Climate change and American consumerism

In a commentary that was published back in 2007, I wrote about a strange way of life here in the US, which I referred to as "an American solution to an American problem."  I wrote then:

Well, a few weeks after I came to this country for graduate studies, it was nearing Thanksgiving and the television ad for Alka-Seltzer that I watched then is what I refer to as American solutions to American problems. In this ad, the audio commentary and the pictures presented all the wonderful foods that the viewer would end up eating at Thanksgiving, which then resulted in stomach aches and heartburn. And, presto, Alka-Seltzer to the rescue! My reflexive thought was simple: if the problems came from overeating, then why not simply advise the viewer to eat less? Of course, as I have come to realize, to consume less is not American. (Yes, I, too, am an American!) Instead, the American way is to consume more, and then when problems develop savvy entrepreneurs provide solutions to facilitate further consumption.

It doesn't take any smarts to figure out that we consume a lot in the US.  I mean a LOT.  And I don't mean just about food. Anything. Everything.

This consumption is a problem. A big problem.  It is our consumption that is the cause of climate change.

Think about it for a minute.  And you will soon arrive at this framework:

Transportation (cars, buses, trucks, and planes) leads in greenhouse gas emissions, while electricity (coal and natural-gas power plants) is a close second. Industrial goods and services are third; buildings, fourth; and agriculture, fifth.
This way of measuring blame, however, misses something crucial: people. These industries are spouting carbon because customers demand their products: travel, electronics, entertainment, food, all sorts of stuff.

We like to travel. We like the latest smartphone. We like air conditioning. We like Netflix. We like stuff. A lot. We consume. A lot.

We demand, and the market delivers.

So, why are we always pointing at Exxon and Walmart and China as villains?  Maybe because it lets us off the hook?

There will be little incentive for businesses and governments to make these changes, however, if the people who support them—with dollars and votes, respectively—aren’t also making change a priority.
“Individual consumers cannot change the way the global economy operates on their own, but many of the interventions proposed in this report rely on individual action,” the report reads. “It is ultimately up to individuals to decide what type of food to eat and how to manage their shopping to avoid household food waste. It is also largely up to individuals to decide how many new items of clothing to buy, whether they should own and drive a private car, and how many personal flights to take.”

“It is ultimately up to individuals to decide."

I have joked forever that I am yet to meet an environmentalist who refuses a pay-raise.  Environmentalists also want the pay raises in order to travel. To get the latest smartphone. For air conditioning. To stream Netflix. For stuff.

In order to fight the Nazis, Americans sacrificed. With blood, sweat, and tears. Through rations. Fighting climate change will require different kinds of sacrifices.

We will have to fly less, drive less, Uber less. We will have to eat less red meat, drink less dairy, waste less food, and generally buy less crap that we don’t need.
A lot of Americans won’t want to do this!

We won't. But, we will, however, talk about climate change. A lot.

The diminished expectations of good ol' Americans

As trump and his party go all out in their racist war against immigrants, one of these days even his own minions will begin to understand that it is not white supremacy that made America great, but that only immigrants can make America great again.

Take the case of two comedians with origins in India: Aziz Ansari and Hari Kondabolu.  Both their fathers are medical professionals who immigrated from India, thanks to the changes in the legal framework in 1965. In Kondabolu's case, his mother too is a medical professional.

These two guys are not surgeons or lawyers, but they ventured into comedy--despite their stellar academic credentials and not because they could not make it.

Ansari and Kondabolu typify the American way of life, which the US army has crafted well into its recruitment campaign: Be all that you can be!  If all that you can be means not being a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, that is ok too.

The parents, the immigrants, work hard so that their children and and grandchildren can do what makes them happy in life.  This is not a new American concept, however.  John Adams wrote in one of his letters to his wife, Abigail:

I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History and Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.

John Adams wished that his grandchildren ought to be able to pursue painting and poetry if that is what they wanted to do.  That is the American dream!

Such a wishful dream for his children is what this op-ed author--a highly successful son of immigrant parents from Asia--writes about:

I’m temperamentally unable to mimic my father’s succeed-at-all-costs immigrant mind-set, an instinct I share with most of my generation. And maybe that marks our immigrant parents’ ultimate triumph: We have become American. As part of the American parenting mainstream, I aim to raise children who are happy, confident and kind — and not necessarily as driven, dutiful and successful as the model Asian child. If that means the next generation will have fewer virtuoso violinists and neurosurgeons, well, I still embrace the decline.

