http://www.afsc.org/pwork/0202/020219.htm
Scott Nearing -- Peace Activist and Practical Conservationist
Shepherd Bliss visited the Nearings at their Forest Farm in the mid-1980s and
now owns the organic Kokopelli Farm, PO Box 1040, Sebastopol CA 95473;
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scott Nearing
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 l954. The
Nearings stimulated a back-to-the-land movement that they embodied for 50
years, until Scott's death at the age of l00 in l983. Scott Nearing's writing
during World Wars I and II have growing relevance as the US starts the 21st
century's first major war. America's weapons have developed, 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,
Scott Nearing wrote a pamphlet about war, The Great Madness, that documented
the commercial causes of war. Nearing asserted that the main purpose of the US
military was "to guard the hundreds of millions of dollars...invested in
'undeveloped' countries." For such views and for speaking out against child
labor, the university fired Nearing.
In "The Menace of Militarism" Nearing said, he "analyzed... military
preparedness and war-making as sources of business profits. My Oil and the
Germs of War 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, the US (led by oilmen)
begins its Afghan 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 observed, 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 US'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 US-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
said. "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 wrote about how the planet's natural resources had "been squandered in
waging war," especially "supplies of fuels and metals." He criticized "the
pollution and poisoning of land, water, and air by the waste products of
concentrated urban life and of large-scale industry." Nearing became a critic
of technology and western civilization, and a practical conservationist.
In 1932, as he approached 50, Scott Nearing abandoned the city for country
living. He and Helen Nearing inspired thousands of visitors to their Forest
Farm in Vermont and Maine. That inspiration continues through their books and
the Good Life Center, which still hosts events and welcomes visitors.
In Freedom: Promise and Menace--A Critique of the Cult of Freedom(1961) Nearing
wrote 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 opposed all forms of "tyranny, despotism, and irresponsive power"
and proclaimed, "I believe in democracy." He was one of America's greatest 20th
century peace activists and practical conservationists. As the Afghan War
threatens to spread, it is worth returning to his writing and to the Nearings'
model of living in harmony with nature.
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