The Garbage Warrior, a decade old documentary exposes how slow environmental legislation moves, and what we can do about it.
An old documentary still has alot to say regarding our ability to exact rapid change in a World that needs it. This is a film for all those who have lost faith in their ability to make environmental change and want to imagine a system where resources are sacred. It provides a blueprint for the personal changes we might make to reduce our impact on the Earth. Moreover, the Garbage Warrior gives us a map for how we can exact change in government.
The documentary plots outlier architect Michael Reynolds’ journey as he fights New Mexico’s local government for the right to experiment with new building methods. He has lost his architecture license and has been ordered to stop building the ‘Earthships’, buildings he’s been designing since the 70s. His experimentational construction harnesses the earth’s energy but their feasibility hasn’t been tested by government. This is what Reynolds is testing but the government wants to limit his ability to do it. The buildings encourage the use of our existing resources to help neutralize construction’s carbon impact, and they don’t like it. What can he do when the U.S. government deems them illegal?
Governments must choose whether to solve or absolve themselves of the crisis.
During the Paris accord, leaders from around the world debated the planet’s environmental future. They arrived at an agreement that aims to limit global warming to 2 degrees. Whether the outcome of that meeting will inspire the necessary energy projects and the divestment from fossil fuels needed to avoid catastrophe remains to be seen but so far appears unlikely. In additon, a great number of the talking points in the Paris agreement were not legally binding.
While politicians can continue to debate how to transition their economies wisely, most are not moving fast enough. In this way, people are still best positioned to make the immediate decisions that affect our markets and thus our environment. As we unite in one voice, pressure on the governments will mount. The Garbage Warrior is a lesson is how to enact that voice.
The Garbage Warrior‘s personal story becomes political.
After losing his architecture license Michael Reynolds donned suit to address New Mexico’s legislature. His struggles with government were what you would expect. Every politician wanted a say on policy, and many had financial interests in both the traditional housing market and the centralization of energy resources. However, the results prove perseverence will set you free. We watch as the right people come together to help him fight for change. Furthermore, many people against his bill began to see the positive aspects of his building. This reveals that the way we approach climate change deniers (especially sceptics in office) might be the key to a brighter future.
Throughout the film, Reynolds faces an extraordinary amount of red tape. Their response to his bill, which would allow him to continue to interate and build off grid housing, cast doubt on whether governments are actually committed to reducing the greenhouse gas effect. More importantly, the film shows the amount of time it takes to affect change. In the documentary you see that only after Reynolds provides relief buildings for Tsunamis in developing countries did the government shift their mindset. Solely with the financial and human cost in front of them could they consider what kind of skills are needed to mitigate climate disasters. What comes to light is that consumers and occupants of planet earth will need to make small changes in your own life to have ripple effects. In other words, governments don’t work quickly, unless they are facing a disaster. And, even then, groups of people often work faster.
Distrust has no place in the environmental revolution. Difficult dialogues have to be had.
It’s hard not to be cynical. When countries have had to choose between a clean environment and the expansion of their economy, history hasn’t set a hopeful precedent. With the majority of scientists agreeing about climate change, many developing countries insist on following the industrial growth model that has been destroying the earth for over a century.
What’s more, our apathy to this impending doom is exposed in our current cultural obsession with the post-apocalyptic world. In our science fiction novels and blockbuster movies we no longer bother to imagine a future utopia where we’ve resolved the planet’s humanitarian and resource issues. Who needs to recycle, reduce and reuse when in the future we are all wearing sexy cyber-punk outfits and shooting arrows against totalitarian regimes?
Reynolds wants our homes to take care of us as much as we must take care of them. In the current moment, governments help centralize resources and hoard as much as possible for the wealthy. Rather than the post-apocalyptic world of The Hunger Games and Divergent, he inspires us to evolve and create a post-industrial world where the energy we expend is not absorbed as environmental degradation but given back to us in kind. As he hopefully states in the film,
¨we have the potential to enhance the planet. Trees enhance the planet. People could go way further.¨
What can you do to fight climate change?
At times Reynold theories flow into the “apocalyptical.” He pontificates that people will need to abandon cities when the systems collapse, only returning to them to harvest one of their biggest resources – garbage. But that is not his end goal. He asks us to stop and assess our resources. In a time of ecological uncertainty, Reynolds combats the bureaucracy that limits our climate change progress. We have to use the resources in front of us. This is the greatest lesson he teaches us.
In the spirit of resourcefulness, it is time to take our garbage into our own hands. Above all, consider the waste you produce and the power required to create it. The time has come where we have to demand our government provide a clean and safe living environment. Some will do it by building their house out of garbage, others will do it by uniting and speaking truth to power. What resources do you have available and are they helping or hurting the Earth? It is your responsiblity.