Counting grains of sand
We can all feel really small in the face of massive challenges like climate change, and especially as we go looking for big solutions. But what if the solution isn’t big, but really small?
I think we’d all do well to consider the Sorites paradox, and read Tim Morton’s books. The principle is also (not really) known as the “when does a heap really stop being a heap” paradox.
The paradox is that if you have a heap of sand, and you remove a grain of sand, you probably would still say that you have a heap of sand. At some point, if you continue to remove grains of sand, you no longer have a heap. But we can’t say exactly what that point is.
The point is, then, that every grain of sand is meaningful to the heap. One grain can’t with more authority than the others claim that they don’t matter to the heap. Which is why the Sorites paradox is relevant to the issue of climate change. There’s no silver bullet, no one measure that will fix everything, but a combination of measures. A heap, if you will. Each matter, more or less. We can of course just skip one measure, and still have a heap of measures to solve the problem. That’s the argument we use when we don’t want to be part of change. “It doesn’t make a difference if I fly less, look at that coal plant!”
And that’s true. We’re all grains of sand. In the grand scheme of things, we don’t matter. We could argue that the solution lies somewhere else in our collective heap of sand. Let’s point some fingers! It makes it easier to go on that plane, or it can make you feel powerless.
But it’s a paradox, remember! Because even though you’re just a tiny grain of sand in the big heap of sand, I mean, I wouldn’t be able to spot you, you’re so tiny, you’re still a grain of sand. Without grains of sand, there is no heap. So you are part of the solution. As am I. And everyone else. And if you don’t think so, you’re being fooled by the Sorites paradox.
