We Are Everything: Building a Path to a Better Society

Credit: Matt Biggar

To chart a new course for society, we must first see beyond the separation that plagues our society and acknowledge the harm of our historic and current ways. As a privileged white male, I cannot speak for the lived experiences of many people. Rather in this article, I try to convey patterns that exist in our world and how despite such disparate lived experiences, we are all connected.

we are earth. each of us. we are one. it’s us day. — adrienne maree brown, Earth Day 2022

We are communities near and far subjected to pollution, degradation, and oppression. We live in redlined neighborhoods with freeways built through them. We are exposed to pollutants from nearby industrial facilities. We work and live in places where the harm to people and nature is all too clear yet invisible to much of consumer society.

We are the wealthy elite. We live in big homes, drive big cars, and live big lifestyles. We avoid public buses and encounters with people experiencing poverty or mental illness. We fear change to current systems. Yet, happiness and meaning can be elusive in our current lives.

We are the residents of towns abandoned by corporations and the global economy. We see the immense wealth of technology billionaires while we have little economic opportunity where we live. We renew purpose and hope when we hear trusted voices explain how we’ve been taken advantage of.

We are the poor. We skip meals so our children can eat. We move in with the family when our rent becomes unmanageable, or worse yet, end up living on the streets. We feel rejected by this world.

We are everyone in between the worlds of rich and poor– caught up in the corporate capitalist forces of consumerism, digital devices, and automobile dependence.

We are the fossil fuel economy. We buy gas for our cars. We use fossil fuel-generated electricity in our buildings. We consume food and products made with fossil fuel energy. We use plastic and synthetic products composed of fossil fuels every day. Trapped in systems with limited alternatives, we are changing the atmosphere and diminishing the livability of our planet.

We are the plants, animals, and ecosystems trying to stave off the…