Behind the mirage. When does more is better... become never enough... and then too much to sustain life?

by Kim Keown

Trash is not in a privileged back yard. It is sent far away for impoverished brown bodies to sort as they are poisoned by its toxicity (Miller). Those with, have been in a banal safe space. Those designated by those in power to be without are poisoned by industries that bring products aspired to while being used as free or cheap labor. With an economy in unsustainable growth, government solutions are more of the same exploitive models. People are addicted to devices. The digital world, as I remember, was originally sold to us as a more sustainable “paperless” solution. In actuality or digital devises use energy that creates carbon (George and Dierdre), rely on finite resources, and then create massive amounts of trash. We are steam rolling toward a mass extinction of humanity (Braidotti) and taking many species with us. Polarity in our politics due to propaganda in our media and governments is preventing us coming together for viable solutions.

Mirage is an immersive installation, the appearance of a safe space in the midst of a heap of toxic waste unseen; windows not looking outside, mounds of e-waste also presented as a mirage. Maybe it’s too late to save ourselves (Braidotti), create new models that are equitable and sustainable, and remove these hierarchies. But with this time capsule I make a plea. If we don’t act right now this mirage will be all that is left for a future traveler to encounter. I ask, why continue the destruction and exploitation? We are complicit in their complacency as we consume; our lives based on convenience. Time as a human construct, power as an unnecessary act of aggression, politics as a way of control over time and power seems a viscous cycle ignoring that change is inevitable, systems also subject to entropy. Meanwhile, the media is reinforcing a status quo by holding the attention of the majority of the population with opinions on both sides of a polarity, weather is dramatized even as climate change is disputed, and there’s constant biased opinion reporting of all flavors. Comedy news has become the only palatable option for those with sensitivity. At least we can laugh at our awful plight. These reporters are comedians not journalists, but have been, like the king’s jester, able to slip in truths because they are presented as jokes. Is it enough as we laugh at our peril?

 

Global Warming

John Durham Peters in his 2019 talk Weather in the Public Sphere questions notions of weather based on class. Weather talk is a banal activity for a member of the bourgeoise but a necessity for a farmer that grows our food. Peters speaking at the Center for Media Engagement and Center for Ethics Initiative, presents that solving the problems of racism and classism must be embedded in the solutions for climate catastrophe (Peters). Society has been pushing the snooze button since the 1970’s, or even before, on CO₂ levels rising which is well documented along with fossil fuels being the cause. Scientists have been taking meticulous data since 1958 (Woo). In Bridging Time, Rosten Woo’s 2018 film commissioned by the Exploratorium in San Francisco, scientists explain the Keeling Curve, a seasonal rise and fall in parts per million of CO₂ levels in the air with a continual upward trend. It is true that we need to stop using fossil fuels, but I like Peters, see this as a critical stage to simultaneously change our models of exploitation and use of finite resources. 

 

Meanwhile our trash keeps mounting…

I have an only child. When she was born, I wanted to do my part at keeping our footprint small. In the 1980’s the mounting CO₂ level was presented to me by a friend like a barge. Once the reverse engines go on it keeps moving forward before stopping and then hopefully moving backwards. However, then, we did not apply the brakes. 

~ I was meticulously careful about everything I bought. I did not own a car. As hybrid vehicles started to come onto the market, I planned for the day I could buy one used. I finally was able to in 2005. I now know about the problem with lithium batteries. 

~ I also was successful most weeks having only a handful to throw away. I had access to a small side yard in Boston. I imagined all my trash had to be piled there. I created a compost area, gardened, bought bulk foods, and lived without many modern conveniences. Then came the hoax of recycling. I bought into it. 