Imagine an America that is walled off against immigrants.  In addition to a real decline in population--immigration and their fertility rates help the US not become a Spain or Russia--we will also have fewer people who are driven to succeed in medicine, or high tech, or ...

The author writes:

When I became a parent, I felt the wonder and uncertainty that accompany the awesome responsibility of fatherhood. But I was absolutely sure of one thing: The childhood I devise for my two young daughters will look nothing like mine. They will feel valued and supported. They will know home as a place of joy and fun. They will never wonder whether their father’s love is conditioned on an unblemished report card.
I’ve assumed this means my daughters might someday bring home grades or make life choices that my father would have regarded as failures. If so, I embrace the decline.

May our diminished expectations lead to happy lives!

Source

"If you say awesome, you are definitely an American"

Yep, it was this for lunch my first day in San Jose--not during the package tour, though 

All of us in the tour were famished after the trip to the volcano and the hike down.  We wanted to have lunch before we did anything else.  In the tour bus, the guide, Alberto, called for a vote and we were unanimous on lunch first.  Yes, democracy works!

The buffet lunch was extraordinarily superlative for one reason, and one reason alone: fried bananas.

I love fried bananas.  I first had this Latin American/Caribbean preparation in Venezuela, twenty-five summers ago.  Perhaps to the very date, for all I know.  Mucho Gusto!

I served a whole lot of fried bananas on my plate, along with a few other items.  I tasted one.  I had reached the heavens.

"These bananas are so awesome.  I can easily make a meal out of it" I exclaimed to my lunch table partner, Jill.  She was also in our tour group, at the end of her Costa Rican vacation.  Roberto and Luis were at the table nearby and were too focused on food to talk.  Yes, we were all famished!

Jill--a strict vegetarian--was now excited. "Where did you find it?" And off she went.

I was more than halfway done with them when I remembered to take a photo.  And  a lousy photo at that; stupid me!

Jill came back with a lot of fried bananas on her plate, and a cup of coffee.  Now it was my turn.  "Where is the coffee?  I love having desserts with coffee."

I followed her suggestion.  The coffee pots were empty.

Empty!  In Costa Rica!

The woman who was ahead of me said "looks like I got the last few drops" pointing to the very little she had managed to get from the pots.  She sounded British.  But then I am not good at discerning accents anyway.  In graduate school, I once asked a visiting professor which country he was from--because of his different accent--and he said "Boston!"

I saw a staff person who then led me to another coffee pot.  Panic eased.  I sat down to finish the fried bananas. With coffee, this time.

I was almost done when that same British sounding woman sat down at the adjacent table.

"Hey, find the coffee?" I asked her.  She hadn't.  I led her to the coffee station.  She was profusely thankful.  I suppose we coffee drinkers are alike.

When she returned, Jill, she, and I started chatting.  Yes, her mother is English.

"How was your vacation?" she asked us.  The way she asked, it seemed like she was assuming that Jill and I were traveling together.

To some extent, I even enjoyed that a stranger thought that the young, slim, pretty, blonde was with me.  Welcome to the imaginary world of Walter Mitty!  It is a fascinating world.

Interestingly, as I recall the events now, while we joked that Jill was Canadian and not an American, I wonder if Jill, too, intentionally let that observation slide without specifically underlining the correction that we were strangers on a bus.  If she is like me, there is a little bit of honest awkwardness in admitting to vacationing alone because there is no significant other in life.  However confident I am in myself, I know there is that void.  It is always there, like the scar on my forearm.

This was an inconsequential lunch chat and there was no point clarifying anything.  Who cares; life is full of non-consequential conversations anyway.

For that matter, most of our lives have no consequence at all.  In the cosmic sense. Our lives won't even register a blip on a cosmic register of events and, yet, we fret and fume and worry about the minutiae in our lives.  We then even poke our noses into other people's minutiae.  We humans are strange!

"It was awesome!" I said with quite an emphasis, in response to that Brit's question.  I wasn't exaggerating at all.  It was truly an awesome Costa Rica vacation.  Truly one of the best I have ever had.

"If you say awesome, you are definitely an American.  Only Americans use "awesome" that way.  I love that" the beautiful British blonde said with one of the widest grins ever.

Smiles and grins have been a constant this entire vacation.  Awesome!