There is no single solution.
A quick read on why we need to stop harping on the inefficiency of individual actions and why you should keep growing tomatoes.
I made the mistake of listening to a podcast that will remain nameless (because I’m just not into flaming people) that I unsubscribed from last year. I had been a big fan, but the pod had taken a turn towards criticizing specific approaches to tackling the agricultural crisis we currently face, primarily in western culture. I had been a patreon of the podcast, but one interview in particular unlocked some deep turmoil when it openly criticized small-scale ecological farms as being inefficient and therefore not a solution worth exploring.
If you’re really into the gossip, I’ll let you go hunt through my archives, but this moment was a critical awakening for me in the understanding that efficiency is really a colonial capitalist value and that measuring potential solutions solely based on whether they are efficient was a trap.
I’ve written at length about the benefits of slow work. I’ve published more than one zine about it. I won’t bother to recap again, but I do want to draw attention to the notion that focusing on efficiency may be a huge part of what got us into our current climate crisis.
Back to this podcast episode: it was a critique of permaculture, something that the host harps on regularly because, again, permaculture is apparently too individualistic and hence not efficient enough to tackle problems related to climate or agriculture. And I tried, I really did, to listen with an open mind to the criticism of permaculture (I have a list of my own, so it’s not like I’m a big fanboy), but my feathers were ruffled all the same.
The biggest BIGGEST problem I had with this criticism is that it plays into this idea that the current climate and food crises will be solved by a single, perfect solution, as if problems as complex and multifaceted as those we face could ever have solutions that weren’t as equally complex and multifaceted.
It’s so fucking easy to point at holes. Never ever ever will humanity find a single solution to solve the world’s problems. None of them!
I think that critique is important. Please don’t think that I’m not advocating for critical analysis. And again, I have a long list of problems with the permaculture movement in general. But the idea that individual actions are simply too small or insignificant to be part of the solution is not the critical analysis that I’m looking for. And this is where I come back, time and again, to the tenant of collective liberation: this is the framework and approach that will provide effective critique. This is where the real holes are best poked.
I want to be really honest here: I am not an expert. In anything. I will be the first to admit that there’s a whole lot I don’t know. Many many things. I am very intentional about writing my words from a place of exploration and inquiry. But I think this is true: if individuals like you and me refuse to take responsibility and refuse to take action, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. If humanity only looks to large-scale solutions and deems individual action inefficient, NOTHING WILL CHANGE.
Yes, we need large-scale approaches. Yes, we need city-sized approaches. Yes, we desperately need community-level approaches. And yes, we even need individual, micro-level approaches that you can do in your own home. To reject any of these means that we are limiting our chances. To reject the beautiful chaos of organizing and of life is to fall back towards the colonial cultural narrative in which humans try to control nature, try to control each other, and deem one path—one solution—as the only possible direction.
I think I’ve made my point here, and I won’t drag on, but I want to state this once more for the people in the back: we need a multitude of ideas, projects, approaches, and solutions. We need different people doing different things in different places, and if the things that other people are doing don’t make sense for you in your unique time and space, that’s okay. You learn from their experience, adjust and pivot to your own position, and make the solutions work for you.
Grow your tomatoes. Shop at your farmer’s market. Start urban farms. Meet your neighbours. Turn off your lights to conserve energy. Build greywater systems. Get backyard chickens.
AND
Protest the government and corporations for making harmful decisions. Boycott and divest from companies like Amazon and Tesla and care only about profit. Light a fire under the asses of oil executives to leave oil in the ground.
It all matters, and it’s all connected.
<3
Here’s a little plug for a magazine exploring a multitude of solutions to the problems of capitalism and colonial culture: Novitas Magazine! The first issue is still available on the website at https://www.novitasmag.com.
AND the first interview with contributor
is coming out soon so stay tuned :)
One more thought that I might riff on in a separate piece is the disability justice piece. Diy often feels very able-bodied. But it isn’t. When I look at it through the lens of affluence it feels unavailable. I don’t have time to raise bees or space to grow my own quinoa. But if I shift my gaze to the rest of humanity (the 99%) I see that diy/survival culture is the only way we are still here. The make-do, make-better life. Find the free stuff. Forage the dumpsters. Pull the free fruit off the sidewalk trees. Go into those abandoned community gardens and find some free grub. The cult of “wellness” has distorted diy to the point that it feels elite. I feel like you are pointing us back to the dirty, messy side of it all. So thank you. Diy for all.
This feels especially juicy and pertinent…I guess always. Like it’s always really critical to invite this kind of approach. Everything. Do you’re small piece and do the big piece. My Dad told me about Kinshasa Congo, where he has friends who have grown up there. The city is quadrupled in size in his lifetime. He asked his friend, “How does the city cope with such a growth in population?” His friend said, “They don’t adhere to capitalism.” My summary of the second-hand convo was that they run on a DIY approach. Everyone grows food and sells it. Everyone hauls water. Everyone is creating solutions all the time. As in, there is no big box company making millions. This friend also remarked that they look forward to the day that the US economy collapses and Africa can once again retain their resources and people. They can finally have their continent back. So I guess this comment encompasses the macro and micro. DIY the shit of life so the Big Box Boys can go fuck themselves. (excuse the language).