Sharing the load

Part of recognizing and appreciating my connection with a greater whole - both humanity and nature - means accepting the fact that I can't do it all. It's going to take all of us. Well, some folks aren't pulling their weight right now (ahem, U.S. federal government! - not to name names or anything), but that doesn't mean I have to make myself miserable trying to overcompensate.

I'm doing what I can right now, but I need others to help me. We need others to try to reduce their carbon footprint. We need others to call their congressmen. We need a community movement - not just a few borderline burnt-out grad students trying to fight the tide. I need to know I'm not alone.

In my public involvement class, we've been reading Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone, which documents the staggering decline in social capital (community organizations, schmoozing, bridge clubs, dinner parties, political organizations, etc.) over the last fifty or so years. We recently read Putnam's chapter on generational change, in which he lambastes Generation X: "In both personal and national terms, this generation is shaped by uncertainty..., insecurity,.. and an absence of collective success stories - no victorious D-Day and triumph over Hitler, no exhilarating, liberating marches on Washington and triumph over racism and war, indeed hardly any "great collective events" at all." Ouch.

At the final rally for Focus the Nation, one of the undergrads got up to "speak out." He talked about how his has been called the "quiet generation." "That's great," he said. "I just can't wait to tell my kids how we were the 'quiet generation.' How we started community movements through Myspace and Face Book." Ouch.

And here I am, staring at a computer screen, writing about my personal, individual feelings about climate change, and how, I, as an individual, am burning myself out trying to do it all myself. As Bill McKibben says, "the only thing missing from this movement is the movement." Tackling climate change is not the type of thing we can expect to achieve from the quiet, lonely space of our desktop computers, or worse, television. What we need is a "great collective event" - now is our chance, Gen X-ers! But it's going to take social capital. It's going to take organizing, talking, networking, delegating, socializing, demonstrating...

So, in the wise words of Macy Gray:

"Get up get out and do something
Don't let the days of your life pass you by
You got to get up get up and do something
How will you make it if you never even try?
Get up get out and do something
Can't spend your whole life trying to get high
You got to get up get out and do something
'cause you and I got to do for you and I"