Culture and the Habits of Destruction

Despite my constant frustrations with him one of the reasons I still read CrunchyCon is his emphasis that it is culture and not politics (I use politics here specifically as the political process) which is most important. This was by far the overwhelming experience of my short lived life as an organizer. One of th greatest obstacles to real change in America is not the two party system or campaign finance but our habits. Our habits of passivity, consumption, and search for pleasure are what stop us from seeking change. In his excellent film An Inconvinient Truth Al Gore says that what is really lacking in the fight against global warming is the political will of American politicians. This is true but the whole truth is what is wrong with the world is me and my own habits of passive consumptivity. It's not as if the fact that George Bush has little to no contact with reality or science makes me drive to Philly every week or use more appliances than I should. so brothers and sisters don't look for the government to ratify Kyoto ratify it yourself in your community and your church and build connections with others who are trying to live the same way in this we can build a new culture. not a culture of rigid dogma but a culture of common habits. We will know each other by our bicycles, reusable cups, and window herb gardens.

For the record I have the best reason in the world for going to Philadelphia I should just use mass transit.

"One man with a garden does more good than the entire environmental movement combined"~Wendel Berry

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