Extractivism and Consumerism and How Community Can Help

Each quarter, a group of students, faculty, and staff at WWU convene an environmental justice reading group to read and discuss recent texts. This quarter (Winter 2020) the group is reading Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything. The following entry reflects one of our group discussions.

Extractivism and Consumerism and How Community Can Help

By: Cassidy Thornton, Mars, Alison

 

There are three overarching factors that Naomi Klein alludes to are involved in the capitalism and climate justice issue: communities, culture and consumerism. These three themes all are connected to one another and they rely on each one to be in harmony. The issue lies in the fact that extractivism is leading to a decay of culture and communities while serving consumerism and business. 

 

In her book “This Changes Everything,” Naomi Klein introduced the case study of Nauru. Nauru was once a beautiful island in Micronesia. Once it was discovered that the island held vast amounts of phosphate of lime which could be used as an effective agricultural fertilizer, the fate of the island was changed forever. The entire place was devastated, the ecosystem and the economy both destroyed, all thanks to the “Australian government and the extractive companies that controlled its fate as a disposable country.” (Klein, 2014 p. 163) This begs the question: What would it look like if the first world countries of our present day were to extract ourselves into oblivion as did the island nation of Nauru under the control of Australia? Is this something we are already well underway in accomplishing?

 

Undoubtedly, this is something the United States is well in over their heads for. The US has already extracted tons of coal from Virginia and the states around it. Sure, there are safety measures in place and the production isn’t as heavy as it was in Nauru, but the same mindset of extract until nothing’s left is still there. The main driver behind all of this is the need for money, since there are communities that are literally dependent on these non-renewable resources for their livelihood and for their communities to thrive. 

 

Though, Klein reminds us of the bigger picture and deeper implications that Western culture itself is based on extractivism. This orientation surfaces in each of our daily lives as the United State consumerism is an integral part of the American identity. Yet, it is crucial to note this orientation towards life did not develop overnight, nor did it originate from the Industrial Revolution or conservationist era. It is a behavior that transcends these time frames. 

 

With the acknowledgement that climate destructive actions are deeply ingrained in our personal behaviors and institutions, where can we go from here? Our reading group grappled with this idea indirectly through a discussion of what community is. Communities, and their relative strength, are something Naomi Klein notes are important to climate resilience. In relation to Hurricane Sandy, she stated “it was the tightest-knit communities, where neighbors took responsibility for one another’s safety, that were best able to literally weather the storm” (Klein, p. 105).  An example of strength through community looks like people in neighborhoods getting together and being good friends that can rely on each other for small favors and such. To combat consumerism and extractivism, communities can share resources, give each other used things, grow food together, carpool, help fix things that are broken, among other things too. Furthermore, strengthening community can look like showing up as an act of reciprocity. Furthermore, strengthening community also can be done through improving the well-being of individuals, through food sovereignty, better health care and community banking. These solutions are seeds of hope as they are not oriented towards the production of materials things.