Sustainability — It’s About Physics, not Politics

A reader whose political sensibilities obviously do not parallel those in “The Story of Stuff” writes in:

As for “Stuff,” I don’t doubt that most of what [Annie Leonard] says is true and it certainly is deplorable, but I missed her solutions unless she proposes an anti-consuming society, which wouldn’t work here or anyplace else.

Thanks for your observations.

I see that you and she diverge on the issues.　But even as wide as the gap there may be, I’m sure a common meeting ground is the notion of sustainability itself.　

Regardless of one’s politics and philosophies, the rightness or wrongness of imperialism and exploitation, or the obliteration of the middle class, we’re running into the limitations imposed by nature and the laws of physics themselves.　The rate at which the population is expanding and resources are being depleted cannot last more than another few decades — regardless of what you or I think is morally or politically right.　

As for solutions, I can only paraphrase what Leonard said at the end of the video, i.e., that we consumers and suppliers of our stuff need to arrive at a new place of enlightenment in our approach to consumption and sustainability.　

Is that likely?　Am I optimistic that this has a happy ending for our descendents?　To be honest, no — not unless there is some sort of epiphany, perhaps based on a real cataclysm.　And sadly, that’s a real possibility, as it seems to me that the chickens are coming home to roost, in terms of the effects that our unsustainable practices are having on the planet and the people who live on it. 

As I wrote the other day, most serious climate scientists say the effects of global climate change are just starting to be obvious.　But if the heat wave in Russia last summer had centered over the breadbasket of America, it would have affected four times as much wheat, and caused a real mess in terms of the world food supply.

At a certain point in the not-too-distant future, I think it will obvious that we have an incredibly acute problem to solve. All I’m trying to do in the meanwhile is to give us a “heads up.”

Thanks again for your comments.