On November 26th the lecture in Land and Food Systems 250 was about Food Literacy, and to prepare for class we had to read two articles, one entitled “Forget Shorter Showers”, by Derrick Jensen, and the other “Civic Agriculture and Community Problem Solving” by T.A. Lyson. Together the articles are a very interesting juxtaposition of opinions, and it was well worth reading them together. I was very intrigued by the article on Shorter Showers. Despite being a less-polished text, Jensen had some very interesting ideas on the subject of environmental change. He advocated that what we need for change to happen is not personal change at an individual level, but policy change on a large-scale governmental level.
This, of course, is a very controversial argument. A lot of people right now are invested both physically and mentally in the “green” movement. Jensen brushes off these small-scale movements, in order to emphasize his thesis. On this point I disagree with him – I think that in order for things to change people do need to have a personal, vested interest in conserving energy, reducing waste and water consumption, choosing local products etc, and that discouraging this philosophy is of no advantage. However, I do agree that to be considered an “activist” one must be “socially or psychologically risky and not just sit around at home and eat vegan food” (Valley, Lecture). That said, I don’t really think that everyone wants or needs to be an activist. Everyone supporting the movement in whatever way they can is of benefit, in my opinion, but recognizing that for radical change to happen, radical efforts will be needed is also important. And Jensen’s points about needing to pressure government into change are of interest to me. From what I gathered, he was of the opinion that we are in need of a social revolution, rather than the social reform that has slowly been starting to take place.
Perhaps this idea resonated with me because I have been questioning what I want to do with my degree, and have been considering the option of somehow becoming involved with policy or politics. As one of the instructors said during lecture, “Political is almost like a dirty word right now.” To me that really rings true, and so in reading the article on Shorter Showers, I suppose it allowed me to open my mind to viewing political career options in a more positive light. Jensen questions whether or not becoming food literate is enough, and suggests that there is a limit to what individuals can do. He believes that we need to engage with the political system, and that regulatory control is what makes the big differences. An example of this would be the eventual ban of lead gasoline use, which resulted in the biggest improvement in our air quality in years.
That is not to say that I have now decided on a career path or know exactly where I want to take my degree, but it opened my eyes to viewing more positively the option of becoming involved with policy. At the same time it has provoked many questions about our current approach to change. It is true that the social and political structures around us have a profound impact on what we do. It is hard to imagine a revolution taking place anytime soon, but maybe that’s what is really needed.