Last Friday, author Bill McKibben spoke at Calvin College in Grand Rapids as part of the college's "January Series" of lectures. McKibben, who has written several books on the environment, business, and culture, delivered a critique of the United States' economy, arguing that the push for constant growth embedded within the economy has resulted in ecological destruction and the dissolution of community.
McKibben's first book, the End of Nature, covered global warming. He told the audience that he has been working on the issue for over twenty years, yet there has been little progress despite the fact Hurricane Katrina and Al Gore's movies. No matter what he and his fellow activists did, McKibben said that nothing seemed to make an impact on the politicians who had the power to address the issue. He talked about doing a march across rural Vermont to raise consciousness about global warming in the fall of 2006, which was enough to get all of Vermont's candidates running for federal office to agree to talk to the marcher at its final rally. They raised the demand of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050--which was a radical idea to politicians but one that scientists supported--and were able to get the support of all the candidates. McKibben said that this event was a reminder of what can happen when people take part in the political system, rather than being cynical about it.
After the rally, his group--made up of himself and six college students--decided to take the project beyond Vermont and launched StepItUp07.org. They began the project with no funding and no real contacts, and asked people to organize demonstrations on April 14 of 2007. He said that across the United States the idea took off and there were 1,400 demonstrations. It was the biggest day of grassroots environmental action since the first Earth Day. A second day in November focused more on politicians and according to McKibben; about one sixth of the members of the United States Congress attended one of the events. He said that the effort was pivotal in helping him to believe that there was hope for progress on the issue if a real movement can be built.
Over the past year, McKibben said that his intellectual work--primarily outlined in his new book Deep Economy--has dealt with economics. Specifically, McKibben said that he has begun to question the idea that "more is better" and that "growth is good." McKibben pointed to the fact that the media consistently cheers economic stories as an example of these ideas being "default assumptions" in society.
McKibben argued that the commitment to constant growth has gotten our society into a host of problems. He began by talking about what he termed "the environmental predicament." For the most part, McKibben said that the only thing that has changed since his first book--the End of Nature--is that the problem has only gotten worse. Humans have raised the temperature of the planet by 1 degree Fahrenheit, which has been more than enough to "throw almost every physical system that we can measure off kilter." The most dramatic indicator of this is the melting of ice in the Arctic that has increased considerably in recent years. The melting surprised scientists, but McKibben said that it is the result of a planet "plunged into chaos." McKibben cited NASA climatologists who said that changes must be made within eight years to avoid change that is even more dramatic. McKibben also described how President George W. Bush has stalled on global warming by arguing that various treaties and protocols would limit our economic expansion.
However, for McKibben, another important question is whether all of this economic growth has actual made us happier as a society. He said that it has been largely ignored by academics, as it was seen as a "soft" topic or one that could not be tested. Ten years ago, economists sought to broaden consider of the topic by asking them about whether or not they feel happy. Moreover, they realized that "subjective well-being" correlated with a variety things such as brain activity and how people correlate. From there, scientists made the intellectual leap to exploring existing data that was related to research the deeper question of happiness in society.
He cited an unnamed national polling firm that has asked Americans each year whether or not they are happy with their lives, to show that Americans have been increasingly dissatisfied with their lives. The number peaked in 1956 and has gone downhill since, with only a quarter of Americans now saying that they are happy with their lives. At the same time, McKibben noted that the standard of living for those in the United States has tripled, with people living in bigger houses, taking more vacations, having more options for food, and more technology. McKibben said that if the economy works the way we believe it intuitively should, there should be a correlation between happiness and the increase in the standard of living. He said that this lack of correlation shows that more tends to make people less happy.
The driving factor of Americans' discontent is a loss of community and a loss of connection to one and another according to McKibben. For example, he said that since the end of World War II the United States primary economic project has been the suburbs--building bigger houses, farther apart from each other. This has become "the American Dream," but as it is done it reducing the possibility of running into each other. The average American family no longer eats together and most Americans now have less close friends than they did in the past. This dissolution of community has continued as people have lost the skills of community, becoming hyper-individualized and therefore unable to relate to each other.
McKibben says that despite the lessening of community, there have been heartening developments that can challenge both ecological and community destruction. He said that we must begin to build economic institutions that build community. As an example, he cited the phenomenal growth of local farmer's markets that both increase community and are more ecologically sound. He also praised the deployment of solar panels as an alternative to the current energy system that is both inefficient and ecologically destructive. The Local First campaign was praised as well for its ability to shape how we interact in our local communities and for its promotion of West Michigan businesses.
