Realism is a bore and a bother. It's been infinitely nicer to live in a world of illusion-that we were different from other nations, that we could ignore international agreements that didn't suit us, that we could go on using cheap energy without ever paying a price. Our success and our geographic isolation have let us get away with those delusions, but September 11 has shown them for what they were. Hence the need for real realism, for a view more clear-eyed and hard-nosed than we've had before.
This fall seems to have been the fall of Bill McKibben. I saw him at the Englert Theater in October, I read his writing in my nature writing class, I participated in a climate awareness event the organization he leads hosted, and I talked about his book Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
on the most recent Green Reads podcast. He has several articles up on his website, but one that really struck me was An End to Sweet Illusions, which you can read in Mother Jones. The above quote is from this essay (Is this an essay? Is it an opinion piece? I must admit I'm straddling the line a bit.) and I think it's a good summation of the overarching point. This is from early 2002, so clearly September 11 was still extremely present in America, and there were a lot of questions about how we should approach the War on Terrorism.
McKibben shares ideas on the war, but uses it to help us understand that the way American functions today is not stable. And that going to war, while it might seem realistic on the surface, might actually make our country more vulnerable than we have been. "The American Way of Life," he says, should not be seen as stable because it has been successful in the past. Almost nine years after this essay was first written, I think it's safe to say the way we live is not stable. We are still struggling to find the security we thought we had before 9/11, but instead of backpedaling to the past we need to make plans for our new future.
I love the way McKibben writes because he uses simple language to describe environmental and political problems so anyone can understand him. Even though his ideas seem daunting at first, you find yourself wanting to learn more and more from him. On our podcast I talk about how his book Eaarth is a great starter book for anyone interested in environmentalism right now. I came away from that book with so much knowledge. I think this essay is a great starter piece to get you thinking about problems with the environment and politics, and while McKibben is kind of a downer, I do think there is some hope in what he writers.
Check out An End to Sweet Illusions on Mother Jones and let me know what you think about it! I'd also really appreciate it if you listened to the most recent Green Reads podcast.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.