As values alter and we finally bid farewell to über-consumer culture, Matthew Modine argues that, to secure our future on Earth, not only is change gonna come, it must.

The current financial crisis has taught us many things about our consumer behaviour – the most important lesson might just be the one that could save our planet. The lesson is this: the world cannot support a consumer-based economy. With the human population continuing to explode, we are quickly running out of the raw earthly materials needed to manufacture consumer goods. Not to mention the fact that there is almost no place left to dispose of all our “things” once they wear out or become redundant. The cycle continues when advertisers cleverly produce ads that create grief holes in our psyches, cunning spots that convince the consumer that these empty feelings can only be filled by purchasing what they are selling. The question is: can we break the cycle and learn to live with less and be happy? I think we can.

I grew up surrounded by farms. My father was a drive-in movie theatre manager. Drive-ins were built far away from city streetlights and neighbourhoods because they needed space and darkness. Drive-ins were a romantic part of rural America. In the Sixties and Seventies cars were built big – a physical expression of the liberty to which Americans believed they held the copyright. They could drive their big cars to the movies that glorified their independence and dominance of the West: cowboy films that showed white men defeating “Savage Indians”; Pioneers crossing the Great Plains, fulfilling their manifest destiny over nature and the lowly animals God had put on earth for their consumption; World War II movies that depicted the US Army and the American military as the most powerful force on earth; Good triumphing over Evil. Hollywood’s version of the American history.

I lived in Utah from the age of five until my 15th year. Sensuous years. The drive-ins were slow and cold during the Rocky Mountain winters. In the spring there was the sweet smell of turned soil and fertilised fields. In the fall, there was the smell of harvest and wet fallen leaves melting back into the earth. My walks to school would be through groves of apples and pears. It was during those walks in the fall and winter months that I would try and recall the wonder and strange magic of hot summer nights at my father’s drive-in. The crowds of people and the nights when the drive-in reached capacity, filled with almost 700 cars. And the smells from the snack bar, hot popcorn and fresh-baked hot dog buns. That’s all gone now. Where once there were some 4,000 drive-ins, there are now fewer than 400 left throughout the US. In Utah there is one. The others were torn down to develop the land. Houses, malls and department stores now stand where I spent my youth. The orchards and farmland are gone too. Utah, a state that was once self-sufficient, a state that grew all its own food, raised its own poultry and livestock, now imports almost everything it consumes. It has become a consumer economy. The simple pleasures of life disappeared at the speed that the open farmland was disappearing. I was a witness to this change, not just in Utah, but across America. As the United States has moved from a self-sufficient, producing culture to a culture of consumers, its citizens have become more irritable, obese and, ironically, found the need to consume ever more. We are caught in a vicious cycle of buying to fill up the ever-increasing hole which is lined with unreasonable fears and spells of panic and nervousness. This is all bad news for the consumer, but great news for the people who manufacture and sell what we are consuming. This has to stop.

Forty years ago, man walked on the moon. For me, the image of our home from its surface was overwhelming. From more than a quarter of a million miles away, I saw how fragile and far away from everything in the universe the earth really is. It’s believed that the universe is between 13.5bn and 14bn years old – give or take a few million. Our little blue ball in the sea of ever-expanding (or contracting) universe is around 4.5bn years old, unless you hold steadfast to certain religious beliefs and, if so, you’ll argue that the world is an infant of only 8,000 years or so, carbon dating be damned. Around 8000BCE, man began to understand how to grow crops. We lived harmoniously with the seasons of the earth for thousands of years; our religions were centred on the growing seasons. The earliest agriculturists worshipped the sun and the elements, nature and all the forms of life with which we shared the world.

About 200 years ago – at the start of the Industrial Revolution – our machines made us more powerful and we no longer needed to follow or obey the rules of nature. We began to understand how to alter life by genetically engineering crops and the animals we consume. Along the way, we have always behaved as though the resources of the world were created for us to use and exploit. We have behaved as if those resources were infinite. Today we understand that those resources are finite. We are killing our planet with dirty fuels that we burn to power our consumption.

