Everyone has a different idea about how to solve big problems, but they’ve all got one thing in common: It’s somebody else’s fault. For all the accusations flung by the public, the media and the government, we seem to forget one of the most basic principles taught to us as children: taking responsibility for our actions.
The global energy crisis, for example, is depleting resources and causing global environmental damage. This is a prime subject in the U.S. because Americans comprise 5 percent of the world’s population and use 26 percent of its energy. The presidential candidates have talked about alternative energy, but little has been said implicating the consumption-crazed American lifestyle. While Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain tout their energy proposals, the only time responsibility was placed on the people was Obama’s suggestion to keep tires inflated for fuel efficiency, immediately spurring attacks from the McCain campaign.
While many liberals find a sadistic pleasure in bashing the auto industry for not having better fuel economy, pickups and SUVs were Detroit’s backbone until gas prices finally killed the craze. Apparently the mind-set is, “Everyone else should be driving small cars and hybrids, but not me.”
Despite our eagerness to shift the blame to our enablers at General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, we can collectively achieve the biggest reduction in our energy use through changing our personal habits: turn off unused appliances like lights, computer screens, and powerstrips; eat less meat since livestock is a leading resource hog; ride your bicycle or use public transit whenever possible; and follow the simple adage of “reduce, reuse and recycle.” To streamline energy efficiency, we can implement a few brilliant little inventions I encountered in Europe: motion-activated hallway lights and water-efficient toilets (less flush for No. 1, maximum flow tidal wave only for No. 2).
Much of the reason we defer responsibility to institutions like government and industry is because we’ve internalized the idea that individual decisions don’t produce widespread change.
“You can replace all the light bulbs and protest all the sweatshops you want; it won’t change a thing,” the pessimists say.
Institutions like “government,” “corporations” and “social norms” are immaterial concepts, and yet they are considered immovable structures. The power of the institution is determined by the number of people who believe in that power and therefore don’t try to reform it. Hence, the power of “the norm” lies in our perception that “the norm” has power.
Overturning this myth is an uphill battle for one important reason: Both the institutions and the population have a vested interest in maintaining the illusion. It’s an easy excuse for even a good-hearted citizen to avoid making ethical consumer decisions if they have even the slightest inkling of hopelessness to get them off the hook.
But, rest assured, it isn’t hopeless. American independence, women’s rights, civil rights, abolishing slavery, environmental reform and leaving Vietnam are all evidence to the power of the population.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly true both government and the private sector bear a huge burden of responsibility, but their misdeeds will not be changed by idle talk around coffee shops. Like every other reform, progress will come from grassroots activism, leading by example and sometimes even physical suffering.
Reform has never been handed to us by the powerful. Reforms were earned because populations took a beating and didn’t back down, because they realized it was their own duty to secure their goals.
The sad truth is that personal action and participating in political activism in the United States is so safe that it’s offensive we’re even talking about it. In the past week alone, at least two people have died and hundreds were wounded in protests over Thailand’s government. Also kidnapped and killed are supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai, who won Zimbabwe’s last presidential election against tyrant Robert Mugabe.
The choices we as individuals make affect us and the entire planet. We can behave like adults and accept the responsibility, or we can continue to stomp our feet like children demanding that it’s someone else’s job. Well, they’re our problems, so whom should we look to in solving them?
Drew Robert Winter is a State News columnist and president of Students Promoting Animal Rights, or SPAR. Reach him at winterdr@msu.edu.
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