The Vaccine Test
My professional, political, and social circles are defined by folks who are hyper-focused on sustainability. Whether it’s energy, justice, infrastructure, agriculture, transportation, or policy, sustainability and resilience are the core directives of nearly everyone I associate with. I am incredibly lucky to be a part of this community. The energy and passion pulsating through it leads to endlessly fascinating discussions about the myriad of ways people are striving for a better future. It is an incredible space to be in.
However, there is a continual gripe I have that is always bubbling below the surface of this community. It’s not exactly an organized doctrine, but a more loosely defined admiration of less complicated, more localized, and more wholesome forms of production, consumption, and community relationships. Aesthetic movements such as Cottage Core or Small is Beautiful, or ideological strains such as Degrowth or Appropriate Technology are specific groups organized around this area of thought. But even for more generic progressives, these concepts are a common trope seen in the discourse.
This leads to a number of practices and policies being promoted. Farmers’ markets and CSAs are a good example. But you also see folks advocating for a return to buying every piece of furniture from a handmade craftsman or for people to only buy artisanal loaves of bread. Or, sometimes you’ll see takes advocating for people to do as much of this stuff with their own two hands as possible.
In itself, I find this to be fine, but overstated in their potential as solutions. The reform of large-scale production systems and the promotion of a transparent and thriving democratic system of governance for all is my primary theory of change for bringing about a more sustainable society. And while I think these areas of focus are great — who could advocate against supporting a local farmer or buying hand-woven rugs — they are not a comprehensive solution. However, sometimes you’ll find a deeper version of this philosophy advocating for a complete overhaul of our entire society towards a more atomized, rural, and less complex one. And I find that far more pernicious.
There are many criticisms of this localist ideology. It’s not all that environmentally beneficial and it can lead to the return of more conservative social values (since cities are the environments that foment diverse communities). Ultimately, though, I think the worst aspect of this dogma is that, when taken to its logical conclusion, it leads to an incredibly low quality of life. You can’t have a modern society by consigning everyone’s consumption and socialization to be restrained to one’s immediate region. We need to travel, collaborate, trade, and learn from one another. Atomizing things and flattening out systems of governance and resource coordination will only lead to worse outcomes in every area of consumption. The farmers market being your only source of food seems great in the summer, but come winter you’ll be dreaming of the shelves of a supermarket.
As I’ve become more exposed to these ideologies and movements, I have developed a litmus test that I call The Vaccine Test. It’s pretty straightforward: is this societal model being proposed capable of developing and delivering vaccines to every adult and child on Earth? It’s a great test, because it emphasizes an essential form of production, as I think we can all agree that mass vaccination is a technology that everyone should have access to. It also shows the necessity of complex production systems that require a high level of technical expertise and a system of coordinating large numbers of resources and people while balancing the need for a level of equitable access to resources. Logically thinking about whether the model someone is proposing could reasonably create vaccines helps me decide if its a model worthy of consideration.
Vaccines are simply an example. Any technology that is considered essential for a reasonable quality of life but also requires a high level of social organization, such as dialysis to steel, can be easily substituted.
As we envision the worlds we want to live in, let us make sure that those visions include an annual flu shot.
What I’m Reading, Watching, and Listening too
The NY Times Doesn’t Cover College: This column explores how the NYT coverage on college tends to focus only on elite schools and not the kinds of schools most students attend.
Burning Book Festivals is Not a Climate Solution: A great op-ed on how ‘perfect is the enemy of the good’ is the wrong direction for climate activism.
Goose Bumps, Extra Nipples and Leftover Tails Remind Us of What We Once Were: A neat exploration of human evolutionary remnants.
One of the most unusual heists in America seems to be unfolding at Taco Bell: I don’t think I need to add anything here . . .