature’s needs agree." (Source) And, "Harmony between man, nature, and machine" (Source) (Also, can't help but notice the repeated use of the gendered word "man.")

As for greenwashing, it’s usually used in this way - just paint the whole thing green. Greenwashing, says Wikipedia, is a portmanteau of "green" and "whitewash." So - make no structural changes, only superficial ones to change how people interpret it. “Green” cars, “green” coal, etc. However, it can also be looked at as a “whitening” of the movement, with regard to class participation. If to be green means to have the newest, greenest product, only those who can afford to buy it can be really green.

EJ provides a grounded antidote to greenwashing by unearthing historical inequities. Grounded in such a context, it becomes clearer that greenwashing is really just the same old symptomatic solution to the continuing problems.

I wonder, though, if it is possible that the environmental movement can provide any new tools to the continuing civil rights movements. Can the environmental movement make us more aware of the ecology of social movements? Or the cyclical nature of change? Can grounding ourselves in the natural world help us gain perspective and inform our work?

Books recommended at this week’s lecture: On Bullshit and There’s No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster

Pinkwashing

Couldn't have said it better myself, so here's a quote:

I want to get serious about breast cancer. I want to raise awareness and find a cure. How will pink kleenex on my desk and pink toilet paper in my office cure breast cancer? How does wearing pink lipstick to work and adorning our suits with pink scarves and pink ribbons change the survival rates for women in our country?

If we really believed in eliminating breast cancer — and all cancers — we would have radically overhauled our health care system in America. We would rethink the relationship between consumers/patients, hospitals, research centers, and pharmaceutical companies. And we wouldn’t try to sell pink clogs and pink candy to raise breast cancer awareness in our country.

From thecynicalgirl.com.

Yes, Bill McKibben, Yes.

Bill McKibben, an outspoken activist and inspiration author (among other things) has recently written another though-but-more-importantly-action-provoking post over at Grist. Check it out. He says:

Mostly, we need to tell the truth, resolutely and constantly. Fossil fuel is wrecking the one earth we've got. It's not going to go away because we ask politely. If we want a world that works, we're going to have to raise our voices.

I recently read the book he mentions writing in 1989, called The End of Nature. It was scary and depressing, and what's worse, it was written 20 years ago and a lot of the issues are still around, as prevalent as ever. It led me to scrawl across my notebook:

HOW CAN PEOPLE NOT SEE THIS GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS AS THE BIGGEST ISSUE OF OUR TIME?

I'll share what I thought were a couple pivotal quotes, if you don't have the time to read the whole thing.
His premise is, I think encapsulated in this particular sentence:

"The invention of nuclear weapons may actually have marked the beginning of the end of nature: we possessed, finally, the capacity to overmaster nature, to leave an indelible imprint everywhere all at once."

To elaborate:

"If the waves crash up against the beach, eroding dunes and destroying homes, it is not the awesome power of Mother Nature. It is the awesome power of man, who has overpowered in a century the processes that have been slowly evolving and changing of their own accord since the earth was born."

And another:

"We live, all of a sudden, in an astroturf world, and though an astroturf world may have a God, he can't speak through the grass, or even be slient through it and let us hear."

I think this last one hits particularly home for anyone who is remotely spiritual. If your spirituality is even loosely connected with God as life, God as unity, or if there is any Nature in your God, it's a point worth considering.

To deal with guilt, we must take responsibility. We Americans alone are responsible for a huge percentage of global environmental harm (which continues as you read). Knowing this, as many do, we must address it. We must strive as individuals to use less energy, to produce less waste, and to educate our friends and family how (and why) to do these things as well. As consumers, we must demand better products, electric cars, organic foods, local products, sweat-free clothes. We must lead by example and show the world we recognize what we've done, take responsibility for it, and as a nation provide a better way of life as an example for the world.

We must reject products that lie about being "environmentally friendly," and seek to create criteria of our own for how we should treat our environment. What, by the way, is your "environment?" Have you thought about this? Is it something you're intimately familiar with or just catch a glimpse of on your commute? How does Organic Ranch Dressing help our environment?

We must become environmentally-informed consumers, and choose products wisely, not based on ads or alluring packaging.

We must examine and change our habits.

Oh, and I'm tired of this mediocre, middle-of-the-road, compromising bullshit. Let's get mad, let's get radical, and let's get some shit done. Right on Bill.

Write more!

I know, I should write more. Got any ideas?