The world is going to hell in a handbasket. Polution, sprawl, political turmoil, the list goes on. Faced with such insurmountable problems, what can a single person do? Go vegetarian. Vote green. Walk to work. Volunteer. Change your lightbulbs. Surely it starts with one and eventually if everyone pitches in, all society changes for the better.
Not really.
Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday, or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons, or that dancing naked around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”?
Read more at Orion Magazine.