It was from the moon that some people imagined our earth’s history and its place in the universe. Environmentalists began to see the impact of human behaviour and a glimpse of our future. We saw a beautiful blue ball. Land masses separated by seas, but connected by a very thin atmosphere. From the moon’s surface we saw no borders. The atmosphere, the air, and the seas knew no boundaries. No political parties. No religious beliefs. We saw how precious and important our atmosphere is; a delicate layer of gases that protects us from the powerful rays of the sun and also separates us from the vastness of space. From the moon we saw the blackness and emptiness of space in a way we couldn’t from earth. We saw how far away from other planets and distant stars we really are. We saw our home and realised, really understood, that it is the only home we have and the only place we will ever know.

This earthly miracle has taken care of an immeasurable number of species for an unimaginable number of centuries. To the emerging and eroding mountains and the vast seas and oceans, the human lifespan is but a moment. It is during this brief moment of human history that we have created what the Hopi Indians call Koyaanisqatsi, their word that means “life out of balance”. The film by the same title, directed by Godfrey Reggio with a haunting musical score by composer Philip Glass, illustrates mankind’s devastation and destruction. The film illustrates how the human population, swelling as fast as a dead animal’s belly lying in the hot sun on a dirt road alongside one of the third world’s many cardboard house slums, can be contrasted to the imbalance of Western wealth. The film exposes humans as slaves of their own manufactured material desires. We see how wealthy, well-fed and well-clothed humans suffer from a different kind of poverty. Since the film has no dialogue, it allows the viewer to interpret the story through powerful images and music. For some, the film is hopelessly negative because it offers no solution to the problems it presents. For others, it is a call to action. Koyaanisqatsi can make you wonder if humankind is simply instinct driven. It questions our ability to conserve, live altruistically and to take steps to protect the environment for future generations. It can make you wonder if taking real steps to protecting the environment is antithetical to human behaviour.

Would that help explain human selfishness? Are our lives just a more excessive display of pride and appearance? Arrogance and self-importance? The answer is yes. And no. We have created weapons and industries, machines and tools capable of destroying everything on this planet. We have, in so many ways, become the stewards of life on this earth. Together, man and science have become God. Not mythical, but actual. We can now recreate life as easily as we can destroy it. So the question is: can we be more than slaves of our past behaviour and current desires? Can we transform from a society of consumers to a culture of sustainability? I think we can because history has shown that the human spirit is capable of so many things. Like going to the moon. Yes, we can.

If the great Mike Nichols and Buck Henry got together to make a new version of The Graduate, “plastics” would be replaced with the word “sustainability”. The consumer economy we have grown up with is going the way of the dodo. Evolution teaches that everything is in flux and continually evolving to the ever-changing world we share. The new economy is going to be difficult to accept for those unwilling to adapt, and profitable for those willing to alter the paradigm of consumerism. Values will change.

Creativity and intelligence will rise to the surface as indolence and leisure sinks into the mud and become fossilised reminders of the past. Communities will become stronger as they begin to contract, reversing urban sprawl. Neighbours will become neighbours again. Fences will be removed and communal gardens will be grown. Sharing and helping each other will bring out the best in individuals and our old will become assets instead of burdens. We will again realise that life is like the web of a spider: that what an individual does to a strand, he or she does to the entire web. The soil, the air and the water will be the new valued commodities and sustainability will become the new way forward. The newest and coolest thing to give a friend or family member will no longer be a “thing”. Listening and paying attention, giving your love, support and encouragement… Being there, being present will now be the greatest gift. And it doesn’t cost a penny. Evolution has taught us many things. Life that does not adapt and transform to the ever-changing environment runs the risk of extinction. Adapt, change, or disappear. It’s our choice. It is exciting to think that my children’s children will be able to have the sensuous experience of walking to school through an orchard of fruit. I’m going to do everything I can to make that future possible.

- Matthew Modine is FQR’s Liberal-at-Large.

Image is of Matthew and his wife Cari in 1981 in a drive-in in Nassau, Bahamas. Photo: Kiyoshi Tatsukawa

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4 Responses

1. Carl Browne Says:
   October 14th, 2009 at 10:29 pm

   Before I can take much of this seriously, I’d like to know Mr. Modine’s educational background. Is it in math, science, economics, statistics or something else? And where did he get his doctorate?

