Thinking it through.
Huxley
There are a number of books which made an impact upon my thinking while in my early 20s, and which I still come back to in terms of how I view the world. One of them is the Aldous Huxley book Ends and Means.
Thinking it through – In practical terms
There is something which I keep saying we need: –
Real World Solutions For Real World Problems.
That is as long as it is consistent with ends and means, and brings us towards the kind of nonviolent, non exploitative, and environmentally sound world which many of use would like to live in.
That is very much my starting point in any campaigning which I might be involved in doing.
Practical examples.
In terms of how we solve some of our ecological problems many of the following match up not just in terms of a joined up campaigning approach, but also in terms of a joined up set of solutions.
Walking, the use of push bikes, building tram ways, and moving more freight by barge.
A vegetarian/vegan life styles, with more food being grown in urban farms.
The creation of urban forests or woods.
&
Moving towards decentralised energy generation, via solar panels and vertical wind turbines.
All of which will make a big contribution towards solving a global warming.
A Life style look at the labels.
Anyone who has ever gone shopping with me, or watched me go shopping, will notice that I spend a lot of time reading the labels.
This is because I am looking to make such that the food I buy contains no palm oil, is completely vegetarian, is low salt / low sugar, and how recyclable the packaging is.
Thus I aim to buy loose fruit and vegetables if possible, and fruit juice in recyclable glass jars, as opposed to tetra packs which are still not being widely recycled by many local authorities.
This comes down to taking a personal responsibility for the state of our planet, but it should also go hand in hand with campaigning for all packaging to be recyclable.
With a lot of contents labels it is just not obvious what they are composed of, or how they are manufactured.
If for instance clothing stated that the materials used were a plastic derivative, or a recycled / recyclable product, then we might be able to make much more informed choices about what we wear.
Here is where a lot more ‘consumer education’ and the power of the boycott comes in to play.
I could give many more example of just what might be done this way.
As the saying goes:-
You get what you pay for.
So if you pay for all that unneeded packaging, then the real cost will come out in the form of a heavily polluted planet.
It is another aspect of joined up campaigning.
Campaigning by example.
A lot of people mouth the phrase: –
Think global. Act Local.
Yet just how many people who use this phrase think just what this means ?
What I think we need to do is engage more in what might best be described as:-
Campaigning by example.