After hearing all that is wrong with the world, why it's wrong, the historical context that produced the wrongness in the way we do things, the last bit shared is always the most difficult to convey: what can you do? What can I do? Here's all this information and now you can tell people righteously that GMOs are bad, that soy products may contribute to infertility and perpetuate monoculture and are not easily digested, that bees are migrant workers. There is always a problem, always some noble cause that can inspire a rant or even a manifesto, but when does actual change happen?
The small steps taken to make the world a better place are good, they are important and they clearly affect the immediate community. This is wonderful. But it will not change the world. In order to do that there needs to be a greater paradigm shift. As of now, the majority of solutions offered to people today in the humdrum world of capitalism, still rely on consumerism (just a more responsible version) for their effect. Again, we live in a consumerist culture, so responsible consumption will make a difference, but it is an allopathic solution. We offer stevia and agave substitutes to quell our sugar cravings without asking the question, what are we lacking in our lives that impels the need for such concentrated sweetness?
But these are hard questions and the bigger changes - the radical ones - are just that, too radical for most people to embrace. I am no exception. I can rant (as you have probably figured out) with the best of them, but I am an absolute hypocrite in my diatribes. I see the need for extreme change, but I have not the will nor desire to cut myself off of everything I love - and that's often how it sounds to me. Revolution requires some kind of sacrifice greater than I can imagine, so instead I choose to close my eyes to reality and wait for apocalypse to kick my ass. Until recently.
Through beautiful conversations and the privilege of travel, I have realized that the most satisfying moments are often the most revolutionary ones. What does that mean?
Maybe revolution does not have to begin with a bloody fight or construction of a martyry. Perhaps it can grow out of a far more enjoyable experience. That's real sustainability. It is not a new idea, but the more I interact with different ways of doing life, the more I realize that change must happen first in the individual before it can be played out effectively on the stage of society. Here is the possibility: that by getting in touch with those things that really make us feel good, by reconnecting with our bodies without the burden of intended weightloss or as part of an "antiaging" program, but really just feeling good, we can begin to shift the power dynamic that puts people at the end of consumerism's marionette strings.
If we follow the pleasure, we may just discover that it feels better to eat good food. That is feels better to live in a healthy space, a vibrant community. It feels better to connect with people in real, unpretentious ways. It feels better not to have to obsess about image, but play creatively with style. There will always be pain, we don't have to create it. It will come. In the words of Brillat-Savarin, "Good living is an act of intelligence, by which we choose things which have an agreeable taste rather than those which do not."
