So today in class we were talking about sustainability and such. I found myself being angry, and not wanting to participate, and I'm not entirely sure why. The thing about it is, I didn't feel like I had anything to say, really. I mean, sure I've been told my whole life that it's important to turn the light off when you leave a room, not leave the water running while you brush your teeth, etc, but when you get really deep into thinking about it, and how one could make sustainability work... it just ends up making my head hurt. How can one possibly get so many people motivated? How can you get the rich people to give up their riches? There just isn't any viable way that I can see. I'm all for saving paper and recycling, and being sparing and such, but... I don't know, I just think that it will be very difficult to make the change in modern society that seems to be required.

The fact of the matter is that it's all about leading people. SOMEone has to have good leadership skills and be able to move things along- and when I say leadership skills, I don't just mean convincing people that there are things that need to be done. I mean basic motivation. It goes back to the basic motivation for doing things. Here I am, using this writing tool that "punishes" me if I don't continue to write. Why is that? Because I can't motivate myself to write on my own. It's the same with people on a larger scale. Unless there are consequences- visible consequences, that is, because there are always consequences- for the things we do, the products we waste and make, there is no way people are going to want to change. Another problem is that the problem is SO widespread. The people who do the consuming are so far from the people doing the producing. And they have no immediate power to change what is being done. The only thing we are consistently told will help is doing things like turning lights off, using as little water as possible, unplugging appliances- a.k.a., doing our best not to use the resources that are already being exploited. The problem with that is, there's no way it will ever change the system. There is no way that simply using less will
ever stop the system because, no matter how little we are actually using, there will always be enough people using the system to keep it in profits. No matter how small those profits may be, they are more than the system would get by trying to re-write itself. The only way the system will be re-written is if a) the vast majority of people decide to change it or b) it becomes so unprofitable that the only way the people running it can keep their way of life is if they pitch in with changing the system. I don't see how that can happen.