Spring and hope: It’s a beautiful early spring morning with summer-looking cumulus clouds around the horizon—heightening my longing to get up to the high country this summer. Birds are singing their songs of joy and hope, and I am trying my best to sing along in spite of the turmoil in our country. How did we get here, and how do we get beyond it? We all dream of a better world, and we have been suggesting dreaming as a useful tool for starting the path to a better future. Although we work specifically with food and foodsheds, there is nothing about the value of dreaming that is unique to local food work. There are many paths toward sustainability, although we do extoll the virtues of local food and foodsheds work as a powerful, accessible, and nurturing tool toward deeper sustainability.
Dreaming is useful since you can jump straight to a vision of a desired future without being held back and limited by the nagging questions of how to get to that particular future. In recent essays, we have talked about first exploring and getting to know one’s local foodshed, and then, armed with that knowledge, envisioning or dreaming of what it could be. I was prepared to next jump into how to implement measures to start making those dreams a reality—things like organic, regenerative, and wild farming and much more. Yet, the soul-searching mood of the country lately suggests that it would be good first to take stock of the impediments to overcome and underlying issues to address in order to increase the chances of achieving those dreams.
Checking our assumptions or guiding principles is critical to making progress on seemingly intractable problems. We dream, envision, plan, and then so often meet insurmountable obstacles and end up stuck with the status quo—“business as usual” simply continues. Eventually, we may find it hard to keep dreaming. Assumptions are an essential efficiency to simply get through the day, but unquestioned, some can work against us. As individuals, we have our own assumptions that should be recognized and periodically reassessed. Yet, we are also immersed in society’s assumptions and guiding principles, some of which we accept as our own either through conviction or convenience, others which we rebel against, and many which we feel we must just accept—”it’s just the way the world works,” we are told. While some assumptions move us toward a better future, many fundamental ones tend to stand in our way, and many of those we don’t even stop to think about.
A short list of problematic assumptions that so often block our way toward a brighter, fairer, and sustainable world starts with assuming that there are no limits to ever-increasing economic growth—that such growth is inherently both necessary and good. That obscene income and wealth disparities are to be expected and unchallenged. That population and resource extraction can and should increase indefinitely on this finite planet. That ever-increasing personal wealth, consumerism, and convenience and unfettered “free” markets are what keeps us and our world working and happy. That we can depend on technology to bail us out without question. We have some serious issues with fairness, facts, and limits—and just a bit of selfishness at play.
More enlightened self-interest might just help! In contrast to selfishness, “self-interest,” within bounds, seems a positive—we should look after our own survival, well-being, and happiness—just not exclusively. (Think of the airline advice to put on your own oxygen mask first in order to help others.) On the other end of the caring continuum would be altruism. In between is the rich area of “enlightened self-interest” which has intrigued me for many years. It’s essentially recognizing that what is good for others—for all living things—in many cases ends up being good as well for oneself.
Enlightened self-interest’s power comes from the fact that the more we are aware of how interconnected the things of this world are, the more things fall into the self-interest basket. Sharing food with others, supporting and paying fair taxes to assist those less fortunate, not spoiling the “commons” with overuse and pollution, and reducing one’s carbon footprint can all be shown to benefit ourselves as well as others. We so often fail to act with that conviction.
Respect, fairness, wisdom, and compassion are values or traits we might embrace and strive for in becoming the type of person we want to be. Efforts to help people become more responsible and proactive about addressing sustainability issues might be more successful when the question moves from “what does my identity group stand for” to “what type of person do I want to be”—a more constructive use of peer pressure. Who would not like to be considered—by oneself as well as by others—as respectful of other people, as being fair to others, as making wise choices, and having compassion for others. The more that we are aware of the interconnectedness of all living things and of the workings of the planet—and aware of the consequences of our actions—the more things we will recognize as cases of enlightened self-interest. This awareness-building in our society can be a powerful tool that we as advocates, educators, and nonprofits can use to move society to a brighter and more fair future for all.
The ultimate in self-interest: As we become more aware of the consequences of our actions—both good and bad, my belief in the inherent goodness in people leads me to expect that we are more likely to make wiser, more responsible decisions, and to move more often into the realm of altruism where the good for “other than oneself” becomes the greater motivation. Yet, even in this realm, we may find the ultimate in self-interest as we see ourselves as the persons we strive to be.
Moving ahead with greater clarity: None of this should stop us from dreaming and pursuing those dreams. Rather, it should redouble our efforts to do so with open minds, checking that our assumptions match our own values, and moving ahead boldly on our dreams while at the same time working to improve the assumptions and guiding principles of the society we work within.
Leave a Reply