Forget Shorter Showers

Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday; or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons; or that dancing around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”? Why are these “solutions” not sufficient? But most importantly, what can be done instead to actually stop the murder of the planet?

Forget Shorter Showers
BY DERRICK JENSEN

WOULD ANY SANE PERSON think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler,

or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday,

or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons,

or that dancing naked around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”?