Democracy Futures: Reasons for Hope

— An ongoing column by Lori Benjamin —

On the inter-island this week, I ran into Justin, of Skyline Tree Service. Soil water content, he says, is the lowest he’s ever seen. “If you’re planting trees, you might want to avoid cedars. Serious drought, followed by an ice age in 30 years — that’s what they’re saying we have to look forward to.”

We stand to lose so much, so fast. One obstacle to a focused discussion of climate solutions is simply grief. When someone you love is dying, you don’t want to talk about what life will be like without them — you have enough to deal with, already. And if you see the reason for death as a pervasive, totally avoidable ignorance and lack of attention or care, you’re probably dealing with a lot of anger, as well. Many of us feel that way about the planet right now.

As a community, we may need to come together and do some grieving. But I’d like to spend some time this week thinking about hope. Because we’re certainly not alone in our great loss. People all over the world are coming to terms with the unavoidable future in encouraging and powerful ways that can inspire and inform us here on Orcas.

Here are some trends and movements that get my heart pumping (other than, you know, brave kayaktivists and people hanging from bridges).

Capitalism is on its way out.
If you haven’t read Naomi Klein’s latest book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, check it out. I read it in April after spending a couple of months on the library waiting list, so I know a few of you have spent time with it.

Klein connects climate change with a broad spectrum of social justice issues. While her prognosis for human survival is not overly optimistic, she views climate change as an opportunity to build the economically just society that civil rights activists, feminists, labor unions, and environmental advocates have been fighting for since the industrial age.

The resistance movements that have grown up in the last five years are forcing a climate conversation among even the most resistant deniers. These movements include: “Blockadia” — citizens and indigenous people literally standing in the way of extreme resource extraction projects. The fossil fuel divestment movement. Cities and towns taking control over their power grids and moving to renewables. And others. “The economic alternatives these movements are proposing and building,” Klein says, “are mapping ways of living within planetary boundaries, ones based on intricate reciprocal relationships rather than brute extraction.”

She’s not alone in her analysis. The idea that growth and consumerism should be the primary measure of economic health is steadily approaching dinosaur status. Lately, I’ve found myself energized by my LinkedIn feed, of all things. This article in McKinsey Quarterly, for example, argues that “the essential role of capitalism is not allocation — it is creation. … it is solutions to human problems that define prosperity, not money.”

Democracy is good business.
I think it’s a mistake to conflate anti-capitalism with anti-business. In fact, our current economic system could hardly be equated with free-market capitalism, if such a thing is even possible.

Business is fundamentally about community. The way we trade skills and goods is critical to our survival, and integrating the business and social aspects of life isn’t just about giving the community more control — it also makes good business sense.

In the tech world, I’ve watched companies shift away from top-down management styles and toward more agile systems driven by customers and collaborative teams. Today, young people short on experience but full of intelligence, energy, and new ideas are encouraged to speak up and ask questions, rather than just follow directions. It’s a big reason companies like Google and Pixar are doing well — and why the Microsofts of the world are struggling.

Strong leaders, business and otherwise, inspire collaboration and transformative ideas, rather than aspiring to direct the whole production. As we face a world that’s changing faster than we ever thought possible, no one person — or even a small group among us — can expect to have all the best ideas and knowledge.

Think crowd-funding and hack-athons — Orcas style. More co-op action. A local currency? Collective organizations, drawing on and channeling already-available energy and resources, instead of trying to force change or hang onto the status quo. Capitalism is an incredibly wasteful system. We can do better — in fact, we already have a great start.

Community rights are making a comeback.
Most of us were brought up to believe that America, the Land of the Free, is a the best country in the world because We the People run things. We’re a democracy. Flawed, yes. Many of us had to fight long and hard to participate, and that fight continues … but still.

When the Supreme Court made its Citizens United ruling in 2010, it felt like a slap in the face: Corporations have more rights than people, when it comes to influencing elections. What I didn’t realize then was that corporations have had more rights than people in countless ways, since very early in our nation’s history.

The Constitution that was ratified in 1787 did away with the original Articles of Confederation and instituted the same British system of law that the colonists had fought to free themselves from in the Revolutionary War. Goodbye East India Tea Company. Hello Shell Oil and Monsanto.

We’re an extremely forgetful species, apparently.

That structure of law helped create and currently sustains the corporate-powered climate catastrophe. Even though the Declaration of Independence and almost every state constitution talks about “We the People” having the right to govern ourselves, it turns out that no, communities don’t have the right to ban activities that threaten them. We can participate in a revolving-door regulatory system that is heavily weighted against us — but we can’t pass laws against anything the corporate-run state deems safe and acceptable.

Today, there’s a movement to restructure that system of law. More than 200 communities in nine states have passed laws declaring their right to govern and protect themselves and the natural ecosystems they rely on. It started in conservative Pennsylvania farming communities, and spread across the country in places threatened by fracking, pipelines, and Wal Marts. It’s happening in cities like Pittsburgh, Spokane, and Portland. It could happen here.

Of course, all these movements toward democracy and economic transformation have the Powers that Be running scared, trying to shut down the free Internet, and ramping up militarism and surveillance in an attempt to defend the status quo. They won’t give up easily.

But what choice do we have? While we still have a modicum of freedom — and a small window of climate opportunity — why wouldn’t we take bold steps?

When I look at this island, I see an incredibly diverse array of talent and knowledge, an ingrained love of the natural world, and a wonderful willingness to attack the difficult with surprising, make-it-up-as-you-go-along solutions. We are completely capable of creating a sustainable Orcas and breaking ground in the new, locally generated environmental movement.

It won’t be easy, but it could be a lot of fun. At the very least, hope, empowerment, and community connection can be powerful antidotes to grief and despair.

So, what gives you hope? I’ve begun conversations with a few of you, and the next columns will be focused on initiatives already underway here, rather than my philosophizing. Email me at lorib@democracyfutures.org, if you’d like to be part of that dialogue.

Lori Benjamin is a freelance writer based on Orcas. She consults for technology and marketing companies in Silicon Valley and beyond. Follow her on Twitter: @lori_benjamin

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