This commentary was written by Nathan Denny, a former woodworker and teacher from Northfield.
We have spent the past two and a half years being disappointed by everyone else. The pandemic didn’t bring anyone together for long, nor did it solve the underlying causes of homelessness, drug addiction and despair. The nation’s extraordinary borrowing power will be found, inevitably, to have further enriched the already wealthy and the criminally disposed.
It should not surprise anyone that we despise each other more than ever (except those in our small circles of like-minded consumers). It is no longer surprising that gunfire crackles in the night. It is only a matter of time before we realize that Vermont is no different than any other state in this divided nation.
Is it important that this trajectory be changed? Should we strive to live together as neighbors and friends instead of competitors?
The key, in my opinion, lies in being responsible in everything that we do. Because our lives have been reduced to consumeristic competition, we should be forced to reckon with the costs of our excess.
There should be a landfill in every county in the state. All of our trash shouldn’t be trucked to Coventry for disposal. The development and maintenance of these sites would be paid for by the collection of the costs of disposal levied on every product sold in Vermont, from the plastics to the carbon emissions from tailpipes and boilers. This includes accounting for how fertilizers flow from farm fields into streams and then into lakes. No one, not even the owners of organically fed cows, should be exempted from paying for damage to the environment.
What would be the result of such a policy?
It would be devastating to the economy. “Vermonters” would leave in droves. Construction projects would be left unfinished, McMansions empty and towns abandoned. The only people left in the countryside would be those who are able to live off the grid and eke a living from rocky soil. The only settlements would be the moderately-sized cities where the residents would have to live cooperatively, clustered together for warmth.
In other words, Vermont would be returned to a condition like that was found by my ancestors who came here more than 200 years ago. No one moved at a pace faster than a walking horse or ox-driven cart or plow. Modern Vermonters can only live the way they do by being irresponsible and reckless, and exporting the consequences of our childishness onto the shoulders of future generations.
Do I seriously think that the policymakers in the state would embark on such a politically suicidal path? Of course not. No one in Vermont or beyond will voluntarily choose responsibility for how they are doing damage to this planet (if they have a choice). In other words, we are doomed, or rather, future generations are doomed. Even worse, we are violating our sacred bond with the Earth and the living creatures over whom we have dominion by not using the human faculties of consciousness and technological cleverness to bend the curve toward humility and kindness instead of pride and cruelty.
So, as I research an Airbnb in Costa Rica, I am flooded with the knowledge of my own hypocrisy, and the only way I think I will be able to deal with the shame is to surf Amazon for an hour or two. Good luck to you all in your own flights of escapism and fantasy.