Peter
Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy
Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted
philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and
touring his “Concert & Conversation” series in support of his bookLife Is What You Make It.
I wrote the song “Poison the River” after watching the documentary film, Last Call At The Oasis. I was asked to write a song for the Chinese release of the
film for the singer Sarah Li. This is also the first song recorded in my newly finished
studio in upstate New York. And while I
was thinking of all the facts and figures I could research and pull together
for this essay, I realized that my own backyard was actually the place to
start, as it increasingly is for everyone when there’s talk about water.
Now you may think I’m going to bring up the issue of
hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” But
if you want to learn more about that, and how you, too, can light your tap
water on fire, see the various articles on the subject and the film, Gasland.
No, this is about a simple act of dumping silt and other
particulate matter from a reservoir into a creek so that the water is more
palatable to drink while the waste creates a huge issue downstream (irrigation
for farmers etc..). The creek looks more like a river of chocolate in Willy
Wonka than the pristine stream it once was.
So I’m just going to focus on the “upstream,” “downstream”
issue. Metaphorically, this is the issue of the day. For millennia, the
downstream effects of the upstream behavior were never seen. Whether it’s in
social, economic, political or environmental terms, most people went blindly
about their business without seeing the full ramifications of what they were
doing. This is not to say people didn’t care–although I’m afraid there will
always be some of those–but “out of sight, out of mind” has played a huge
role in how we’ve gotten into the environmental (among others) mess we’re in
now.
I remember as a child hearing someone say, “Finish your
dinner. There are children starving in (place name of ‘developing’ country
here).”
As I got older, I wondered why
that had to be. There must not be enough
to go around. I never considered that something might be broken
systemically; that maybe things need to be re-prioritized in some way. Are we
putting emphasis on the wrong metrics?
If the engine is growth, return on investment. And if the fuel
is efficiency? Productivity. The exhaust
is … whatever gets in the way.
If the driver of this car is rewarded in ways considered valuable
in society, a lack of respect develops for anything that isn’t in right
relation to the goals of the driver. The driver is trying to make a little more
with a little less all the time.
“Anyone who believes in
indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is
either mad or an economist.” ? Kenneth E. Boulding
To me, the behavior sounds like someone that’s afraid. How
can I keep getting more so I can feel safe enough or important enough? Or
maybe it’s just a survival instinct that we all possess: “Let’s make sure we have enough in case it’s a hard winter” or “I’ll look important so I attract a good
partner.”
Whatever the case, and I’m sure there are thousands of them,
we don’t live in that world anymore. We can see our brothers and sisters across
the globe. We can distribute necessary things far and wide. We are connected in
ways that have never happened in history.
Next week, one version of how we got to this point.
What do you think? Share your story at changeourstory.com. Visit www.peterbuffett.comto learn more and Change Our Story to
join the conversation on how we all can become active participants in shaping
our future.
Image courtesy of DeltaMike, licensed underCreative Commons.