Solarpunk Collective

Since the year 2000, recycling rates in the UK have increased nearly 400%. Who should we praise for this great achievement? And who should we blame for the 60% of trash which is not yet recycled? Have you heard of Responsibility Assumption , or the Doctrine of Personal Responsibility? This could be considered one of the defining characteristics of modern, western civilization. In this philosophy, people are totally responsible for their own actions, and their circumstances, even to the point where negative thinking can result in bad outcomes. So women are blamed for being the victims of assault, because they could have made better choices. Poor people are blamed for being poor, because they are obviously "too lazy" to become rich. The colossal amounts of plastic trash in the oceans comes from us, our household waste. But we have limited control over how much waste we generate. When you go to the store to buy groceries, you find that all of the optio...

If there's a perfect illustration of Western society, I think it is the cheeseburger. Think about it. The cheese is Capitalism. It makes the burger tasty and appealing, but is unhealthy. Socialism is the lettuce and tomato. It gives a nod to health and lets us enjoy our yummy snack with less guilt and maybe ignore the fact that the dish is ruinously destructive to the environment. What about all the other ingredients? There's so much more to society than just capitalism and socialism. Family. Culture. Work. Study. Social interaction. Democracy. Law and order. Energy and industry. Nature... But the cheese of capitalism has melted and flowed over all the other ingredients. It's impossible to disentangle from the other aspects of our lives, and our communities. Every day I hear arguments about which is better, or more important. Which one can fix all our problems? Capitalism or Socialism? I think it misses the point. There are other issues with our mod...