A couple of months ago, I turned 27 and it was the first time in my life I thought to myself wow I’m getting old. The last two years we’ve been living in the pandemic, I’ve felt myself creeping into an age beyond that I’d ever known; long nights held awake with the grip of existential anxiety, even longer days plugged into a chair working hours off my life, and a scarce sense of time and direction.
Like a lot of people, I had more time to sit, think, and reflect on the quality of my life and what I want out of this journey than I’d ever had before. I’ve thought a lot about the country and the way it’s mismanaged; who’s interests are pursued and who’s are consistently left behind. It’s not new that political tensions are as high as they are; while the rich get richer working people are divided by their identities, culture, and their need to survive week to week— it’s the classic playbook for preserving oppressive and exploitative hierarchies. And yet despite the alarm bells going off spelling out disaster everywhere from climate change, to hate crimes, to deepening disparities in wealth and declines in working conditions— we are so committed to doing business as usual. But why?
In the 1970s, amongst greater competition in the marketplace, the US shifted to prioritize shareholders and exponential growth to generate the largest possible return. This in large was prompted by Milton Friedman who paved the way for this philosophical breakthrough which would carry on for decades to fuel some of the strongest bull markets our economy has ever seen. In this timespan, our social, as well as our commercial apparatus, has frenzied on consumerism and consumption at excessive levels. While growth is to be expected as new technology scales with innovation, the year after year expectation of massive growth leads companies to make terrible long-term decisions in pursuit of short-term gains. Offshoring labor, cutting or stagnating wages, overproducing to meet a fractional threshold of demand have serious economic and environmental consequences. And while we’ve produced some of the most amazing technological creations in the last fifty years, it beckons the question at what cost?
The Return to ‘Business As Usual’
In the last year as our country gets back to work, there’s been a level of labor organization unseen since the great strikes of the 1920s and 30s. Workers who were forced into hazardous conditions throughout the pandemic while their companies generated billions of dollars in return for shareholders are demanding their pay and benefits keep to scale. We see narratives like the “labor shortage” discount the fact that as soon as the pandemic hit, many of these companies’ first instinct was to throw their employees to the wind, cutting health insurance and pay at a time when people needed it most. And when companies received economic stimulus, many of them prioritized share buybacks.
Meanwhile, our infrastructure bill, which would allow investments in renewable energy—hedging future inflation and providing millions of good-paying jobs— is being held hostage by a Senator whose yacht was paid for by Exxon Mobil. While scientists issue dire warnings about the fate of our climate without immediate action, we put out 30+ year timelines without firm commitments or investments to help us get there. An entire power grid in Texas was shut off for weeks last year freezing hundreds of people in their homes, and yet we refuse to invest in infrastructure to meet the needs of our times. Year after year, our coastal cities shell out billions in damages due to hurricanes and floods, but somehow pre-emptively addressing these issues with meaningful investments is inflationary? We pass a $760+ billion dollar defense bill and no one bats an eye but when it comes to investments that will not only improve the quality of life here in the States but also increase our GDP we scream inflation because it goes against the interest of the status quo. 60 years ago fossil fuel leaders knew climate change was an issue and they failed to adapt. If we were to apply the “free market” thinking to these same companies, wouldn’t that imply it’s time they kick the bucket? But the divdends!
Emerging out of Covid— despite not conquering Covid— it’s become clearer to me than ever that profit and revenue are no longer scaleable motives to solving the greatest challenges before us— they’re obstacles. To think that the years of death, economic devastation, medical bankruptcies could all have been prevented if we’d just committed to shutting down our economy for three weeks, paying people to stay home, and taking the hit. But because we failed to act, millions of people around the world are dying, economies are shrinking, and we’re nowhere closer to getting this pandemic under control.
Cannon Beach, Oregon 10/11/2021
We’re going to repeat the same mistakes with our climate if we continue this way of thinking. For the last two years, it’s been really challenging to feel a sense of permanence. Obviously, there’s a lot happening in the world to prompt me to feel this way, but to think we can still do something to improve the quality and security of our future and we just….dont? That’s a hard pill to swallow. Hunger shortages, water scarcity, rising sea levels, destroyed ecosystems— all the price to pay for inaction. And yet to be so in love with this planet and the people on it and the community of people I respect, admire and learn from— to see that threatened because a handful of people want to stay rich and powerful— I can’t accept that.
Last year, as we were remerging and there was hope that the vaccines would damp Covid away, I pledged to myself that my life had renewed meaning. And while I still feel that way, it’s colder in the sense that I want to live my life fully not knowing how much time we have left; time left for normalcy, left to fight for the future we deserve.
So I’m entering 2022 with a new conviction in the work I’m pursuing as a storyteller. At the end of the day, we have to believe that this world and the people on it are worth fighting for. We are not going to “capitalism” our way out of the challenges before us; we’ve seen how we become collateral damage to the industry of shareholder return. It’s time for something new, a new way of finding value in our communities.