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Summary
Paul sits down with some of his patreons (Julia, Katie, and Mark) to talk about an essay written by Derrek Jensen that became a precursor to Paul’s Building a Better World in your Backyard.
“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”? […] Even if every person in the United States did everything (An Inconvenient Truth) suggested, U.S.
carbon emissions would fall by only 22 percent. Scientific consensus is that emissions must be reduced by at least 75 percent worldwide.”
Paul has a conflicting, yet supporting view – He believes that
politics is completely rigged and that meaningful progress on that field is almost impossible, so the bulk of change is going to have to come from people doing (some of) the things that Derrek was deriding, and then more. One such “more” could be saving seeds from any apple you eat and then either planting them or forming into seed balls and lobbing where they can grow, so someone else’s
lawn is probably not a good idea due to the lawnmower, but a disused lot would be prime real estate. If everyone did this and/or Derrek’s propositions, then a lot of the world’s problems would get start to get resolved, but naturally the problem lies with getting
enough people on board to keep progress going in both the backyard and in the political landscape.
Relevant Threads
Derrick Jensen: Forget Shorter Showers - Why personal change does not equal political change
Building a Better World in your Backyard by Paul Wheaton and Shawn Klassen-Koop
Urban Gardening
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Neath
Bill Crim
anonymous
Chris Sugg
Kerry JustTooLazy
Jocelyn Campbell
Bill Erickson
Sasquatch
G Cooper
Dominic Crolius
Penny McLoughlin
Mehron Kugler
Pasquale DeAngelis
havokeachday
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Greg Martin
Mark
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Dana Martin
Candace Dahlk
Keith Kuhnsman
Leanne
Eric Tolbert
Nick DePuy
Nathan Hale
Opalyn Brenger
Polly Jayne Smyth
Todd Gerardot
Katie Young
Ivar Vasara
Brent Lawson
Weston prestage
Candice Crawford
Chris Holtslag
Song Zheng
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