To Shame or Not to Shame: Personal Sacrifice vs. Systemic Change?

Concern for the environment is, by any standard, higher today than it has likely ever been. We certainly still have to contend with obstructionist politicians and know-nothing, lying media personalities on the right, but despite their interference we have seen genuine, tangible successes in the effort to mitigate climate change. The overall obtuseness exhibited by denialists has become predictable and in most cases the falsehoods from that camp can simply be ignored. Of far larger concern is the escalating schism among people who fully grasp the reality of climate change, but cannot seem to agree about how to confront the problem.

On one side of the rift are those who believe that mitigating our carbon output requires Systemic Change, and on the other we have people who think that environmental improvement can only be arrived at through Personal Sacrifice. The split is getting wider, and too often devolves into the type of vitriolic name-calling and finger-pointing that makes factional strife such a joy – and gives denialist saboteurs from the fossil fuel industry a big ol’ collective boner.

Clearly, the correct position to hold is one which understands that grappling with climate change will absolutely require some combination of change and sacrifice. To claim otherwise is to embrace internecine friction for no other reason than that it feels good. Anyway, does the combination need to be an equal fifty-fifty split? The short answer is No, and the long answer is It Can’t Be. At least not yet.

It would be nice – very, very nice – if humanity could band together and, acting as one super-being, reconfigure our lives surrounding the goal of having the smallest possible carbon footprint. We would no longer eat meat, drive nonelectric cars, travel by airplane unless absolutely necessary, light our homes from massive coal-fired electric grids, allow our garbage to be indiscriminately dumped in the ocean, and so forth. Many, many people around the world already, or are attempting to, live according to these ecologically friendly precepts. Greta Thunberg comes immediately to mind as a powerful example of what we can all strive for.

That being said, when was the last time human beings, especially those in wealthy Western and Asian countries, decided to live by even the most mild form of asceticism? Capitalism as a force not only functions as the overarching philosophy of people living in those parts of the world, but the governments of those nations have, since the 1980s, grown increasingly adept at using that force to impose their capitalistic will on the rest of the globe.

Now imagine, if you will, attempting to compel many hundreds of millions of people to adopt an absolute form of asceticism. How is that likely to go? Well, given the incredible level of self-involvement demonstrated by nearly the whole of humanity, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it probably won’t go very well. And if our goal is to stand in the way of the fast-approaching climate catastrophe, no government on the planet has the willingness or the power to prosecute such an abrupt, global revision of day-to-day human existence. Personal sacrifice is very important, but the way things stand right now it isn’t an even remotely feasible plan.

And I suspect that the champions of personal sacrifice are fully aware of the problems they face in gathering adherents, due to the fact that the methods they employ to publicize their stance and educate potential converts are, sadly, less focused on providing quality information to the skeptical, and way more about publicly shaming people. I say “publicly,” but that isn’t entirely accurate. No, because like so many other opinions we are met with today, pro-sacrifice shamers conduct most of their business digitally, from their cell phones and laptops. We are left to wonder, for example, how are the shamers going to join, say, First Nations people in a spur-of-the-moment protest against a pipeline, if they refuse to submit to the evil of two tickets in coach? Maybe they could pay someone to carry their image around on an iPad…

What we need right now are policies backed up by enforceable – and enforced – laws, and getting those things requires the application of pressure; large-scale pressure, exerted upon politicians and the governments upon which they suckle. It requires, in other words, work. Work in the form of phone calls, emails, letters, and above all voting. It also demands that we educate ourselves, because the people standing in our way are well-financed whores, bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry, and they have no compunction about telling the baldest of bald-faced lies. To answer them we must arm ourselves with knowledge. It isn’t enough simply to shout: The planet is warming and species are vanishing! It is vital that we educate ourselves so that we are able to explain, in detail, why the planet is warming and why species are going extinct. All of the things we must do in order to sweep away 150 years of oil-friendly legislation are far more difficult and time-consuming than going on Twitter to call someone a Nazi for eating a cheeseburger.

Is personal sacrifice important? Of course it is. I myself almost never eat meat of any kind (especially fish, because it’s gross), and I’ve been on a plane may be five times in the last 15 years. I do not, yet, drive a fully electric car, but I manage to make a tank of gas last four to six weeks. It is fortunate that I don’t have solar, but that’s because I rent. What I’m trying to say is that, like many hundreds of thousands of other people, I’m doing my best, and continually making strides in positive directions. Feel free to shame me all you like, but here’s the thing: I do not care. And also, before you decide to get my face, or in the face of anyone else, make sure you are able to demonstrate the positive steps that you have taken, over and above shrieking gibberish on Twitter.

Today, among the ordinary life stuff on my To Do list – dishes, clean the bathroom, etc. – there is also:

Phone Calls:

These politicians are being called to inform them that their stance on climate change is shortsighted, misinformed, and dangerous.

• Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Roy Blunt (R-MO). They are my two senators, and both are unrepentant denialists and active shills for the oil industry. Neither of them has much in the way of smarts or compassion, particularly Hawley, about whom it is safe to wonder whether he can zip his pants without help. Oh yeah, Hawley also actively participated in an attempted coup back in January.
• Ronna McDaniel. She’s the head of the Republican National Committee.
• Con. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); House Minority Leader, and dirty energy stooge.
• Con. David B. McKinley (R-WV); Ranking Republican, House Subcommittee for the Environment and Climate Change.
• Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV); Ranking Republican, Senate Committee for the Environment and Public Works.
• Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY); Ranking Republican, Senate Committee for Energy and Natural Resources.
• Joe Manchin (D-WV); Chair, Senate Committee for Energy and Natural Resources. Yes, Manchin is a Democrat, and is ostensibly in favor of doing something about our environmental issues, though his attitude often suggests a different set of goals.

And if I have time these guys, all of whom are well-paid whores, are gonna get a phone call:

• Sen. Mitch “Moscow Mitch” McConnell (R-KY)
• Sen. Jim “Snowball” Inhofe (R-OK)
• Sen. Ted “Even My Kids Hate Me” Cruz (R-TX)
• Con. Steve “The Hateful, Bigoted Shitheel” Scalise (R-LA)
• Con. Kevin “Who?” Brady (R-TX)

When I call these people I am not going to actually speak to any of them of course. They have underlings and voicemail to deal with phone calls from people in no position to give them millions of dollars. I’m not going to call them stupid, I’m not going to call them whores, I’m not going to ask them where they got their science degrees, I’m not going to ask how it feels to be bought and paid for. No, I’m going to be respectful, refer to them by their titles, and make sure that my statement is quick and to the point. Are they worthy of my respect? Not in any way. But insofar as these phone calls are concerned I have to make sure that they think so. And I recommend doing the same if you decide to make some phone calls of your own.

And then, I’m going to call the following individuals, to let them know they have my support, and to stay strong in the face of the forces arrayed against them.

• Con. Paul Tonko (D-NY); Chair, House Subcommittee on the Environment and Climate Change.
• Con. Ro Khanna (D-CA); Chair, House Subcommittee on the Environment.
• Con. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY); Author and proponent of the Green New Deal, and chair of her own Committee of Awesomeness.
• Con. Cori Bush (D-MO); Member, House Subcommittee on the Environment.
• Sen. Thomas R. Casper (D-DE); Chair, Senate Committee for the Environment and Public Works.

Listen. As cheesy as it sounds, I mean it when I say that we can only do this together. Stop shaming and start working.