This is an adaptation of an email I wrote to two young fellas I met at Dick’s this past weekend while at the Phish shows.
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It’s my wish that people, en masse, would recognize and embrace that drastic and uncomfortable changes necessary.
Make no mistake about it, we are destroying the planet. If we all don’t disconnect and start to look up, it’s hard to make a case how we’ll save ourselves from ourselves.
Having been in tech for as long as I have I’ve seen how a few companies are now dominating every aspect of our lives. It blows my mind that people young and old are so complicit. Each time someone logs into Facebook or social they’re literally feeding the monster that’s choking them. Why people don’t see this has kept me up at night. A time is coming soon where the government will pay people to stay home. Because technology is well on its way to rendering entire gene pools and millions of Americans unemployable.
Lately I’ve been carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. My career has taken a big hit, I was and still am sour about what’s happening all around us.
I’m coming to terms with what I can do. Which is, change how my family and I live. Then I can share what I see, write about it, and live in alignment with my values.
My family doesn’t eat meat or dairy. I believe that wars won’t end, that we won’t make any noticeable difference in ourselves, our neighborhood, or the environment so long as we’re eating meat and dairy. We buy from our neighbors. We’re trying to break our addiction to tech and Amazon. We’re not on social media. Whenever possible, I try to talk to people. We’re breaking our consumerism habit. Now when we buy something we only buy from companies we believe in.
Sustainability/sustainable is the one word most associated with being green or environmentally conscious. Both come from the word sustain. The fact that this word dominates the marketing of highly popular companies such as Patagonia and Backcountry.com, I say, shows how unconscious they/we are. It say it’s proof positive that we’re on a speeding train to “Gonesville”, a new Bob Weir song.
Because sustain means to prolong, suffer, or maintain. So by using sustain we’re saying prolong the madness, continue the suffering people everywhere are feeling, or maintain the status quo.
Instead, we should be using thrive. Then make up a new word, thriveability. Because thrive means to prosper, fly high, or flourish. I wish people would stop using sustain. The fact that so many are, I believe, shows how lost things are.
I can’t change the world. But I can move my feet more than my lips. And pray that others will start looking up.
Dam! Never herd it better. We can be thriveable with out oil. But we need to make sure the conductors on the train to Gonesville get the memo. The stop train pull chain is busted. For we are all one or none. You are the coolest guy I know.