In A Recovery’s Long Odds, Bob Herbert, of the New York Times, discusses how “Americans are not being honest with themselves about the structural changes in the economy that have bestowed fabulous wealth on a tiny sliver at the top, while undermining the living standards of the middle class and absolutely crushing the poor.”
Herbert is pointing us in two directions: first, that Americans appear to be delusional — or that somehow we’ve been complacent with the direction leaders — and the media — say we’re heading. The notion that American citizens are dormant is beginning to get some notice. Arianna Huffington, in her new book, Third World America, evolves this notion, but gives us some solutions — how to turn this around. You can hear a good interview with here in On Point: “All countries have rich and poor. What Third World countries don’t have is a strong middle class. Neither, right now, does the United States,” says Huffington. The second notion is that of course, following on Huffington’s notion of a declining middle class, is that we have a huge gap in wealth acquisition — the disparities are now too great not to be noticed.
The middle class is finally on its knees. Jobs are scarce and good jobs even scarcer. Government and corporate policies have been whacking working Americans every which way for the past three or four decades. While globalization and technological wizardry were wreaking employment havoc, the movers and shakers in government and in the board rooms of the great corporations were embracing privatization and deregulation with the fervor of fanatics. The safety net was shredded, unions were brutally attacked and demonized, employment training and jobs programs were eliminated, higher education costs skyrocketed, and the nation’s infrastructure, a key to long-term industrial and economic health, deteriorated.
Of course, this has everything to do with sustainability – can we sustain the America we have or, perhaps better put: can we sustain the America we’ve had?
Since we’re heading towards Bill McKibben’s End of Nature, it’s appropriate to wonder how deeply the human alterations of nature have gone; that is, it may be that our processes and procedures, our ways of living — socially, economically, intellectually and spiritually — have genuinely altered our ways of being, socioeconomically, and now we find ourselves, like nature, on the ropes.
After reading End of Nature, Herbert and Huffington, I wonder what you think about where we stand in America — and where we may be heading? To put it another way, as first years, what do you see down the line for you in 3 or so years? Or, what do you have to do now to prepare to what seems to be an alternate state of being, one quite different than you’re perhaps accustomed to?
There’s no doubt that the way American’s live right now is not sustainable, both environmentally and economically. Environmentally, as we know from the end of nature we need to cut down on carbon emissions immediately or else the subtle problems that our world faces such as increased temperatures, polar ice caps melting, and rising sea levels will become much more prominent. Economically, as Bob Herbert said in his article the Upper Class is gaining wealth like crazy and the middle class is disappearing. I remember on the first day of class when Hector asked us to identify with a class hardly anyone said straight middle class. Most people said upper middle class and with the way things are progressing the upper middle class is the new middle class because the middle class is having such a hard time getting by. In 3 or 4 years the middle class could be gone. Our class system could be a 2 group system with upper class and lower class defined as the people who have and the people who don’t.
In my opinion restoring the balance in the class system would also help restore some of the environmental balance. If more people had the means to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle more people would do so. Right now this isn’t possible because middle and lower class families are focusing more on survival than cutting down on their carbon footprint. These two issues (as we’ve seen numerous times throughout class) are related because your social class determines how you think of the environment and what you’re capable of doing to help it.
As a nation recovering from an economic recession, I believe that we are headed on a recovery path and that within the next three years we will make positive steps to the recovery and eventually return to the economic state we were in before the recession.
