May 01 2009
The Politics of Nature
People naturally assume that I’m eager to save the planet from the ravages of industrialism, protect all endangered species from extinction, and preserve as much wild forest as possible. Surely someone as passionate about wild nature as I am must be an environmental activist, or so the conventional line of reasoning goes. This assumption is made by liberals and conservatives alike, and confusion registers visibly in their faces when I deny it. And when I add that I reject “-Ist” and “-Ism” altogether, that I’m too much of a philosopher to be truly political, most people peg me as a fence-sitter and leave it at that. Who can blame them? Action is what matters in this world of ours. Words are only words.
I studied too much political theory back in college – that’s the problem. I learned all I could learn about Socialism, Fascism, Republicanism, Democracy, Theocracy and the rest of it. I even cultivated my own alternative political philosophy for a while. But all that is just theory. Politics is the concentration and exercise of power to project one’s own cherished values onto the world. Ideology is merely the excuse needed to get the job done, to mobilize other people to action. As a would-be propagandist and pamphleteer, I see right through the advertisements, both left and right. In other words, I know bullshit when I see it, and no “Ism” is an exception to the rule, not even Anarchism.
Generally speaking, I am reluctant to voice this opinion of mine – and that’s all it is, really – because there’s no advantage in offending nearly everyone else on the planet. But make no mistake about it, I don’t care to wave any flag, even one with a picture of Mother Earth on it.
While activists break into two distinct camps, warring with each other in the political arena, global warming continues, thousands of species disappear, and the wild forest grows smaller. When the liberals are in power, laws are passed protecting the environment – keeping Big Business from trashing it, that is. When the conservatives are in power, those laws are rescinded or new ones are passed, enabling businessmen to profit from the use and abuse of natural resources no matter what. Back and forth the pendulum swings, year-in and year-out. To what end? Do you really believe that one side will ultimately win this battle? Do you really think that an activist of any stripe can do anything that can’t be undone?
What’s at stake here is quality of life – the quality of our lives, not those of trees, whales or spotted owls. It’s really more a matter of economics, not politics. When enough people grasp the true cost of their shopping mall world, and what is lost in the process of perpetuating it, there will be little resistance to salvaging what’s left of the wild. Most people act in their own best interest. All any real lover of wild things needs to do is show them exactly what’s at stake. Then nature will take its course.
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