Yesterday I watched “The Age of Stupid“. It was organized by Transition Towns, with the assistance of Friends of the Earth. the Age of Stupid is a film set in 2055, and is basically about the last man on Earth who lives in a huge archive which contains all the books, news and other data that mankind has accumulated over the years. Several true stories are documented in the film – a young brother and sister in Iraq whose father was killed by American soldiers, a young Nigerian woman who wants to become a doctor and help others who have had their lives ruined by Shell, an Indian entrepreneur who wants to launch an airline so that all Indians can enjoy cheap air travel, an 80 year old French tour guide who has seen the glaciers shrink and shrink to almost nothing and a businessman who wants to set up a wind farm but is prevented from doing so by local people who oppose it because they say it will spoil the view and reduce the value of their houses. The film left most people feeling a mixture of despondency, anger and the urge to do something to make sure that we don’t let the temperature of the world increase by 2 degrees centigrade. Basically, by 2015 we need to have made drastic cuts in carbon emissions. If we don’t, then the vast majority of scientists agree that we are screwed as a planet.
After the film there was a discussion where we talked about our reactions and discussed what we could do. What I found depressing was that practically everybody just starts talking about the usual miniscule things they can do as an individual, that – if we are honest with ourselves – will not make any difference at all. You know the typical “green tips” type stuff – put a brick in your toilet cistern, shower instead of bath, grow your own vegetables, etc. People should certainly do these things, no question, but the fact that people seem to think that those things will be enough depresses me. They just have no idea. The one thing that hardly anybody touched on (and which is touched on in the film although not in depth) is direct action. We need to make lists of all the things in society that need to be changed. Not just things we can do at home. Things in our world, especially at a local or national level, that need changing. For example: more cycle paths, more public transport, clean energy for our homes (ideally produced at home, eg via solar panels, rather than in centralised stations), no plastic bottles, no plastic bags, etc, etc. And we need to get out and take direct action – such as blocking roads, inconveniencing people and making life hell for politicians and bureaucrats until we get what we want. All significant social change has come about through direct action – Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat up for a white man, boycotting South Africa, the sufragettes, and so on. This direct action needs to take place on a huge scale, with lots of local groups taking part in action across the world and bringing society to a gridlock until we achieve our aims. Let’s start today.
