Everyday activism
I was so lucky to spend this evening with a fellow human from the organisation called Degrowth Copenhagen. The fellow human brought a generous and delicious gift for me, a vegan chocolate cake. Food is one of my most favourite gifts. This Christmas, I will be giving food as gifts to my loved ones.
I wish every fellow human who reads my autoethnography could join our conversation.
The fellow human who visited me was wondering about my practice. We, sustainability researchers, often say that genuine sustainability entails less consumption, learning to live a good life with less. I've always been curious about how this actually feels and what it means in our everyday life. I've been practising an alternative way of living, constellating various elements of minimalism, zero-waste, simple, slow and frugal living since approximately 2010. This is 6 years prior to me starting writing my PhD about degrowth. In my PhD, I focused on production. The question I asked myself was, what should business be like for a genuinely sustainable society to be possible? The question of consumption was on my mind too, because both production and consumption need to change, and they are deeply interrelated.
I've never thought that the way I live should be the way for everyone to live. There are so many ways to live more sustainably! I also don't think that this is the only way to be an activist. There is such a great diversity of activisms. Having said that, everyday activism has always felt engaged, humble, loving, caring, gentle, and relatable to me. It aligns well with how I want to be in the world and what I think is most effective. I want to live well and show that a different mode of living is possible, without forcing anyone to live like I do.
My reasons for this practice are ecological, spiritual, aesthetic, health and finance related. My practice is centered around four domains (they come from critical realism, which is a philosophy of science perspective): the material, social relations, social structures and the inner world. It is not so that I've always thought about these four domains. That came later on my journey, when I started writing about my practices more formally. It is so that my practices organically fell into those categories over time. In the beginning, I focused a lot more on the material practices (does anyone remember the trash jar?). Then I realised that living more sustainably is collective. Many of my practices entail borrowing, learning from fellow humans, sharing, gifting and receiving. Sustainable living is also about social systems. Some of them empower, and others constrain us on our sustainability paths. The longer I am on this path, the more clearly I see how the inner world facilitates my practice.
With the fellow human who visited me, we talked about theory-practice consistency, sharing knowledge, living according to our values, struggles when trying to live differently, privileges, multiple forms of activism, and how education for sustainability needs to start early in life.
Theory-practice consistency: I do not think that anyone would (or should) take me seriously if I write academic papers and teach about sustainability while living a luxurious life.
Sharing knowledge: It was humbling to contemplate who we share knowledge with. Through my autoethnography, I try to connect with fellow humans from all walks of life. But how effective are we more generally, as academics? There are often free talks given by researchers. Yet, they take place at inconvenient times, or the language used excludes many humans. Or, the knowledge shared is interesting but cannot be used immediately by a human being (it might be unclear how exactly this knowledge can and should be used).
Living according to our values: It's not always easy. At times, there is judgement.
Struggles when trying to live differently: For example, in academia, mobility credentials count. But what if one wants to avoid travelling, especially by plane? What if one wants to focus on their local area?
Privileges: We talked about travelling by train vs flying. Now suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, I would struggle to travel all the way to northern England by train. At times, trains are late and one has only a few seconds to catch the next one. What if one lives with a disability or a health condition that prevents them from reacting fast? I suffer from severe motion sickness. I remember sitting on the ground in a train station in Paris thinking that I would not be able to catch my next train. I felt incredibly unwell. Moreover, trains are very expensive, and train journeys stressful and time-consuming.
Multiple forms of activism: I often feel that everyday activism is marginalised. As if only taking part in protests counts. But everyday activism may be the most suitable form of activism for neurodiverse humans.
Education for sustainability: I don't think that one lecture on sustainability at a university can change one's mind and help a person develop a sophisticated philosophy of life. I dream about writing a book about sustainability and bringing up a child.