   What evidence does he have to support the assertion that ” the world cannot support a consumer-based economy?” Is he unaware of the fact that world has been supporting a consumer based economy for roughly ten thousand years? Is there new evidence showing it can’t continue?

   Is he unaware of data that shows a significant drop in the rate of increase in the human population as the third world industrializes? And how about the undisputed fact the quality of human life is improving across the globe, and that the improvment is swiftest and most profound in those societies which have EMBRACED a consumer-based economy?

   What does he mean by “save the planet?” He’s aware that the planet has existed for billions of years, does he mean to say that without human intervention the planet will not last for billions more. To quote the late George Carlin, “the planet isn’t going anywhere. . . we are.”

   Does he not understand that in the classic movie “The Graduate,” that the word “plastics” is the punchline to a joke as the word “sustainability” will be one day?

   Freedom of expression is a wonderful thing, and I’m all in favor of having The Entertainmnet weigh in on the issues of the day, but I don’t think I’ll trash my copy of “The Wealth of Nations” just yet. Even better, perhaps Mr. Modine could read it.

   Cheers

   C

2. Matthew Says:
   October 16th, 2009 at 11:40 am

   Dear Mr Browne,

   Thank you for your interest in my educational background. While my curiosities are vast, and my travels many, my environmental education began whilst studying oceanography. This is the foundation of my environmentalism. Having an understanding of the preciousness of water continually strengthens my sad understanding of how devastating human behavior on earth has compromised almost every form of life on the planet. Please note, the search for water on Mars and our Moon are for good reason.
   Life, as we know it, cannot exist without it. Also please note, the bulk of human population suffers because of the lack of (clean) water.

   Perhaps the most insightful book for you to grasp the scope of human impact on our world would be to pick up, The Cousteau Almanac: An inventory of life on our watery planet. I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr Cousteau to receive a personal education, nor did I ever have the pleasure of meeting Abraham Lincoln or Shakespeare. Yet there lessons and brilliance influence and inform my thoughts and actions. For some of us, real and informed education begins once we got out of the classroom. If you would like to know more about Mr Cousteau’s background here is a link to a small biography of his life. http://icte.umsl.edu/WEArecipients/cousteau.html

   Mr. Browne, how would you measure the “quality of life” in developing third world countries. Have you visited the slums of India or traveled to China? I have. Have you been to Africa and looked into the hungry eyes of starving children? I suggest you do, and then you may change your mighty crow about how “the quality of human life is improving across the globe”. Please. Please take the unwashed hand of one of the many suffering and starving children and say how great consumerism is. Please.

   “Save the Planet” is an over used expression. Yes, the planet is billions of years old. But please consider the brief history of man in this scope of time. Mankind has existed but a moment in the earths history. What other animal or species has had the impact on the environment that mankind has? Other that eruption of volcanos, violent storms, or the impact of meteors, nothing can compare to the collective damage mankind is inflicting. Please visit the people of Bhopal who continue to suffer from the forty two tonnes of toxic methal isocynate (MIC) which exposed 500,000 people to MIC and other chemicals. Or better, pour a shot of MIC into a glass with a beer chaser if you think there are no problems with the path progress is on. There was four hundred times more fallout released from Chernobyl than by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Perhaps you’d like to take a summer holiday and picnic there? And what I believe Mr. George Carlin was saying was, the planet ISN’T going anywhere. True, “we are.” Yes, we are all going to the great unknowable. Ashes to ashes. If he were alive to comment on your comment, Mr Browne, he would ask you, “Do you want to leave the world a mess for your children and your children’s children? Or do you want to be like all the other selfish bastards and leave a big stinking turd on the living room carpet for someone else to clean up?” Please visit this site to hear Mr Carlin talk about STUFF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac

   As far as PLASTICS go I suggest you visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch where you can learn about the “plastic island” of garbage that is bigger than
   the State of Texas. There is nothing funny about the petroleum based product that will remain long after we are all long gone.

