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Hello my fellow eco-warriors! Thank you for journeying with me upon this wild eco-rant. Like you, I care about the trees and the air and the water and the earth. I long to breathe clean air into my pedestrian lungs. My vegetarian tongue craves the sweet nectar of peaches and plums uncontaminated by pesticides and hormones. I wish upon a thousand stars that our one lonely sun will blaze just warm enough to permit our long term survival. Like you, I want health, I want happiness, I want survival! I want to witness all the birds break free from the cage of extinction, I desire to hear the lions roar and the eternal flapping “whisk, whisk” of butterfly wings across unknown eternities.
Like you, I refuse to own a car, or eat meat, or buy excess luxuries. I shop at Goodwill and search the FREE category on craigslist in hopes that one less woman will slave away in a sweat shop, one less chicken will be debeaked while flapping its wings in agony, one less soul will suffer for the sake of my consumer bliss.
I too, have attended the eco-rallies, and yes, I have voted for Green Party presidential nominee Ralph Nader. I too, have watched endless movies and read the latest books on the subject of sustainability, global warming, and “how to make it all go away.” I too, have attended the green seminars, listening to hours of lectures, talking, chatting, discussing, and arguing on all matters of saving the environment.
Where did the time go? The energy? The knowledge? The wisdom? The lessons learned? The inspiration? Hundreds of hours spent dabbling in the sustainable community. The hustle and bustle of the gatherings, the hoots and hollers at the rallies, the chat and chuckles over “the issues”—all are echoes now. Sure, great changes came about. Consciousness was spread, absolutely! No doubt. Love was shared, compassion expressed—thoughts turned into action. Indeed. Bravo, my eco-friends, my eco-community, my eco-world!
But much was wasted, lost, and forgotten along the way. The echoes blew away with the winds of consciousness. A drawer full of eco-brochures glanced over once, business cards never replied to, messages fading in a sealed bottle of time.
I heard the leaves of autumn rustle and my mind awoke me back to reality! Pragmatism and action began to crowd out philosophy and thoughts. I was reminded of one of my first heroes who spoke to my soul before the word “sustainability” was part of my vocabulary. Karl Marx. I remembered his words, “Workers of the world, unite!” I thought of the toiling masses of yesterday and the still toiling masses of today. Worlds apart from me and my sustainability friends. Sure, they hear about it on the nightly news and read about it in the paper between two or three part time jobs. But too tired, too caught up in survival, perhaps, to consider the environment. I hear Marx’s words spoken about the division of labor, the cruel labor abuses, the alienation, the struggle of classes, the wastefulness of bureaucracy.
Ah, the history of man!
I think of the labor movement, the strikes, the victories for higher pay and fewer hours, worker safety and health care benefits. Such similar struggles, labor rights and sustainability. Warriors fighting for a new truth, a better world, a more ecstatic existence.
But how to bridge such seemingly alike worlds that are yet so far apart?
We must join forces on the happy middle ground where sustainability meets class justice. We must cease to merely preach to the choir of sustainability—and we musn’t preach our message to the masses. Religion has created enough distress with its impositions, its self-righteousness, and its unreasonable demands. Let us not make that mistake for another six millenniums. We must communicate in the language of the struggling masses. We must first understand and sympathize with our working brothers and sisters, and only then begin to work together on a solution to our dead-end lives of slave work and slave wages. Let us not parade the masses down the endless road of chit-chats on the environment and political rallies, eco-conventions and voting booths. The masses know hard work, and this is their greatest asset! We who preach from the alter of sustainability have much to learn from our working class counterparts. Hard work—let us channel this powerful energy, skill, and diligence into a sustainable future. In the words of Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message!” And in this case, the medium is eco-preneurialism. Let us not preach the high-browed language of righteousness, but speak the humble language of survival. Let us not form more redundant organizations, engage in more discussions, or march down more roads to nowhere. Let us not create more jobs, but lead workers down the path to self-enterprise. An ounce of business is worth a pound of politics-- and a hundred eco-preneurs, worth a million men marching!
