The core intellectual concept of this course, systems thinking, was ultimately for me the most valuable aspect of the curriculum. However, thinking systemically in the context of the world this quarter also made me feel relatively powerless as an individual. Systemic issues have been at the forefront of global discourse over the past several months. The coronavirus pandemic has rattled human society revealing our vulnerability within Earth’s ecosystem and reminding humanity that however much we resist this reality: we live under nature’s laws. 

Those of us who live in the United States have been reminded how badly our healthcare system is broken and inadequate at handling crises. Similarly, our globalized and industrialized food system has revealed its clumsiness and vulnerability to disturbance as the pandemic has challenged supply chains and means of production leading to vast amounts of food waste and threats of hunger around the globe. 

Source: Rebecca Conway for The New York Times — daily wage works stand in line for meals in New Delhi where for many with little social safety net “hunger is a more immediate threat than the virus”

In these past two weeks, incited by the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, people all over the world are rising up against the systemic racism ingrained in our political and social institutions. Many of us (especially those with privilege) are learning just how blind we have been to systemic injustice and just how inadequate our individual intentions are at making change. 

In many ways I felt my individual actions this quarter to be futile. Working with Community Alliance for Global Justice to acquire auction items for their upcoming fundraising dinner required my group members and I to reach out to over one hundred local small businesses. Most never responded to our requests (surly overwhelmed with the weight of owning a small business during these times), other folks responded with apologetic nos saying they simply were not in a place to donate, others were angry that we were asking for contributions given the context of the world. Working with CAGJ was a swimming-upstream type of fight and in the end I am not sure we moved an inch. 

However, after a quarter of feeling powerless as an individual amidst human systems so massive, convoluted and ignorant of nature’s reality that it almost seemed hopeless to take individual action, these past couple weeks have given me new hope. Taking to the streets with thousands of other individuals I am suddenly immersed in collective individual action unlike I have ever experienced before. And it feels like we may be on the precipice of actually forcing systemic change if we individuals keep on the collective pressure. Collectively we are opting out of leading our daily lives and choosing to sustain civil disobedience such that those in power are forced to listen. 

My own photo from a recent protest at Cal Anderson park in Seattle

I have often thought that we could alter our unjust and environmentally destructive food system if only everyone could come together and collectively opt out of consuming destructively and unjustly produced products. It surely is not that simple, but at the very least I have learned from this moment that we can feel less powerless as individuals if we band together in collective action. I hope dearly that we can maintain this fight for racial justice and in doing so create long-sustained collective action which can be continued into a fight for a more just and sustainable world generally. 

-Aisling Doyle Wade