There were tools I needed, but they were increasingly packed in an almost impossible to remove plastic. I put it in my recycle bin. Eventually, while continuing to compost and grow some of my food in my small yard, I still had a handful of garbage, but mounds of recycling each week. Most people in the US take out their trash, it is picked up and taken away. They never imagine it piling up in their backyard. In India, the garbage piles are so high, a storm caused 2 deaths in 2018 from a landslide (Kumar and Schultz). Our plastic trash has until very recently been shipped to other countries, less than 9% able to actually be recycled (Loria). Our toxic electronic waste is being sent to countries with less strict regulations or enforcement. China and then the US produce the highest amounts of e-waste in “unsustainable” amounts (Arora and Farge). It creates pollution and releases chemicals into the environment (Miller). Recently, even the moon was hit by a piece of space “debris” abandoned after a space mission (Howell). It is figured to have created a massive crater.  

conclusion

It may be too late to reverse the barge of capitalism that is creating the unsustainable growth responsible for our systems contributing to climate change. It may be too difficult to change the power dynamics in society that cause some to have power while exploiting others. However, there are contrasting human traits like altruism, and not everyone wants to go out acting their worst. Why not try to clean up our act? Trash could eventually end up in our own back yard and I prefer not to clutter outer space. Our hierarchical systems cause massive suffering, eventually to us all. Possessions in time turn to trash. The myth that they create our well-being was sold to us by industry with help from people like Edward Bernays. Adam Curtis says in his documentary series about Freud and Bernays “Although we feel we are free, in reality, we […] have become the slaves of our own desires…” (Curtis). Can the dissolution of the fallacy of objects satiating desires bring the motivation to invent new ways of relating to each other and reduce our need of consumption? Objects are metaphorically embedded in our language as ideas. (Johnson and Lakoff 18 - 20) Because when does “more is better” become “never enough” and yet “too much” to sustain life? 

Adeshokan, Oluwatosin. https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/chinas-investment-drive-and-africas-disjointed-infrastructure/. 21 December 2021. 12 March 2022.

Arora, Neha and Emma Farge. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-waste-un-report/worlds-e-waste-unsustainable-says-un-report-citing-china-india-and-u-s-idUSKBN243255. 2 July 2020. 10 March 2022.

Beckert, Sven. The Empire of Cotton a Global History. New York: Vintage Books, 2015.

Braidotti, Rosi. https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/rosi-braidotti/. 12 March 2019. 3 March 2022.

Campbell, John. https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-cobalt-mining-drc-needs-urgent-attention. 29 October 2020. 17 September 2021.

George, Sharon and McKay Dierdre. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190207-why-streaming-music-may-be-bad-for-climate-change. 2019 February 2019. 13 March 2022.

Gil, Yásnaya Elena Aguilar. Tequiologies: Indigenous Solutions Against Climate Catastrophe Natalia Brizuela and Alex Saum-Pascual. Berkeley: Berkeley University of California, 7 February 2022.

Howell, Elizabeth. https://www.space.com/rogue-rocket-stage-hit-moon-today. 4 March 2022. 12 March 2022.

Johnson, Mark and George Lakoff. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.

Loria, Kevin. https://www.consumerreports.org/environment-sustainability/the-big-problem-with-plastic/. 8 September 2021. 12 Moarch 2022.

Malan, Dr. Susy. https://www.iisd.org/articles/how-advance-sustainable-mining. 18 October 2021. 25 February 2022.

Miller, April. Earth.org. 3 March 2022. 12 March 2022.

Paúl, María Luisa. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/03/01/cargo-ship-felicity-ace-porsche-cars-sinks/. 2 March 2022. 12 March 2022.

Peters, John Durham. https://mediaethicsinitiative.org. 22 May 2019. 24 February 2022.

Schultz, Hari Kumar and Kai. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/10/world/asia/india-delhi-garbage.html. 10 June 2018. 11 March 2022.

The Century of the Self. Dir. Adam Curtis. 2002. Documentary.

Thunberg, Greta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Thunberg. 8 March 2022. 12 March 2022.

Woo, Rosten. Bridging TIme. Exploritorium, San Francisco. video.