Time has come. Let’s get to work!
Business Collaboration Inquiries to: abcrane@sbcglobal.net
ABCrane, founder of GungHo Pages Publishing Co.
www.gunghopages.com (coming soon!)
www.projectintegrity.biz (her forthcoming book)
Like you, I refuse to own a car, or eat meat, or buy excess luxuries. I shop at Goodwill and search the FREE category on craigslist in hopes that one less woman will slave away in a sweat shop, one less chicken will be debeaked while flapping its wings in agony, one less soul will suffer for the sake of my consumer bliss.
I too, have attended the eco-rallies, and yes, I have voted for Green Party presidential nominee Ralph Nader. I too, have watched endless movies and read the latest books on the subject of sustainability, global warming, and “how to make it all go away.” I too, have attended the green seminars, listening to hours of lectures, talking, chatting, discussing, and arguing on all matters of saving the environment.
Where did the time go? The energy? The knowledge? The wisdom? The lessons learned? The inspiration? Hundreds of hours spent dabbling in the sustainable community. The hustle and bustle of the gatherings, the hoots and hollers at the rallies, the chat and chuckles over “the issues”—all are echoes now. Sure, great changes came about. Consciousness was spread, absolutely! No doubt. Love was shared, compassion expressed—thoughts turned into action. Indeed. Bravo, my eco-friends, my eco-community, my eco-world!
But much was wasted, lost, and forgotten along the way. The echoes blew away with the winds of consciousness. A drawer full of eco-brochures glanced over once, business cards never replied to, messages fading in a sealed bottle of time.
I heard the leaves of autumn rustle and my mind awoke me back to reality! Pragmatism and action began to crowd out philosophy and thoughts. I was reminded of one of my first heroes who spoke to my soul before the word “sustainability” was part of my vocabulary. Karl Marx. I remembered his words, “Workers of the world, unite!” I thought of the toiling masses of yesterday and the still toiling masses of today. Worlds apart from me and my sustainability friends. Sure, they hear about it on the nightly news and read about it in the paper between two or three part time jobs. But too tired, too caught up in survival, perhaps, to consider the environment. I hear Marx’s words spoken about the division of labor, the cruel labor abuses, the alienation, the struggle of classes, the wastefulness of bureaucracy.
Ah, the history of man!
I think of the labor movement, the strikes, the victories for higher pay and fewer hours, worker safety and health care benefits. Such similar struggles, labor rights and sustainability. Warriors fighting for a new truth, a better world, a more ecstatic existence.
But how to bridge such seemingly alike worlds that are yet so far apart?
We must join forces on the happy middle ground where sustainability meets class justice. We must cease to merely preach to the choir of sustainability—and we musn’t preach our message to the masses. Religion has created enough distress with its impositions, its self-righteousness, and its unreasonable demands. Let us not make that mistake for another six millenniums. We must communicate in the language of the struggling masses. We must first understand and sympathize with our working brothers and sisters, and only then begin to work together on a solution to our dead-end lives of slave work and slave wages. Let us not parade the masses down the endless road of chit-chats on the environment and political rallies, eco-conventions and voting booths. The masses know hard work, and this is their greatest asset! We who preach from the alter of sustainability have much to learn from our working class counterparts. Hard work—let us channel this powerful energy, skill, and diligence into a sustainable future. In the words of Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message!” And in this case, the medium is eco-preneurialism. Let us not preach the high-browed language of righteousness, but speak the humble language of survival. Let us not form more redundant organizations, engage in more discussions, or march down more roads to nowhere. Let us not create more jobs, but lead workers down the path to self-enterprise. An ounce of business is worth a pound of politics-- and a hundred eco-preneurs, worth a million men marching!
Time has come. Let’s get to work!
Business Collaboration Inquiries to: abcrane@sbcglobal.net
ABCrane, founder of GungHo Pages Publishing Co.
www.gunghopages.com (coming soon!)
www.projectintegrity.biz (her forthcoming book)
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