restlessness

As most of you know, I'm an activist at heart. I call this blog "idealist for sale" because I've somehow found myself caught up in the corporate world doing things that just don't match up with my beliefs. It's not that I'm doing bad things. Now that I'm working in market research instead of advertising, I can at least sleep at night without worrying that I'm somehow contributing to the deterioration of our society. But I'm certainly not doing much for it.

When I was between jobs, I did my best to find a position that I could really feel good about. I couldn't get a great position at a non-profit since I didn't have any non-profit experience. But my education and my time at The Richards Group could make me a real asset in the marketing department of a progressive company. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of options at Dallas, and I didn't really have time to wait around. So, now I'm in market research... It's not as bad as advertising, but it's certainly nothing great. It's a good work environment, and I'm making a lot more money, but I'm not making the world a better place.

I've been trying to make the most of it. I went to a protest outside the Exxon shareholders meeting, and I've been to a couple anti-war rallies, but I don't know how much of a difference it makes. I want to know that my contribution is creating positive change, and I just don't feel like I've found anything that does.

It was The 11th Hour that revived this part of me. It was a great film, and everyone should see it. The part that struck me the most was the stuff contributed by Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. And, it's actually a concern unrelated to global warming. He points out that throughout history (up until the industrial revolution), people always got by with current sunlight. They got all the food and energy they needed from the sun above them. Only recently (in the historical since of the word) have we started relying on ancient sunlight (fossil fuels). The problem with relying on ancient sunlight is that we'll run out. The world, however, can only sustain a fraction of the current population once that ancient sunlight runs out. Unfortunately, we take the ancient sunlight for granted. No one wants to admit how soon we'll run out. It's going to happen during our lifetime... certainly during the lives of our children. As long as we deny the fact that we're going to run out, we waste time that should be spent preparing for a future without fossil fuels.

I can't stand that the entire world is just moving forward oblivious to this fact. We drink water bottled in plastic and shipped for thousands of miles. We eat ridiculous amounts of beef, the most resource-inefficient food available. We live out in the suburbs and commute 30 miles to and from work each day. We drive huge vehicles that consume far more gasoline than is really necessary for our transportation. We choose to get coal-powered energy instead of easily available and competitively prices green alternatives.

I'm not asking for people to make radical changes to their lives... just to wake up and think about these things. Do you really need to get a new bottle of water each time you empty yours, or can you refill it with filtered tap water? If you're having trouble deciding between beef and chicken, get the chicken (or better yet the vegetarian option). Switch to Green Mountain; it takes no effort.

The problem with my current job is not that it makes a worse impact on the world than any other company. The problem is that it's just like every other company: oblivious. I want to start making a difference.I want to make people think about these things. And, if I can't get people to think about these things, I want to tax the hell out of them.