(As someone who spent years trying to make lifestyle politics a foundation for something more, I could not agree more with what this diary has to say. A MUST read. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
[Title changed to fit with Part II]
On the door of my local co-op is a green sign that says:
It's easy to make a difference!
Then it tells how to recycle your batteries.
But, of course, the ecological impact of recycling one battery (or ten, or a hundred) is so miniscule as to make no discernable difference at all. It literally DOES NOT MATTER whether I recycle a battery or not.
This is true for so many things that we are urged to do as our civic contribution to the world. It is, in fact, NOT easy to make a difference.
The lie of lifestyle activism is important in part because it bleeds off much of the energy that does exist in the world for social action. It also reveals some of the ways we deceive ourselves about effective civic engagement.
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