HOME
Message Board
CURRENT COLUMNS
- Editor's Corner
- Blogfest 2005
- Commentary
- Commentary Too
- Down The Middle
- Faulking Around
- Global Warning
- This guy walks into a bar...
- Investing 101
- Faulking Opinions
- Off The Rail
- Words
ARCHIVES
LINKS
CONTACT US
 | |||
Global Warning - May 28, 2005 - Printable Version
- Tink is Dead
by Robin Buckallew
*Warning. The following article contains a phrase coined by George W. Bush, and therefore may not be appropriate for small children, the frail elderly, the immune deficient, or the chronically literate. A funny thing happened to me on the way to this column. As I was gathering my thoughts, doing my research and discussing it with my usual sounding board, I had an epiphany. In fact, I experienced a total paradigm shift. Now, in case you're wondering whether a paradigm shift is painful, I can assure you that it is. Think of it as passing a kidney stone. This particular paradigm shift was especially painful, because it threatens to lead to life-altering decisions on my part. It all started because I wanted to write a column on what is one of the hot topics of the day - why has the environmental movement been such a failure? We have all sat around, steeped in the guilt of being spectacular losers, trying hard to find the answer to this question. How do we quit being a failure, and turn our efforts to success? This has been the subject of many a column by many a dedicated professional, and by many an informed (or uniformed) amateur. The one thing that comes through all of the angst is the undeniable, incontrovertible conclusion - the environmental movement is a spectacular failure, and we need to change our ways. My thinking has been right in line with this train of thought, as all around me I see nothing but the failure of imagination and the failure of preservation. Now all we need to do is decide exactly why we have failed, and exactly how we need to change. For all the ink being spilled on this topic, no answer to this burning question has emerged. There have been answers, some silly, some sublime, some just plain absurd. The problem is, all these answers tend to disagree with each other, and ultimately, no conclusion has been able to be reached. So I decided to do a little investigation and evaluation myself, to see if I could come up with any answer.
First of all, let's look at the environmental movement. What, if anything, have we actually managed to accomplish in the past 35 years since the first Earth Day? I started to compile a list on a 3x5 index card. That list made me gasp. My first epiphany, starting me up the long hill to paradigm shift (but, like Sisyphus, the route up the hill of paradigm shift is often a tough one, with many retreats, and this would be no different). A quick, off-the-top-of-the-head partial list quickly filled up the index card, spilled onto the back and ran over to card number two. For just a quick review of what has been accomplished in 35 years (keep in mind this list is far from complete), I offer the following: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Endangered Species Act, CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), the discovery of the hole in the ozone and identification of the cause, the discovery of global warming and identification of the cause, the clean-up of the Cuyahoga River which hasn't caught fire in a long time, the reduction of the smog over Los Angeles and London, the banning of DDT and CFCs, the cleaning up of Lake Erie (the mayflies returned to Lake Erie for the first time a couple of years ago, leading the way to an eventual repopulation of the fish species that depend on mayflies), the widespread introduction of curb-side recycling in most large cities, the removal of the American Bald Eagle from the endangered species list..the list goes on and on and on and on. The Rio Summit, the Montreal Summit, the Kyoto Protocol - the movement which began in earnest in 1960s America has spread globally, with more and more nations becoming aware of environmental problems, and committed to solving them. Western Europe has moved aggressively forward on environmental protection policies. Twelve American cities were recently removed from the EPA list of cities that don't meet air quality standards - one of these cities was San Diego, a monumental achievement. The forests in the Appalachian mountains are starting to recover from centuries of abuse. OK, so much for our successes. We must be failures, because 300 million Americans (including me) can't possibly be wrong.
Some say the problem is winning the hearts and minds (I do hate that phrase!) of the American public. We just can't talk to them, it seems. They don't get it. We aren't getting our message across. This particular thread of discussion is a particularly complex and confusing jumble of conflicting ideas and paradigms. It seems, according to one source, that we are too scientific in our discussion. The environmental scientists persist in discussing such abstruse concepts as CAFÉ standards, pollutant loadings, maximum contaminant levels, and parts per million. I don't really have a problem with that, since that is the language I myself favor, but I can see where it might have a little trouble bringing inspiration to people who just want to stop and smell the roses. Oh, look at this article - it seems we can't talk to the people because we aren't scientific enough - we turn them off with our hippie, New Age thinking, our sandals, our tree-hugging, and we should be much more scientific in our presentation of ideas. Well, I find it hard to believe that we can't communicate with the average American, since there is something here for everyone. If you are interested strictly in scientific experimentation and evidence, there is plenty of that to be found in your nearest academic library. If you are more interested in meditation, spirituality, and close connection with Mother Earth, that abounds not only in the academic libraries, but in many other areas of the public sphere. Although the environmental movement has been branded often as an exclusive club of elitist intellectuals, I can assure you we are not exclusive, we are not elitists, and only some of us lay claim to being intellectuals (and that tends to be self-proclaimed, and might be able to be effectively disputed). In fact, if the group were exclusive, I probably wouldn't be here myself. This is in part because I find most exclusive groups to be stuffy and boring, and in part because any group that exclusive is going to have me blackballed while I am still a mile away from the front door on my way to my first meeting. Anybody who wants to be here is welcome. You say you're a gay, Zoroastrian computer nerd? You're welcome to join us - you might find others just like you. But what if you are a stuffy, three-piece suit attired accountant who votes Republican, and believes in saving the environment (and hates gay, Zorastrian computer nerds)? Drop by - we'll introduce you to Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), a group that believes in the "conserve" part of "conservative". Their symbol is a green elephant - awesome. We have people who can talk the language of science. We have people who can talk the language of spirituality. And the environmental movement may in fact be the only movement in the world where there are some people who can string together New Age, postmodernism, spirituality, religion and hard science into one single, nearly coherent sentence. The environmental movement contains individuals from all areas of life. People living below the poverty level have created their own groups working for cleaner air, cleaner water, cleaner food and environmental justice. If we do tend to be a somewhat elitist group, it is often because many people living at the margins of subsistence simply don't have the money, the time or the energy to put a great deal into saving the environment. They are just trying to survive. I know. I've been there. I cared about what I was feeding my child, but I wasn't able to advocate on my own behalf because of limited resources. I appreciated the work being done by environmental advocates on my behalf. I never resented the fact that many of them were also trying to save nature and preserve wilderness. I never once thought to myself, "I'll let the corporations poison my child through his food, water and air if those damn treehuggers will just shut up about the plight of the whales". When you put it like that, I imagine very few of the working mothers in this country would think that, either.
