The now ancient, but-still-relevant quote from cartoon character Pogo put it this way: "We have met the enemy and he is us." When that was published in 1971 for Earth Day the immediate theme was pollution. But it applies so well to so much else.
Indeed, we have met the system, and it is us. But that also means that individual actions do matter (recognizing and acting the "us" part).
The challenge is always time. Aggregate and cumulative individual actions can and do change systems... eventually. The problem with climate change is that "eventually" may not be soon enough. Still, if we don't try to remedy our own systems, then the systems will continue to be the enemy that is us. There's little to lose and much to gain by remembering that.
Re: what you said about self-help, I read a book quite a while ago (I forget the title, natch), the premise of which was that if we all go around thinking we have to heal our wounded child, then that makes us more susceptible to authoritarian thought and less able to take action against the system. We're not just wounded children! We're powerful people who can change the world.
The now ancient, but-still-relevant quote from cartoon character Pogo put it this way: "We have met the enemy and he is us." When that was published in 1971 for Earth Day the immediate theme was pollution. But it applies so well to so much else.
Indeed, we have met the system, and it is us. But that also means that individual actions do matter (recognizing and acting the "us" part).
The challenge is always time. Aggregate and cumulative individual actions can and do change systems... eventually. The problem with climate change is that "eventually" may not be soon enough. Still, if we don't try to remedy our own systems, then the systems will continue to be the enemy that is us. There's little to lose and much to gain by remembering that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_(comic_strip)#%22We_have_met_the_enemy_and_he_is_us.%22
Re: what you said about self-help, I read a book quite a while ago (I forget the title, natch), the premise of which was that if we all go around thinking we have to heal our wounded child, then that makes us more susceptible to authoritarian thought and less able to take action against the system. We're not just wounded children! We're powerful people who can change the world.