As a nation we are at crucial point in determining our future success, just as New Orleans was after Katrina we are in a bad place and now we have the ability to change our the structure of our economic system as a means of getting out of it. While we have this opportunity I am not optimistic enough to say that that is what will happen, what is more likely is that things will return to the way they were, to an economy based on bets and imaginary money tied up in extremely complicated investments. As Huffington said at the end of her article, “Fixing America’s broken educational system is vital to rescuing America’s middle class.” At the moment the lack of education in the middle and lower classes is not only keeping them from moving up socioeconomically but it is also restricting them from making the sound decisions that are in their best interest. There is so much propaganda thrown at people every day through all types of media that deciphering it and making an informed decision has become a real task, and they need to be able to make those decisions. My favorite part of these articles was the quote from Winston Churchill that Huffington mentioned that went like this: “America can always be counted on to do the right thing, after it has exhausted all other possibilities.” After a way of deregulation we tried to put our faith in the market and get rich but as we know that only worked for a select few and know that we have exhausted that option it is time to move on to a more progressive economic system. And while we have not exhausted all of our natural resources we are headed in that direction and our continued reliance on them will only make things worse. We as a country need to reform or economy and rebuild infrastructure to be sustainable. For our sake I hope we have exhausted all of our options.
Americans are now settled in the ways of their daily lives that are detrimental to the environment. In terms of The End Of Nature, we are near the end of nature due to our lack of legitimate changes and responses to disasters that should have us already living more sustainably. In my opinion, the public sees this “end of nature” as either inevitable or someone else’s problem to deal with. Yes, much of the impact on the environment is irreversible, but it may not be too late to slow it down substantially. A contributer to the issue with the way we treat the environment is how we all view wealth. In modern times, wealth is tangible and it’s all about having more than the people around you. Huge mansions and multiple SUVs per family, for example, are desirable to many people. We’re not seeing the value in a cleaner environment and man’s general connection to nature.
The data McKibben provides in his book is certainly alarming. We certainly aren’t changing the direction in which we’re heading in the immediate future. As a college student, I see myself waiting to see to what extent it worsens in the next 3 years or so, and which, if any, strategies are effective in hopefully avoiding large-scale disasters that will be associated with the rise in global temperature and sea level. Maybe I’ll have to be prepared to live a different life when I graduate college than I did before going to college. Regardless, McKibben’s ideas make me think of the many politicians who emphasize the need for “green” jobs, which will hopefully relieve the unemployment rate and teach Americans this alternate lifestyle we have been resisting for too long. I’m also surprised that there were scientists out there who predicted the issue of global warming decades ago, like Arrhenius 150 years ago (as McKibben discusses), but were entirely ignored. Or what about the fact that some scientists are convinced that although global warming is occurring, it is natural and not caused by the human race? Our priorities need to shift to protecting the decent aspects of the environment we still have, because we’ll only have one chance.
Like Zoe said, the way the United States operates now is not sustainable. With it’s extreme poverty, declining middle class, dying ecosystems, alteration of nature, and so on, the United States does not appear to be in such great shape. And the most daunting of it all is that these issues are only getting worse; therefore, the United States is only heading into a deeper hole. I think as a first-world country, we are a horrible model to developing countries. I think developing countries have a chance of becoming first-world countries without operating the unsustainable way the United States does. I disagree with Zoe on one point. I do not know if something drastic will make Americans (and others) change their lifestyles or the way they think. Time and time again in the past few decades we have seen great disasters and events that should have done just that, but have not. I honestly don’t know what it will take for people to change their ways. Perhaps there needs to be government initatives or laws built in to force people to do so? Perhaps there needs to be more grassroots movements? Better education and distribution of knowledge to illustrate to the population that change is necessary and possible? Maybe it is a combination of all of those.
Human alterations of nature and the planet have gone too far, and are irreversible for sure. But does that mean it is too late for the human population? I honestly do not know, but I believe it is worth it for us to drastically change the way we are living and interacting with the planet in order to attempt to save ourselves and nature. We need to ask ourselves important and difficult questions. How can we create a sustainable economic system in the United States, so that there is fair wealth distribution and a strong middle class? How can we create a more sustainable industrial food system? How can we sustain life with much less of an impact on the planet? Can we?
