This commentary is by Chris Wood, a resident of Tunbridge.
I can say, as one who has followed the climate action legislation in Vermont around the clean heat standard bill (claimed by the mainstream environmental groups to be the “most important climate legislation ever”), that the only voices I ever heard talk about the deeper — but essential — solutions that are necessary came from two Indigenous women. They both spoke of creating a culture of consuming less as a society.
I fully realize that this may sound disrespectful of the effort, but how is it that a bunch of politicians of all stripes (and most enviro groups) can try to conjure up a piece of complicated, market-driven legislation that relies — as always — on a framework of endless growth and not speak to the simple essential reality that what needs to change is us, and the consumption culture we live in.
Yup, no doubt it would be hard to legislate that (and surely not the most popular path for any politician these days), but what that leaves me with is an understanding that politics of today’s sort pales in comparison to being rooted in a capacity to look, see and act from a grounding in my own conscious behavior. That behavior includes both personal choices to lighten my impact — and, no less important, to oppose and resist false solutions and the domination of a globalized consumption culture.
Just imagine what a very different world it would be if we would have been heeding the wisdom of these two Indigenous women and all thrived in this world, our home, in this way. Certainly, there would be no need for the likes of clean heat bills.
There is much more to say about how one might imagine getting from the limited orbit of “what is possible” (read: the politics of our time) to embodying resilience and sufficiency (read: conscious awareness and culture change), but letters and commentary just don’t work for the necessity of extended sharing (“moving at the speed of trust” was another regrettably failed opportunity of this year’s climate work).
Luckily, I do hear more voices, mostly young friends, who are seeking some other (deeper?) frames for being in this world.
If what I say here resonates with you, please find me, and let us share some more about this conundrum that seems, at the same time, so utterly logical and yet so distant from anything approaching our current reality.
This is where our work starts.
