{"id":18395,"date":"2019-10-28T01:25:32","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T01:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18395"},"modified":"2019-10-30T04:19:45","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T04:19:45","slug":"why-acting-locally-is-impossible-in-an-interconnected-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-acting-locally-is-impossible-in-an-interconnected-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Why ‘acting locally’ is impossible in an interconnected world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer M. Bernstein<\/a>, University of Southern California \u2013 Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Like many Americans, I worry about the state of the planet and try to make a positive impact through decisions in my day-to-day life. But I also am nagged by the feeling that I often get it wrong, even though I analyze environmental problems<\/a> for a living.<\/p>\n

Concerned about plastics in the ocean, I renounced single-use plastic straws. Then I learned that they were critical for kids and the differently abled<\/a>, and that waste management systems determine<\/a> whether plastics make it to the ocean.<\/p>\n

Years ago, I tried \u2013 and enjoyed \u2013 the meatless \u201cImpossible Burger\u201d at a caf\u00e9 in my neighborhood, then ordered it again more recently at Burger King. Then prominent chefs started coming out against them because they are \u201cprocessed and unhealthy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And after I volunteered to manage my daughter\u2019s school garden, I found myself worrying that the pleasurable act of gardening was taking valuable school hours away from students learning about how to systematically address global environmental problems.<\/p>\n

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Journalist\/chef Mark Bittman promotes plant-based eating but criticizes processed vegetarian burgers.<\/span>
\nPR Newswire<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite these conflicts, I have stuck with my metal straw and plant-based burgers. I know my actions may not make a quantifiable positive environmental impact, even though they feel meaningful. As a professor of geography, I have critiqued environmentalism\u2019s focus on local actions that rely on distant, large-scale technologies<\/a> such as meal delivery kits and hunting wild game.<\/p>\n

Of course all acts matter, but some matter more than others. Here\u2019s where I\u2019ve ended up: Engaging with the environment at multiple scales is what thoughtful people do, all the time, whether they want to or not. There is no place or scale to escape to. And the question of which level of encounter is the best for the environment \u2013 or the human soul \u2013 has no easy answer.<\/p>\n

Small is beautiful, but is it effective?<\/h2>\n

Social activists often exhort followers to \u201cThink globally, act locally.\u201d But many geographers argue that the very idea of the local is rooted in fantasy.<\/p>\n

For example, Doreen Massey<\/a> characterizes locations as hubs where various flows \u2013 social, cultural, economic \u2013 intersect and change over time<\/a>. In her view, it was impossible to draw a boundary around any single region because each place is in a constant state of flux, changing while being molded by outside phenomena.<\/p>\n

As I see it, environmentalists often shy away from the big, messy, interconnected world<\/a>. Many of us are highly skeptical that large-scale institutions, especially economic organizations like the U.S. Treasury Department or the World Bank, are capable of promoting positive environmental change.<\/p>\n

At the same time, we\u2019re well aware of the entangled and hybrid nature of environmental problems. We have a gnawing feeling in our stomachs that the world is burning, and we are, well, grasping at straws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Different scales of attitudes and behaviors constantly contradict each other. For example, many residents of the Mojave desert in eastern California detest large-scale industrial solar power<\/a> but embrace small-scale residential solar. Urban chefs and foodies heralded plant-based meats<\/a> when they were a niche industry, but are now critiquing these products as they move into the mainstream.<\/p>\n

Scale infuses our attitudes, behaviors and decisions, often in ways that aren\u2019t rooted cognitively. Why do those behaviors that we find the most meaningful personally effect the smallest environmental change? And must we choose?<\/p>\n