I am beginning to think it is unethical to eat almonds. Let me explain.
Global climate crises are a thing. I can't deny it any longer. And one global weather crisis that is coming up is a great drought for the American Southwest. We are making that drought. One place that the drought is already happening is California. And one of the reasons that it is happening is almonds. The current health market culture has proclaimed them as a cure-all miracle food and California has cashed in on the almond gold. It has miles upon miles of almonds. The trees drink tons and tons of water--water California doesn't have. We are eating our way into a drought.
Not only that, but most of these trees are grown non-organically. That's right--the health nut fad incorporates pesticides. And those pesticides and other -cides are sprayed on blooming almond trees, which require a large percentage of America's honey bees to pollinate. Which means the bees get hit with insecticides, and as the bees are insects, this predictably results in their dying. And if we don't have enough bees, we won't have enough food.
So it is possible that eating almonds will contribute to both drought and famine. We are eating our way out of both water and food. Almonds--the world's great evil.
But how the hell did we get there? Turns out, the same way we got to lots of other ethical dilemmas of the 21st century. Not that they are so much ethical quandaries, but quandaries in balancing our ethics with our health, our ethics with our finances, our jobs, our neighbors, etc. Here is a list of dilemmas....
1) Almonds, and other produce dilemmas (bananas, for instance, which we eat to the destruction of the rain forest)
2) Cars--We know that carbon monoxide is not good for little kids--asthma and cancer and everything. We know that cars produce it (and other noxious fumes). We know that asphalt is bad for the environment (so it the carbon, etc). BUT I STILL HAVE TO DRIVE TO WORK!!! I have very ethical work. I help people out of poverty. But my job requires me to have a car to do the errands required to help the poor out. And my car is inherently unethical.
3) Investments--I am suppose to save for my retirement. It is the responsible thing to do. My company will help me do it through a 401k. This plan is dependent on the S&P 500 index companies stock programs. Many of these companies are unethical--unethical meat farming, non-fair-trade goods, child labor, yada yada... SO DO I NEED TO NOT RETIRE? Someone help me out with a solution.
4) Neighborhoods/ Housing--School districts are based on local incomes, property values and tax payers. So if I want to help poor school districts out, then I need to live in poor school district neighborhoods. But, these neighborhoods would often be unsafe to raise kids in. As would the schools. It's not a figment of the imagination, white fear, kind of danger. I work with the parents whose kids have no choice but to be in these schools. Believe me, there is real danger. SHOULD I PUT MY KIDS IN DANGEROUS SCHOOLS?
5) Food--the stuff that is good for both me and the environment is stinking expensive. I'm not convinced that I need to eat organic for my health, but I am fully convinced that pesticides are bad for the health of the environment-which would ultimately be bad for the health of my kids, or maybe grandkids. Then again, not eating would be bad for my health. HOW DO I KNOW WHAT TO EAT?
6) Clothing--Polyester is unsustainable, etc. Cotton is farmed by child labor in Uzbekistan. Wool is often a product of animal cruelty. Bangladesh's clothing factories kill hundreds. WHAT DO I WEAR?
7) Connectivity--I could make space for organic food and free trade clothing a little bit more by cutting out the internet and cell phones. BUT MY FAMILY WOULD MISS ME. They live thousands of miles away you see. I know that cell phones and computers use unsustainable amounts of rare metals. I know they use more energy than we should. I know they cost more than my budget could afford if living the organic and free trade lifestyle. I also know that my cell phone and computer are often my lifeline, and that those without cell phones and computers can get rapidly plunged into and stuck in poverty. Also, I know the information sent this way is traceable and non-private. I know it is used by, and will be used by, many people with ulterior motives. It could be the beginning of unjust spy-states. In fact, it probably already has been. DO I GIVE UP THE INTERNET? It seems to also do much good, but I can't control what it will do.
8) Healthcare--it took lots of experiments with lots of poor animals and probably some poor people to develop the medicine and surgery treatments currently available. Do I support experimenting with animals? Do I support breeding mice just to give them cancer and cut them open? But if I don't support that research, am I condemning people to die who could have lived? And then, there is genetic research. It could be used so many bad ways. It started from such dark origins. And good genetic therapies could save so many lives, and result in so much averted misery. And what about in vitro fertilization, birth control, kids with three biological parents? HOW DID THE NATURE OF LIFE BECOME THIS CONFUSING?
This is not an exclusive list. I could add other things. You could add other things. The thing is, these are my moral dilemmas, and I can't seem to find much guidance on what to do. I understand the Amish better than ever--opt out of the system. Pretend that if you aren't part of it, you have no responsibility for it. I just don't think that is a viable solution. So I go on living in a blatantly unjust system, trying to make my way forward and out of the bottom where I feel the injustice most. But as I raise myself up, I become ever more conscious of what I am forcing down. Can I justify my economic betterment, my safety, my health costing environmental damage, animal cruelty, child labor? No. I don't think I can. So what do I do?
I wish I could say religion was offering answers to these questions right now, but I think most religions are still ignoring the fact that these questions exist. It's a state of denial. Or else a capitulation to fatalism or a twisted version of Providence that is willing to credit my success at the cost of some other's suffering as the hand of God who ordains as He wills. I don't think it is. I'm not sure what to think. I don't think poverty is righteous or that everybody selling everything is wise. But I know that this current version of wealth is unjust. And having unjust wealth, I don't know what to do. I wish for some pastoral voice, some strong prophetic guidance, but all I hear is a screaming match between political parties and vested interest groups. Maybe this is why millennial don't go to church. We have our sins you see. We have our questions. But our sins are not what you think. And our questions are not the ones you give answers to. So we sit in the pew in our cotton clothes, sewed in Bangladesh's factories, and we eat the non-organic communion bread, and drive off in our cars to our safe neighborhoods while getting directions on our internet-connected cell phones. And our souls...what happens to our souls?
