The trinity works all too well

The Trinity of Despair is something that has often cropped up, with different variables, during my extensive conversations about such topics. These discussions have often ended in, ‘well we cannot do X, Y, or Z, because it will never work. This is America, people are lazy, stupid, etc, and they voted for George Bush. So we should not even try doing X, Y, Z, because it will never work.’ (Notice the repetition of ‘it will never work’). The discussion then usually shifts, and we start insulting Georgey Boy, which is how the conversation began, so could it be more of a circle of despair?

It is easy to give up when people who ought to be able to grasp a concept refuse to for their own benefit; it is easy to give up when you know people who have worked for decades in the environmental movement and have little to show for their efforts. But that of course is the trinity of despair: nothing will change, people are stupid, all they will do is buy Energy Star Appliances and call it a day.

There is one aspect though, of the Trinity that I believe will soon begin to work in the environment’s favor. This aspect is that of social change only occurring under crises. After reading the Monbiot article, as well as some of the predictions from the National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends Report for 2025, it is clear that we are standing at the edge of a rather urgent crisis. I hate when people leverage suffering for their own advantage, but I think that such a crisis would make the passage of energy reduction laws swift and painless. Then again this is all predicated on whether people know the extent of the problem. So don’t despair, educate the masses. (Though it is probably best not to call them greedy bitches, what with the bitch part being quite insulting to women, whatever the context.)