Every small and local thing matters?

In the city where my parents live, there is litter everywhere.  Plastic bags are one of the many eyesores.  More than an eyesore, for instance, when they clog the storm water intakes and add to urban flooding during the monsoons.

A few years ago, my father, who likes cleanliness and order, thought that perhaps he would do something at least right outside his own yard.  He talked with the "watchmen" at the neighboring buildings and told them that they could at least keep their own respective street-fronts clear of waste. People do not generally litter a clean place, but are always quick to add crap if there is a pile of waste.

It worked for a week or so.  And that was it.

In our own ways, many of us try to do what we believe are the right things in the tiny bit of the world over which we might have some say.  But, such feel-good acts do not really seem to matter in the grand scheme of things.  Does it mean that we should stop doing them?

Nope.

"Acting at the local level feels good because the results are visible and tangible."  However, we need to keep in mind that "the world is more complicated than that."  So, yes, go ahead and clear your street of plastic bags. Fight to ban single-use plastics.  Ban plastic drinking straws, if you think that is the right thing to do.  But, keep in mind what Humphrey Bogart said in a different context--they "don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."

The world is intricately interconnected for our small acts in our backyards to make a huge difference.
"Everyone who is concerned about the environment knows that large-scale solutions are important."

Engaging with the environment at multiple scales is what thoughtful people do, all the time, whether they want to or not. There is no place or scale to escape to. And the question of which level of encounter is the best for the environment – or the human soul – has no easy answer.
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Everything local is global, and vice versa. It’s a matter of continuing to participate, to question ourselves and our behaviors, to assess and reassess the needs of the planet, and hold dearly the tensions that come with trying to make positive environmental change.

I have blogged in plenty along these lines.  For instance, when it comes to recycling, I practice it--but all the while pointing out that this feel-good act doesn't make a damn difference. As I wrote a couple of months ago, I rant against feel-goodism is because it means that "we have accepted individual responsibility for a problem we have little control over."  We have been brainwashed into believing that we created these problems and that we can solve these ourselves, if only we behaved "correctly" in our homes.  Awful bullshit that is.

We need to go after the big time changes and I worry that feel-good local and individual behavior might even distract us form the urgency to press for huge systemic changes.

So, yes, go ahead to do what you can.  Feel good about it.  The tangible effect is important.  But, don't ever let go of the big changes that we need to fight for, beginning with throwing out tRump and his toadies who are doing everything they can to ruin life for all of us humans on this wonderful and unique pale blue dot.