We in the United States enjoy sitting on our high horse and critiquing other cultures. We give them labels like "developing nations," and make grand statements related purely to economic statistics. There are many countries that lack even the most basic civil rights, largely because our economic corruption has allowed the installation of corporation-friendly government. Yet what we have seen here in India quite simply defies categorization. On the one hand, it is clear that industrialization is still very much in progress, that this country has not had the fifty year head start our own was afforded. Indeed, the U.S. has scored some minor environmental and social victories over the past half-century, yet in many respects we are no more developed than countries like India.
Kerala is obviously the best example of this. While all numbers point towards extreme poverty, on a USD scale, the people on the ground are in many cases more educated and mobilized than that of our own. Almost all sectors of labor are unionized and ready to fight for each other on the socio-political platform. Nearly everyone is educated to a high school level, and everyone understands their role in society and is proud to be from Kerala. The Kerala Model has been proven successful to the extent that it educates and informs the populations, making them valuable members of society. By stressing human development and social justice through a socialist government, Kerala has reduced poverty and leads India in health, education, and crime. This is no small feat from an economic system lambasted for decades by American economists. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, the Republican party in the state Senate managed to pass a bill outlawing collective bargaining (granted, a judge threw out the bill almost immediately). Say what you want about economic numbers, but from a social standpoint this has done our country little good. Our poor are getting poorer and our rich are getting richer. We extend tax cuts to the wealthy, give tax breaks to mega-corporations, and destroy local economies because we think that GDP is more important than social well-being. Have you ever even heard of social capital?
Then there is the environmental movement. The United States is still pumping out 25% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, an astonishing number compared to our 5% of the global population. It is a simple fact that the rest of the world cannot live like us, because then there would be no world left to live on. Yet we continue our abuse of the environment in the name of economics, even turning "green" into a marketing phrase to increase profit. It is easy for us to sit from the top of our global economic mountain and say that we are superior, yet when it comes to the environment we are by far the worst offenders. The most astonishing marks of pollution in India is the rampant littering. Trash literally crowds the streets and the waterways because they don't have the resources to deal with it. Despite the blight on public appearance, it is really no better than dumping waste into landfills. Our elaborate waste management infrastructure allows us to move it all beyond sight, yet it is still sitting there and will be for thousands of years. While there have been limited successes in cleaning up and preserving our environment, rivers like the St. Lawrence are still virtually unusable to local populations that once depended upon them.
What is obvious in India, everywhere that we have been, is how in touch people are with their own personal consumption. It may not be out of a grandiose "environmentalism," as it is in the United States, but rather out of necessity. It is easy at home to blast those who waste more than others, but we all still have neatly manicured lawns and gardens, drive our own personal vehicles to work everyday, and spend the seasons in climate controlled homes. People here are acutely aware of their water, food, and energy use, because there is simply not enough to go around. In hotel rooms, there is a switch that requires the room key in order to turn on any electrical amenities. Every electrical outlet also has a switch turning it on or off. In the U.S., most of our outlets are constantly drawing energy, which not only raises energy costs but also wastes a horrific amount in the pursuit of nothing.
Unfortunately, here in India, global mega-corporations are pushing for more and more influence, using the dollar bill to exert their political will and take power away from the local economies that have developed through thousands of years of civilization. On almost every street their are small storefronts selling local foods, mostly fruits and spices, that we would obtain from a supermarket. There is a noticeable connection between food and place, a connection that has almost completely disappeared in America. If globalisation takes hold here, if industrialized agriculture becomes the standard, then this will evaporate in India just as it has in the States.
In short, the United States is doing almost everything wrong. When we do something right, we hold it up like little kids for the rest of the world to see. Look at us! we say. Look how progressive we are! We follow that up by dumping our waste on countries like India, China, and Mexico and say how "dirty" they are. We have become nothing short of the global bully, posing as a global role model. It is despicable to see the livelihoods of those in India endangered by our ideal of a global economy, when all the global economy does is increase the gaps of wealth between social strata. We view foreign countries through numbers, not on a human scale. The U.S. isn't on the right path either, and should stop resorting to critiquing other nations when we have larger problems building at home. If we can't solve our own issues, as the most powerful nation on the globe, then we are worthless hypocrites, bound to a destiny of pollution that will undoubtedly affect other nations more than it affects our own. And when the globe starts crumbling around us, we will have only ourselves to blame.
