Scott
Nearing is best known for a book he wrote with his
wife Helen,"Living the Good Life: How to Live
Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World," in 1954.
The Nearings stimulated a back-to-the-land movement
that they embodied for 50 years, until Scott’s
death at the age of 100 in 1983. His writing during
and between World Wars I and II has a growing
relevance as the U.S. starts the 21st century’s
first major war. America’s weapons have changed,
but the main reasons for its war-making remain the
same and were well-described by Nearing over 80 years
ago.
A young
University of Pennsylvania economics professor as
World War I began, Nearing wrote a pamphlet about
war, "The Great Madness," that documented
the commercial causes of war. He asserted that the
main purpose of the U.S. military was "to guard
the hundreds of millions of dollars...invested in
‘undeveloped’ countries." For such
views and speaking out against child labor, the
university fired him. In "The Menace of
Militarism," Nearing analyzed "military
preparedness and war-making as sources of business
profits. In "Oil and the Germs of War," he
explained "the role of the petroleum and other
big business interests in the international struggle
for sources of raw material, markets, and investment
opportunities." Over 80 years later, as the U.S.
(lead by oilmen) begins its Afghanistan War, once
again we have war caused partly by our oil
dependency.
"War is an attempt of one group to impose its
will upon another group by armed violence,"
Nearing observes, adding, "But war has wider
implications. War offers those in power a chance to
rid themselves of opposition while covering up their
designs with patriotic slogans." The leaders of
the U.S.’s current war pursue a domestic agenda
against "opposition," as well as an
international one.
"War drags human beings from their tasks of
building and improving, and pushes them en masse into
the category of destroyers and killers." Wars
transform the societies that wage them. The
Afghanistan War gives U.S.-based terrorists
permission to commit violence, including the use of
anthrax and other weapons.
"The event which finally tore me away from my
commitment to western civilization was the decision
of Harry Truman to blot out the city of
Hiroshima," Nearing reveals. "This decision
was one of the most crucial ever made by modern man.
The decision was the death sentence of western
civilization....the use of atomic weapons against
Japan was not only a crime against humanity, but was
a blunder which would lead to a gigantic build-up of
the planet’s destructive forces....Humanity is
today astride a guided missile equipped with a
nuclear warhead."
War’s degradation of nature also concerned
Nearing, "Man is able to live on the earth
because its soil, water, air, sunshine, and the
radiant forces which play so large a part in the
preservation of life exist in relative
abundance." Nearing writes about how the
planet’s natural resources have "been
squandered in waging war," especially
"supplies of fuels and metals." Nearing
became a critic of technology and western
civilization and a practical conservationist. He
criticizes "the pollution and poisoning of land,
water, and air by the waste products of concentrated
urban life and of large-scale industry." In
1932, as he approached 50, he abandoned the city for
country living. Scott and Helen inspired thousands of
visitors to their Forest Farm in Vermont and Maine.
That inspiration continues through their books and
the Good Life Center that still hosts events and
welcomes visitors.
In "Freedom: Promise and Menace" (1961),
Nearing writes that "in the present world crisis
conservatives are using the ‘freedom’
slogan to win support for their reactionary
policies." As politicians once again shout the
"freedom" slogan, it is important not to be
deceived.
Scott Nearing was one of America’s greatest 20th
century peace activists and practical
conservationists. As the Afghanistan War threatens to
spread, it is worth returning to Nearing’s
writing and his model of living in harmony with
nature.
Shepherd
Bliss visited the Nearings at their Forest Farm in
the mid-1980s and now owns the organic Kokopelli
Farm, sb3@pon.net,
P.O. 1040, Sebastopol, CA. 95473.)