Alex
America, the way it is now, and the way it has been for the last several decades, is not sustainable. If everyone on the planet lived like we do in the United States, we would need 5.4 earths to sustain us! I think the problem lies not only in the way we live our lives (excessive wasting and spending), but also in how we view them. For many people, the focus has turned away from issues like family, international issues, politics, social justice, and personal growth and is now zeroed in on “getting ahead” and gaining status and money. The American public no longer cares to read/hear about important issues. We view media, from television to movies to news even, as a way to entertain us rather than inform us. Our ignorance has made us very easy to manipulate, which is why issues like Obama’s country of origin have dominated news and personal opinions rather than the way he opened up areas of the U.S to offshore drilling (for example). I think the U.S faces a very dangerous turning point right now. Everything, from the economic crisis to the ecological crisis (as Foster put it), is coming to a head. In the next three years, I see substantial economic difficulties ahead. As Foster said, the economic crisis may have been caused by a collapse of the financial sector, but there is an underlying problem in our economy as a whole! He says, the reason the financial “bubble” was created in the first place was because our economy itself was stagnant, and facing issues of overcapacity and market saturation. Pouring money into the banks may serve as an initial “band-aid”, but fails to solve the real problem. If we continue to try to get financialization going, rather than addressing our real “economic” problems (that are based in underlying issues of unemployment, low wages, social inequality, and wealth disparity) we may face an even worse crisis. I would like to see and read a little more about this, but, really, I wouldn’t be surprised if his predictions prove true. If anything, most economists say that whatever recovery we do make will be slow and difficult. As for the environmental crisis, well, I think THE END OF NATURE does a good job painting a picture of what our future looks like. Actually, Bill McKibben wrote THE END OF NATURE in 1989, but when I started EAARTH (started the wrong McKibben book by accident! 🙂 ), I saw that one of the first things he says is that THE END OF NATURE is no longer a prediction, but a reality, and we are living it. Things are so bad, they’ve become irreversible, and STILL the United States is refusing to take the lead with global initiatives, and most Americans, too, have barely changed their lifestyles. We are facing an economic crisis, environmental crisis, food crisis (highest food shortages in history!), and an empire crisis (look at the situation in the Middle East!) It may seem pessimistic, but I think in the next three years something drastic is going to happen in one of these areas. Whether it be a giant storm, or a peak oil crisis, or a flooding of refugees…something is going to happen that will open American’s eyes and force people to change their lifestyles. I guess it’s possible that this may happen more gradually as well. Maybe people aren’t willing to ride their bikes to work now, but when gas prices get high enough, I think people will. It’s scary, but the thing to do is prepare for a life that might be very different. The U.S is going to need to rebuild/reform, and it’s important that we know how do that in a way that is different than in the past. We need to rebuild in a way that creates sustainable systems, from our economic situation to our food. Right now, we need to start planning and discussing how we will do this! Actually, I think across the U.S, people are starting to realize how much trouble we are in. It might not be the majority, but people are starting to think, and take action. It’s our jobs in the next three years to keep up with this!- learn what others are doing, what solutions are being put forth, and how people are changing their lifestyles. Then, we need to start doing the same!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWjHrVJPb-g
http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/06/sticking-public-bill-bankers-crisis
http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/06/g20-global-menace-invented-larry-summers
And this is JUST one of my favorite intellectuals, today, Naomi Klein. McKibben’s second reading in this course — and his book about it — also covers some of the material you (and others?) may want to learn more about.
Great post, Zoe, very thorough and interesting!
The video was very interesting. I guess America has no reason to say no to climate debt when it’s doing the same to BP. At first I thought that the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia was such a cool idea, where “the civil society speaks, and the government listens.” However, as the video continued and I listened to speakers like Hugo Chavez, and bash capitalism, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Chavez is the president of Venezuela, a country heavily dependent on oil and gas, but was championing the environmental cause. So, who can the people trust? Socialism or Capitalism? Perhaps, neither. But the Bolivians deserve better, and I totally support the idea of Climate debt, especially when countries like America bully lesser developed countries with articles like the Copenhagen Accord at large, publicized environmental conferences.