On fair weather environmentalism
Submitted by scharrison on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 1:07pm
When it comes to public policy, environmental concerns go out the window:
Environmental regulation is seen as a bureaucratic imposition - not as an insurance policy against potential catastrophe, and certainly not as a moral imperative.
Yes, many Americans feel good about going through the motions of environmentalism...But where the rubber hits the road - in public policy - we've reverted to our pre-enlightenment ways. When there's a perceived conflict between environmental stewardship and economic growth, the bottom line wins.
I have some ideas why this happens, but I'd like to hear your ideas as well.
I believe that most people are concerned about our environment, and quite a few of those are deeply concerned. But those concerns are too easily set aside or muffled when other issues surface, especially issues of economic origin. It's easy to attribute this to shallowness or hypocrisy, but I think the problem runs deeper, into the realm of psychology of self.
When it comes to the condition of our environment, we each share a certain amount of responsibility. The electricity we use, the products we buy, etc. There's probably no other single issue that we all share responsibility for so deeply, and each of us has some recognition of this. I believe it is that very point of recognition, or conscious acceptance of personal responsibility, that forces a conflict within us, and that conflict produces the cognitive dissonance that frees us up to act irresponsibly.
If I'm right about this, and I think I am, it's both good news and bad. The good news is, all of that research, education and thought about safeguarding our environment has not gone unnoticed or been forgotten, it's sitting on a shelf somewhere in the minds of many. The bad news is, rewiring the human brain to stop this self-defense mechanism is impossible. So: How do we move that information off the shelf and back into the area of the brain that guides decision-making?
One answer is repetition. The more we talk about the environment, the more that little voice in people's heads will chirp in agreement. But I also think that we, as environmental advocates, need to make our rhetoric more inclusive. By that I mean, we shouldn't be afraid of using the term "we" when discussing mistakes that have been made. It's not "them" vs. "us", it's just...us.
Another thought
I spent some 20 years in the engineering business, designing facilities for schools, hospitals, universities, etc. Elected officials don't care to look past the next election. While there is much talk about "running government like a business," these politicians either don't know or don't care to employ basic business investment evaluation factors such as "total cost of ownership" or "life cycle cost." They only care about the cost before the next election, so they can boast to their constituents about how much they have "saved the taxpayers."
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Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. -- sign on Einstein's office wall.
This is true
And it's another thing we need to try to change, right? Public officials who have the vision to see 20-30 years down the road, and work (now) to improve that future, are the ones we need to keep in office.
Maybe we should start a series of blogs that highlight "leaders of vision" and their efforts. Hmmm.
Thanks for poking my grey matter.
On the personal responsibility note:
http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/
I'm responsible for 19 tons of CO2 this year. It's about twice my usual because of a lot of travel this year. It's 30% less than US average and almost 4 times the global average.
Speaking of leaders with vision, our old friend Dan Besse started the Headwaters campaign (http://www.headwatersnc.org/ ). Have a look.
Dan is the Man
He's been working for our environment, often under the media's radar, for decades. So when he says this:
He knows what he's talking about.
Personal Environment
I would say the biggest factor is that quite often the "environment" or "global warming" is too abstract/generic to really get worked up about. When folks look out into their backyard or drive down to the beach or over to the mountains they see a wonderful environment. Folks can preach doom and gloom all they want, but the average person is not going to connect to that because they don't see it every day of their life.
I also feel there are plenty of other ways to bring about improved environmental stewardship that have nothing to do with environmentalism and these approaches should be used.
1. Energy Independence - We shouldn't rely on
foreign (and often hostile) countries for our energy. This is just sending cash straight out of the country. We don't have enough fossil fuels and so we need to switch to clean, renewable energy
2. National Defense - See the hostile foreign countries that we fun via the oil industry. Even if we don't buy from them, someone else will. It's a global marketplace.
3. Clear Environmental Damage - See the current crisis in the gulf, strip mining in WV, etc. Don't focus on global warming as environmental damage, focus on the clear and visible effects that can't be debated.
4. Conserving for the future - What limited resources we have still in the ground we should try and keep there for future generations. When we are drilling a mile under water for oil, it's very clear the cheap and easy oil is long gone.
Agree with a lot of that
Make no mistake: I believe in the science behind Global Warming and I'm deeply concerned about its ramifications. But it is much harder for the average person to grasp than other issues, like toxics and land misuse.
But I would also say, if people looked a little closer, they would be able to see their environment under stress. Like this fish advisory sign:
Smelling the roses
No one stops to smell the roses any longer. I wouldn't know from looking at it, that the lovely Lake Crabtree I drive by every day is closed for fishing! It *LOOKS* beautiful. Very scenic and a nice distraction when traffic is stuck.
There may be signs when you stop and look closer, but who does that these days?
I'm not saying anything about global warming, I'm just saying that with many folks, they may need a different point that is just as valid. Just as with teaching, you don't rely on just one form of learning. There are visual folks, auditory folks and kinesthetic folks. A good teach learns to incorporate elements of all three.
Find what can work for the person you are making the argument to and use it.
Wouldn't it be interesting to see a report card
published from year to year on the state of the State? It could include things like volume of recycled materials, average household power/water usage, total statewide usage, totals of gas/diesel sold, air quality, water quality and lots of other indicators. I'm sure that information is readily available if you know where to look so it would just take the initiative to put it together and distribute it.
Progressives are the true conservatives.