Monthly Memo: Thinking about interdependence this July

This month I’ve been thinking about the Rah-Rah-USA 250th and the Declaration of Independence.

I don’t talk about this much, and obviously I remain deeply skeptical and critical of the group of elite men who cobbled these colonies together, but I do consider myself to be fiercely committed to the principles of democracy and human rights, as awkwardly attempted in our founding documents.

At this point I know too much about the (ongoing) genocide of indigenous people, the (ongoing) oppression of Black people, and the (ongoing) destructive plunder of every biome on this continent to never not hesitate to declare my patriotism.

Lately we’re witnessing a new, twisted version of Manifest Destiny and the Homestead Act, with data centers robbing land, water, and peace right from under people’s homes, sickening communities with their effluent of heat, noise, and pervasive surveillance.

History (and fiction) tells us this doesn't end well.

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I don’t really subscribe to the Disneyfied flavor of environmentalism: Save the whales/pandas/bees.

We haven’t saved the whales/pandas/bees. In fact, the catastrophic loss of native bees, other insects, birds, bats, and other pollinators now directly threatens our food systems. At this point, we urgently need to save ourselves. 

What we need now is a Declaration of Interdependence

Short-term shareholder returns may be the current definition of a successful corporation, but they are not the measure of a successful civilization– instead, it has driven us to the edge of a cliff.

Our addiction to comfort and convenience, our use of consumerism to numb ourselves to the personal and social toll of consumption itself, have proven to be self-destructive at best– we now know we are taking innumerable species with us as we insist on our extinction.

Photo by Sören Funk on Unsplash

What we need now is a Declaration of Interdependence, an unequivocal statement of understanding and commitment to preserve and protect the non-human systems of this planet that enable human societies to exist in the first place.

Maybe now we reclaim our identity as earthlings, and redirect our loyalty beyond an arbitrary “homeland” to our one, precious home planet.

With you in slowness, beauty, and the wisdom of the local,

Allie