What is the point of society?

No, seriously. Think about it. All this work, money, production, investing, economic enterprise, all of it. If the point of all we do to work isn’t to feed the members of society, raise our young, keep us safe, steward our environment, and nurture our homes, health, and well-being, then why the fuck are we bothering with any of this?

This is the question I ask myself whenever someone says we education, environmental policies, and health care are too expensive, as if there are things that are more important to devote society’s wealth and production to.

…to join Green America.

When we talk about sustainability, we often concentrate on how human action hurts nature. But real sustainability involves caring for the environment, individuals, and institutions. It is about creating a society with cradle to cradle design. It is about creating institutions that nourish the environment and the communities that live in them. It is about creating a world that respects indigenous cultures, promotes fair trade, and enriches the whole society. The folks at Green America understand that complexity.

For the last 30 years, they have been doing good work fighting for environmental, economic, and social justice to create sustainable communities through projects that advocate for listing genetically-modified ingredients in food, socially-responsible banking and credit cards, and many others.

(Also, they decided to add me to their team despite the fact that I am a weirdo who wears bow ties to job interviews, waxes on about how NPR’s about page reminds me of Evan S. Connell’s Mrs. Bridge (public library, Amazon), and philosophizes on how Wittgenstein and Durkheim relate to ethnographic research and editorial strategy.)

I will continue to work on my own projects at A Yellow Raven. Now that I am free from spending time on the business of consulting, I hope to have more time to dedicate to projects such as the Personal Health Diary, Project Platen, and the academic user styles.

If you can, support our work and lobby your employer to join the Green Business Network. To my colleagues who work in technology: I implore you to join me and look for a career in social-good fields. Our skills are sorely needed even more than within the tech industry. We can not let the purely profit-driven world of the previous generations and the assholes at the top of startup culture destroy the future. The pay scale may not be as attractive, but be it in a newsroom a not-for-profit, or any other venture, you will be contributing directly to making society a less sucky place. And that can be a very satisfying, indeed.