Gumbs and the Issue of Capitalism on Sustainability: A Reflection

In Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ essay, “end capitalism”, she discusses the suffering and destruction of marine mammals, arguing that their pain and endangerment is a result of destructive processes caused by capitalism. In doing so, she discusses the issue using examples such as capitalistic economic greed being given priority over the safety of animals’ and their habitats, such as the oil drilling allowed by Greece in order to stimulate their economy. Gumbs asks, “is it possible to untangle the consequences of centuries of rapacious greed?” (66) in discussing the endangerment of hunted marine animals such as the northern right whale, who despite no longer being hunted in the present day, are still in danger due to prolonged historical periods of commercial whale hunting. Gumbs asks this question in relation to the status of marine mammals. I believe that this question can also be asked about humans, and can be used to look at the unstable conditions they currently face as a result of capitalistic greed, particularly in relation to the rising cost of living and affording basic human necessities such as food and shelter.

Inflation and the rising cost of living has been an issue of particular importance in recent years, and this is even more so coming out of COVID-19 related lockdowns and economic issues. As the costs of things such as rent, food, and other necessities have risen astronomically, wages and salaries have not been able to keep up (or perhaps employers have the ability to increase wages and choose not to). Consequently, there have been increasing rates of people experiencing homelessness and precarious housing, as well as increased numbers of people using food banks. These issues are arguably a result of the rapacious capitalistic greed as described by Gumbs; government leaders, corporations, and other individuals or groups who hold power place their own economic growth and benefit over the lives of other individuals, without care for the destructive consequences of their actions. Landlords who hold capital and own various properties are often inconsiderate of their tenants, be it charging unreasonable rent costs, increasing rent prices, or selling ownership of their property without regard for how it will (often negatively) impact their tenants. Personally, I know people older than me who have been working for over 20 years, who have moved up within their company over the years, and make a good salary, but cannot afford a reasonable place in the Greater Toronto Area that can house themselves and their family. If someone with a well paying job who has been in the workforce for many years has this issue, how are younger people who are in school or just graduating supposed to sustain themselves?

When people my age bring up these concerns, or when anyone else brings them up for that matter, they are given unrealistic solutions; budget your money, move somewhere else, stop eating takeout, get a better job, get a roommate (or two or three)...the list goes on. Hypothetically, these solutions should work and maybe if someone is strict enough with their paycheck, it could work, but it is arguably not sustainable. As previously mentioned, wages are increasing nowhere near the rate of rent, groceries, and other living costs, so no amount of budgeting is going to be sustainable. “Better” jobs are often unreasonable as well, as many jobs require years of (often unpaid) experience and higher levels of education. While higher levels of education are not inherently bad, they cost large sums of money that, in the present day, graduates often do not make back once they get these jobs. Prior to writing this reflection, I was looking at job postings for potential jobs for when I graduate; one job requiring a degree and experience was offering $16/hour. $16/hour for four years of studying and tens of thousands of dollars of tuition and textbooks. I currently make more money in my job as a Starbucks barista, so how is it reasonable to ask people with degrees to work for and live on that amount of money? Or to encourage people to get an education by promising them a better life when in actuality, that is not the case? Expectations like these are unfair and in no way sustainable for myself and other people like me and they all come as a consequence of destructive, capitalistic greed as discussed by Gumbs.

Additionally, many of these messages on how to be sustainable in an increasingly unsustainable world have to do with some form of self sacrifice, typically in the vein of only spending money on necessities such as food and shelter, and to focus all your time on working and making money. I have seen this in abundance on online platforms such as TikTok encouraging young people to make a business/”side hustle” by monetizing their hobbies and interests and it is becoming increasingly normal, and even expected, for people my age to have more than one job to sustain themselves. However, as Gumbs says in her essay, “you deserve a safety as deep as your need. You deserve food, community, school, and home” (68). I think this statement, which she used in relation to marine mammals whose habitats are being destroyed by human activity, can and should also apply to humans. Everyone deserves the basic necessities of life, such as food and a home, without the conditions of self sacrifice due to insufficient pay and unreasonable demands from those at the top. Additionally, I think people should be able to have a life outside of work. While there is nothing inherently wrong with working, or having a side hustle, or making money off of something you enjoy, these behaviours are far too often a result of need and the capitalist idea that if you are going to spend your time doing something, you should make a profit off of it, rather than just simply enjoying it. However, this has become more of the norm due to low wages and the fact that people simply do not have time nor money to do things for pleasure. People deserve safety in their lives and their basic needs covered, regardless of capital or socioeconomic status.

Going back to Gumbs’ original question, “is it possible to untangle the consequences of centuries of rapacious greed?” It was difficult for me to come up with an idea for a way to make humans’ lives more sustainable in this context and I think that is largely due to the fact that it is hard to imagine a “simpler” way of living. For instance, when people question why they cannot have higher wages, there is always an issue of the cost of goods increasing in order to make up for said wages. In this sense, increased wages seem almost pointless, as the rate between wages and cost of living remain relatively the same due to inflation. Gumbs states in her essay, “we are not competing for space on this Earth. We are, at our best, learning to connect towards the possibility of remaining” (69). This is perhaps one way of looking at how to make the world more sustainable; rather than there being this competition for social and economic capital, there should be more focus on ensuring everyone’s needs are met first. In the context of housing, this could look like the government providing more affordable housing and placing more limits on what landlords can charge. It could also look like ensuring that everyone has a place to live before allowing people who are already wealthy to buy up various properties to rent out and make profit at the expense of their tenants (which is the situation we are currently in).

Overall, I found Gumbs’ arguments and observations regarding the declining state of marine mammals as a consequence of capitalist destruction, and her call to action to end capitalism, and thus end these methods of profit and destruction, to be very intriguing and almost scarily applicable to humans and the situation we have put ourselves into. In one of her final statements she points out that the world has been nothing but generous to us, more than we deserve (69) and I think this is important to remember when discussing sustainability in any context. The world and the earth has never taken anything from us, it has only provided, so it seems only fair that we attempt to do the same both for the earth and for our fellow human and non human animals.

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Works Cited

Gumbs, Alexis Pauline. “end capitalism.” Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, edited by Alexis Pauline Gumbs. AK Press, 2020, pp. 65-69.