Final Exploration

     The Idea of a Local Economy by Wendell Berry is a very power essay.  It tears apart the current economical crisis, and shows us a solution to the oversimplification we are now facing; and that solution is, in itself, quite simple.

     The balance between human nature and the nature that surrounds and sustains us has shifted dangerously as we have absent-mindedly strip ourselves of our own basic needs.  We continue to pound away at our environment, at a feverish paced, while preaching about how each of us need to work to prevent our own demise.  But preaching about it and doing something about it are two entirely different things. 

     We have allowed ourselves to give up our lands and livelihoods to large corporations, cutting out the "mom and pop" businesses for mass production and efficiency.  At the top of page 13, Berry states "[we] have given proxies to the corporations to produce and provide all of [our] food, clothing, and shelter."  He also adds that we have given them the ability "to provide entertainment, education, child care, care of the sick and elderly, and many other kinds of 'services' that once were carried on informally and inexpensively by individuals or households or communities".  This leads us to see the environmental crisis as a "corporate" problem, since they are the ones that must have caused it.  Berry believes that we need to take ownership of our individual actions rather than rely on these "proxy-holders" to fix our economy.
 
     Berry speaks of the "free market" as a way for corporations to work without boundaries, allowing them to sell cheap stuff at a high price.  He makes a clever analogy be saying "it is pretty much as if all the rabbits have now been forbidden to have holes, thereby 'freeing' the hounds."  He brings to light the World Trade Organization, ruler of the global economy, and how it was formed to control the free market. 

     His solution?  A local economy. Using local good and services, in their own communities, will enhance each local community and separate them from the corporate economy that does not serve them well.  People doing for people.  Neighbors helping neighbors.  A community united.

     I believe the idea of a local community is spot on.  Let's take it back to the basics.  Transform "Corporate America" into what it was and should be..."the United States of America"...where we are all free to make choices and help each other live better lives.


     In the Nobel Prize speech A Planetary Emergency (2007) by Al Gore, he talks about the climate change of the earth and how it is our fault that our planet is being destroyed.  He begins his speech with a very powerful statement:  "We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency - a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here."  That set the tone for a speech that pleaded with every person on the planet to stop and look around at what we are doing to our home. 

     Pollution is causing our planet to become choked out.  Carbon Dioxide is building up faster than the rainforests can convert it back to oxygen.  Toxic gases are building up in our atmosphere, and the sun is heating these particles, causing temperatures to rise.  Polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate.  We are on the verge of a global catastrophe, and we did it to ourselves. 

     But he says this can be prevented, but only if we act now, quickly, and all together.  I'm not convinced the human race cares enough to stop it.  We live too much "in the now" to worry about the future, but what we may not realize is that we may not have a future if we continue to ignore the warning signs.