There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring. The earth couldn't afford to send recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.
When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse.
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This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.
Before I read this speech, I knew I wasn’t going to take the typical career trajectory that most college graduates shoot for, even if they don’t make it. I just can’t see myself getting much joy out of – or helping many other people by – finding a 9-5 job in something I’m marginally interested in, going into debt buying a house and starting a family, and doing pretty much the same thing for the rest of my life. I know this is a route many people find great satisfaction in, but I think I’ve always known it’s not me, even if I temporarily allowed myself to believe, like most college students, that my degree would privilege me to this kind of future. The American Dream. Take it or leave it.
But now it seems that even if I’d wanted to do all that, this status quo – working purely for personal gain, keeping to our private family groups, expecting the next generation to fix the problems we create along the way – is no longer what we can expect maintain as a species. I think this is what Hawken is really saying, but in a nicer way: Wake up and smell the coffee, kids. The times, they really are a-changin’ now (with apologies to Bob Dylan).
Not too long ago, after returning from India and realizing the long stretch of time (yes, six months can seem like an eternity) before graduation, and waking up to hear news of the economy’s death throes every morning, it was a little tough to actually get out of bed and go to class. I actually felt sorry for myself: What, oh what, will I do with my seemingly useless journalism degree? How will I ever find a job and not disappoint my family and everyone who has sacrificed to put me through college?
Luckily, in the intervening time, I’ve gained a little perspective. That is, things are never as bad as the media would like you to believe – and a journalism student of all people should know this. As Hawken says, “We are the only species on the planet without full employment. Brilliant.” No kidding. In fact the situation’s gotten so bad, the best and brightest graduates this year appear to be steering away from Wall Street and financial jobs, applying their efforts toward endeavors that actually generate something for society other than cash – becoming doctors, scientists, and researchers, people who can bail us out of the jam we’re currently in. That was according to a New York Times article I read but can’t seem to find now.
It’s almost ironic: for decades, we’ve had a brain drain, similar to what countries like India are going through. There, smart kids succeed by going to study engineering and medicine at Western schools, then they never come home to apply those skills where they’re needed the most. In this country, those who are passionate about social justice, the environment and helping the needy go almost by default to the “developing” world. Every time I tell somebody about what I care about these days, they suggest I join the Peace Corps. As if there’s no poverty or need in this country. Sunita Rao, my India mentor, is on a Fulbright visit to the US, and she observes what she calls a “poverty of hope” – a problem just as severe as her country’s financial burden.
Here are a few facts I unearthed while writing my thesis: The percentage of farmers under 35 dropped from 15% in 1954 to 7.8% in 1997. Today, less than 1% of Americans work as farmers, a number so insignificant that the US Census threw out farming as a distinct employment category. In 2002, 77% of farm workers surveyed were foreign-born, and 53% lacked authorization to work in the U.S. Farm family members accounted for 69% of farm labor in 1998, but the average age of farm owners was 54.3, indicating that the next generation of family farmers is quite smaller than the one currently at retirement age.
So here we have two sides of the same problem: Too many people who want to participate in the second-tier level of the economy, activities like finance that are not directly related to survivability, and too few people focused on providing the very basics like food. Although we rank ourselves superior to the “third world,” our society is, in the words of S. S. Wilson, “overdeveloped.” Which way to turn?
A couple of months ago, I quit sending applications and resumes to floundering newspapers in my area, stopped gazing hopelessly at job listings (and the cost of rent) in cities like Portland and Seattle. I started looking into doing things that, as my father woefully points out every time I speak to him, I could have done without a college degree. And I started getting very, very excited. Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF), which connects people with internships and volunteer positions with farms around the world, is a wonderful program, as is its Canadian equivalent, SOIL Apprenticeships. After contacting several sites, I found one that fit my interests up on Vancouver Island, BC. I start later this month. Although I wish I had found a way to do this in my own country, have no doubt that I will return triumphant, a practical education under my belt, pitchfork in hand. And I have to say, Dad, that I’m not sure I could have done this without my liberal arts degree: Nothing else could have made me this idealistic. Or maybe it was just that darn trip to India. Either way, I’m excited and hopeful about the future. This could be the best year ever to graduate.
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