I was struck by this comment by a young person in response to “The End of the Region as we know it”:
Unlike the generations which came before, ours has no history of protests or rallying that made any difference to the causes we stood for. Why should this be any different?
The highways will continue to criss-cross the landscape. The pipelines will continue to shuttle toxins through our most pristine regions. The land we’ll depend on to sustain ourselves for the generations to come will still fall prey to short-term economic gain.
And we, my generation, will listen to those who call us apathetic – the same ones who support the very causes we oppose – and finally agree with them. Our hands will be thrown up in the air, and we’ll have finally learned not to give a damn about anything.
My first reaction: you can’t keeping throwing your hands in the air indefinitely. That gets boring. Eventually you will want to use them for something.
But then I think: If in the next year the Agricultural Land Commission is neutered, the transit referendum fails, Tsawwassen Mills paves over another piece of the flyway, Massey Crossing proceeds, the port pulls adjacent lands out of the ALR, one or more pipelines are approved, the coal terminals expand, and we can’t even get a bike lane approved in Vancouver, what is left but despair?
And how then do we expect anyone, particularly young people, to respond rationally?
Such despair would translate its way into the popular culture. I’m not sure how that would manifest itself initially – nihilism, presumably – but eventually something else. New leadership, new vision, new politics.
Maybe the “rational” response is apathy. The amount of effort it takes to get a simple bike lane built is not commensurate to the benefit. Past protests involved human-created policy issues that directly affected people in the “then and there”. It’s much easier to rally against a clear-cut cause like institutional racism than a terribly abstract, somewhat distant, diffused phenomenon like global warming.
Maybe the most important difference is that it’s not a creation of intentionally malicious human actions. It’s easy to get mad when people are intentionally making your life worse. You stand up in arms against your enemy. But, although global warming is human caused, it’s a challenging issue with no really enemy. We are all to blame. When people directly brought down the twin towers in New York, the response was swift and unequivocal rage. When global warming fueled hurricanes hit, it is a tragedy, but no one gets angry. Who do you get angry at? We are all complicit. The problem is vast.
We all may be complicit, but some are more equal than others when it comes to blame. I think the assault on the tobacco industry is an example of action that theoretically could be taken against the worst polluters and heaviest users of dirty fuel.
I do not, however, hold out much hope of that happening because many of the world’s business and political leaders owe their positions and wealth to the fossil fuel industries. That isn’t likely to change much in the future. Getting to the top of any major pyramid requires the support of people with lots of money and the willingness and ability to play dirty.
One thing I know: global warming is not a “terribly abstract, somewhat distant, diffused phenomenon” – and the paint on the Cambie Bridge is supposed to bring that home. The tipping points are now in the past. It is no longer the case that we can cut emissions and retain a habitable planet – we now have to concentrate upon coping with the impact of the change under way due to emissions in years since Kyoto.
There’s a real enemy all right – and the list of names starts with Koch and Buffet but they are seemingly untouchable. We elect people like Premier Barbie and then wonder why it all goes wrong.
Yes it is totally abstract. It’s about coal burned in China affecting ice in the arctic causing warmer waters off the coast of Africa or wherever and creating massive, unpredictable consequences in decades time. It’s bloody abstract! What’s not abstract? Driving a car to work makes people’s lives noticeably, indisputably better (that’s precisely why people do it). Exporting more bitumen will create immediate jobs and reduce taxes.
I’m not disputing that climate change will have a powerful, negative effect on peoples lives, but it doesn’t yet. At least not as powerful a negative effect as driving a car has a positive effect.
Also, environmentalists make a difficult task harder by trying to tie a bunch of unrelated issues into their cause. Don’t incorporate economic inequality and a dislike for rich people into environmentalism. Rich people can be environmentalists too. Capitalism and environmentalism are not mutually exclusive. Also, don’t call the premier Barbie. It’s sexist.
That is a sad commentary, but there is a lot of truth to it. In the 1960’s protests made a difference as governments were forced to listen. Now it seems like governments only seem to care about their corporate masters and don’t listen or care what the public thinks. This turns off many young voters who just don’t vote, whereas if they did, they could make a difference.
That’s just my point. There are efforts to increase the participation of young people in the electoral process, but why? None of the candidates ever hold the same views as us, and we’re too young to hold any power or experience to get into office ourselves. By the time we reach that point, we’ll either be too late or out of touch with the issues we once found important; or we’ll never have the big players on our side and will therefore never reach the level of support needed to win.
This is coming from the same young person who wrote the comment in Gord’s post above. A young person who has always believed in voting. But maybe I shouldn’t anymore.. As if that will make any difference. Change won’t come until we see voter turnout percentages dip into the teens. Until then, the headlines will continue to place the blame on the apathetic youth being spoiled and disengaged. Give us a voice and we’ll tell you what we think. Until then, don’t bother asking.
I felt the same as you from teens onward. – still feel the same now as a senior, despite many decades of volunteer work for parties and unions. I was always too busy earning a living to get experience enough to stand for any office. Now I don’t have the energy needed anymore.
But I never lost touch with the issues I once found important. They have been the major driver in my career, lifestyle choices and pressure groups I’ve joined – the personal is political (as we used to say). The big players have never been on my side either. A few changes I’ve worked for have come about, most have not. Gandhi said ‘Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it. … It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important.’
P.S.It may not be as relevant to you, but I’ve always been mindful that when my mother was born, women couldn’t vote. My neighbour didn’t get to vote until she was 31 despite being born in Vancouver. The right for women to vote was hard won and I feel duty bound to exercise that right, no matter how odious I find various candidate choices.