Black Friday Rally

For anyone serious about climate crisis mitigation, one of the goals would be “slowing down” or “cooling off” the economy by avoiding the purchase of non-essential accessories.

Our media extols the rise in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while declines are usually bracketed by proposed actions aimed at getting back on track to increase the amount of extraction, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and, incidentally, the amount of CO2, trash and income inequality produced.

For those who direct this process, the rewards are extravagant wealth; for those who support this process, the reward is a job or a small bump in investment savings, if any. 

Is there a solution to the conundrum of economy vs. ecology, and the cultural 'schizophrenia' of wanting economic activity (GDP) to increase while, at the same time, wanting our climate crisis to decrease? 

Many climate and economic pundits agree that the best way to proceed is to make commerce integral with nature. It's easy to understand what this means by thinking about trash creation and environmental damage.  

For example, how much trash does the Black Friday celebration of consuming create? How many people will be able to pass up an "incredible bargain" on something they really don't need? Linking waste and wealth creation is an example of integrating commerce and nature.

When it becomes expensive for corporations to produce waste, less waste will be produced. So too, when it becomes too expensive to lay waste to natural ecological systems in its extracting processes, less environmental damage will occur.

Entering into this environmental debate about resource-use and trash creation is to enter into the political debate that has raged for decades in Washington, but the urgency of the climate crisis adds much energy to the environmental side of the debate.

Come rally with CAN and help to underscore the importance of changing our consumer culture to something more Earth and climate-friendly. After witnessing on the bridge, we will walk to the Blue Hill Congo Church for a conversation about local climate activities and issues, and our local Climate Action Net (CAN).