Kerala is obviously the best example of this. While all numbers point towards extreme poverty, on a USD scale, the people on the ground are in many cases more educated and mobilized than that of our own. Almost all sectors of labor are unionized and ready to fight for each other on the socio-political platform. Nearly everyone is educated to a high school level, and everyone understands their role in society and is proud to be from Kerala. The Kerala Model has been proven successful to the extent that it educates and informs the populations, making them valuable members of society. By stressing human development and social justice through a socialist government, Kerala has reduced poverty and leads India in health, education, and crime. This is no small feat from an economic system lambasted for decades by American economists. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, the Republican party in the state Senate managed to pass a bill outlawing collective bargaining (granted, a judge threw out the bill almost immediately). Say what you want about economic numbers, but from a social standpoint this has done our country little good. Our poor are getting poorer and our rich are getting richer. We extend tax cuts to the wealthy, give tax breaks to mega-corporations, and destroy local economies because we think that GDP is more important than social well-being. Have you ever even heard of social capital?
Then there is the environmental movement. The United States is still pumping out 25% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, an astonishing number compared to our 5% of the global population. It is a simple fact that the rest of the world cannot live like us, because then there would be no world left to live on. Yet we continue our abuse of the environment in the name of economics, even turning "green" into a marketing phrase to increase profit. It is easy for us to sit from the top of our global economic mountain and say that we are superior, yet when it comes to the environment we are by far the worst offenders. The most astonishing marks of pollution in India is the rampant littering. Trash literally crowds the streets and the waterways because they don't have the resources to deal with it. Despite the blight on public appearance, it is really no better than dumping waste into landfills. Our elaborate waste management infrastructure allows us to move it all beyond sight, yet it is still sitting there and will be for thousands of years. While there have been limited successes in cleaning up and preserving our environment, rivers like the St. Lawrence are still virtually unusable to local populations that once depended upon them.
What is obvious in India, everywhere that we have been, is how in touch people are with their own personal consumption. It may not be out of a grandiose "environmentalism," as it is in the United States, but rather out of necessity. It is easy at home to blast those who waste more than others, but we all still have neatly manicured lawns and gardens, drive our own personal vehicles to work everyday, and spend the seasons in climate controlled homes. People here are acutely aware of their water, food, and energy use, because there is simply not enough to go around. In hotel rooms, there is a switch that requires the room key in order to turn on any electrical amenities. Every electrical outlet also has a switch turning it on or off. In the U.S., most of our outlets are constantly drawing energy, which not only raises energy costs but also wastes a horrific amount in the pursuit of nothing.
Unfortunately, here in India, global mega-corporations are pushing for more and more influence, using the dollar bill to exert their political will and take power away from the local economies that have developed through thousands of years of civilization. On almost every street their are small storefronts selling local foods, mostly fruits and spices, that we would obtain from a supermarket. There is a noticeable connection between food and place, a connection that has almost completely disappeared in America. If globalisation takes hold here, if industrialized agriculture becomes the standard, then this will evaporate in India just as it has in the States.
In short, the United States is doing almost everything wrong. When we do something right, we hold it up like little kids for the rest of the world to see. Look at us! we say. Look how progressive we are! We follow that up by dumping our waste on countries like India, China, and Mexico and say how "dirty" they are. We have become nothing short of the global bully, posing as a global role model. It is despicable to see the livelihoods of those in India endangered by our ideal of a global economy, when all the global economy does is increase the gaps of wealth between social strata. We view foreign countries through numbers, not on a human scale. The U.S. isn't on the right path either, and should stop resorting to critiquing other nations when we have larger problems building at home. If we can't solve our own issues, as the most powerful nation on the globe, then we are worthless hypocrites, bound to a destiny of pollution that will undoubtedly affect other nations more than it affects our own. And when the globe starts crumbling around us, we will have only ourselves to blame.
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