   Mr Adam Smith’s opus, The Wealth of the Nations is, indeed, a fascinating study of trade and free market societies. Published during the birth of American Independence. I suggest you read it in context of its time. A time when there were no laws to protect children toiling in factories. No laws to protect the rights of workers. When slavery was still common and practiced in the most powerful economic countries. His ideas about taxation benefited the wealthy and burdened the poor. He would fit right in the Bush Administration or be a good hunting partner of Vice President Dick Cheney. To truly grasp the world we live in today, I offer a new word to describe global govern-ship, Corporate-ocracy. There is no more right or left, no more democrats or republicans. There are only corporations. And they are in the business of selling “stuff”. And they’ll sell it as long as we all keep buying it. If we all realize that we can live without what they’re selling, they’ll find away to sell us less. And I’ll buy that. For an interesting and informative tale about current economics and consumption, I recommend you watch this short film http://www.storyofstuff.com/

   Thank you for your questions and thoughtful comments. I’m sorry that you phrase me as “The Entertainment”. That is presumptive and ignorant. Even unkind. But I understand that opinions are like assholes; everyone has one. Even me.

   Good luck and I hope you will take time to visit some of the links I have provided and open your mind up to alternative and constructive thought.

   Kindly,

   Matthew Modine

3. Carl Browne Says:
   October 16th, 2009 at 11:55 pm

   Mr. Modine:

   I’m a little embarrassed that you responded to my post, which I dashed off in a moment of pique. Upon second reading, my missive seems more than just a little unkind, but I hadn’t expected you to read it, let alone respond in person. Your response is probably more gracious than I deserve. Please accept my apologies.

   I don’t want to give you the impression that I find any of the things you’ve discussed are acceptable, but I stand by my assertion that a new acceptance of the principles of free enterprises is creating affluence in much of the developing world; that population growth is slowing, life expectancies are longer, and a smaller percentage of the world’s population is hungry.

   The rate of progress is too slow of course, but I believe that most if not all of the truly dreadful things you’ve outlined are the product of atrocious governments and certainly not free enterprise or a consumer culture. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when you recall some of the worst things you can think of, they took place in India, which had an agrarian socialist economy, China and the old Soviet Union, which were communist, and Africa, which suffers everywhere from corrupt and bloodthirsty dictators. Fortunately, some of these are the very places liberalizing their laws, reorganizing their economies on free-market principles and enjoying double-digit GDP growth. The consumer culture you reject only helps those desperately poor people you worry about. Our consumption is providing them with the work that is raising them from poverty. In time, sweat-shops will give way to cleaner, safer factories. Wages will rise, as will general prosperity. China and India will begin to look more like Japan. Then and only then will their people look around, and begin to insist on a cleaner, safer environment as we do in the developed world.

   C

   PS

   The best Cousteau book is “The Silent World.” It’s all about the invention of the aqua-lung and the first-ever SCUBA dives. You might be able to get it on Amazon, if it’s still in print.

   PPS

   I didn’t come on to this forum for an argument–I was just looking for cool stuff.

4. Ron Shook Says:
   October 21st, 2009 at 11:40 pm

   Matthew,

   I responded most positively to this post over on Huffpost, but after thinking about it more would like to go further.

   You can’t imagine how relieved I am to see someone with a bit of notoriety who get’s the full implications of what we are imminently facing and is willing to say it. Our “leaders” certainly aren’t, willing to say it, that is. Some must surely know. I guess it’s an awfully hard thing to realize that “standard of living” and “quality of life” aren’t the same animal, and even harder for a politician or economist to admit that the former is heading into very unfamiliar and unacceptable territory. Global climate change is ghastly, but energy resource depletion is terrifying in it’s implications.

   However, I’m beginning to think that those of us who know, and are labeled as alarmist Cassandras now, will get our day in court within a year or two. Let’s be ready.
   Best Regards,

   Ron Shook

   PS: I’m working on a project (a TV series) that I know is a long shot, that could turn a lot of minds and hearts in this country, if I can get it off the ground. Drop me an e-mail if you’re curious and I’ll respond with just a thank you initially, and with a proposal when all my ducks are in a row. Remove this or not from the above post.

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