So, why have we been a failure at communicating? Well, it seems we haven't. Failed, that is. In poll after poll after poll, 80-90% of Americans identify themselves as environmentalists. Over and over, year after year, they tell the pollsters more needs to be done. The soccer moms drive their SUVs to the local mall, and when they meet the pollsters asking questions, they tell them they earnestly believe that more regulations are needed, more money needs to be spent, more needs to be done. How many other issues can you get 80-90% of the American public to agree on? They've listened. They've heard. They've believed. They want something done. SOMEONE should do SOMETHING. We've won the hearts and minds (that nasty phrase again) of the American people. Our lab-coat wearing scientists, our sandal-wearing treehuggers, have gotten through. You believe. You care. You speak. And therein lies the secret. You don't do. The someone that needs to do something is never you. It is the government. It is the corporations. It is the environmental groups. It is your neighbor, your friend, your brother. It is never you. You put your recycling bin by the curb, aren't you doing your part? It isn't the environmental movement that has failed. It is you. For the past 35 years, the environmental organizations, activists and advocates have been doing the work for you. We have been lobbying Congress, we have been writing legislation and getting it introduced, we have been filing cases in the court that have led to the successes listed above. We have written columns and articles, performed experiments, produced television shows. We have tied ourselves to trees, we have harassed illegal whaling ships. We have been doing the work for you, and we have spoiled you. Now, the time has come when a great deal of what is left to be done cannot be done by "them". It can only be done by "us" - me and you, changing our lifestyles, driving less, eating less, consuming less. That is the final step. All the laws and regulations in the world can't save you from your own lifestyle, only you can. And the people still want it done for them. Preferably in a way that doesn't really affect them. In short, the environmental movement hasn't been a victim of failure, it's been a victim of its own success. As George W. Bush would say, we have suffered "catastrophic success". That very success threatens to overwhelm us, and cause us to fail. As the big money men feel the pinch of the regulations, and the demands of their consumers, they begin the backlash. The people who are lined up against the environment are very well funded (much better funded than the environmental groups, in spite of propaganda to the contrary). They own their business, they own the media, and they own Congress. They are used to having their own way, and they intend it to remain that way. Meanwhile, the environmental movement finds itself putting out brush fire after brush fire, as communities begin to demand action on pollution, and expect us to "fix" it for them. Many people want us to move in, take over and solve the problems caused by the factories and corporations they welcomed into their communities years ago, only to find out that they weren't very good citizens. We usually find ourselves battling not only the corporations, but the media, which tends to portray us as obstructionists, or worse, terrorists. It is not unusual for the very people demanding help to snub us, call us names, or spit on us. We can never do enough, or be enough places. There are many places, people and things demanding our attention. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of environmental activists at work in this country every day. There needs to be millions. We have no magic wands, no silver bullets.
I have often heard that people in this country are tired of being inundated on the news with bad environmental news. I have been told that they would get on board with us if the news were better, or we were more upbeat. First of all, the environmental news is actually very sparse in this country. Quantitative assessments have been done which determine that the environmental news usually accounts for only about 1% of the total news content. Much of that is distorted, incomplete or biased to one side or the other. In addition, people don't want to hear the bad news. They will shoot the messenger. Or just tune him out. Even my own colleagues have acknowledged that when the news is bad, they turn on the cartoons and ignore the news. The message we are being given is that we can get you to listen only if we lie to you. But if we lie to you, what is the incentive for you to take action? There is none, if things are going well. Nothing is needed from you.
A good example of the difficulty getting through to the public can be found in the pages of this very newsletter. For the past several months, the guestbook of this politically based forum has been very busy, very active. Unfortunately, the topics of politics, the environment or religion have been eschewed for more immediate matters, such as discussions of Johnny Depp and pink fur skin. Recently, the guestbook suffered a lack of space, and moved to roomier accommodations in a message board. This arrangement seemed ideal, especially for those of us who wanted to talk politics, which seemed to be off-limits for many of the guestbook regulars. In fact, separate boards were set up for the topics of politics, environment, religion and other current issues. At first, I thought this would encourage discussion from those who didn't find the atmosphere of the guestbook particularly welcoming to current news issues. The activity in the new message board has been heavy. The activity in the topical discussions has been light. In the section on the environment, there have been only 6 posts, compared with over 600 posts in the section where the non-political folks hang out. Three of those 6 posts were mine. Finally, I got tired of talking to myself, and deserted altogether. The boards on politics and religion are only marginally better, with a few more hits still on the stock market board (I guess making money does get people a little involved - but not as involved as pink fur skin). While this mirrors the pattern I find in the mainstream media, and the pattern I find in the real world, it seems particularly disturbing in light of the nature of this particular forum. If we can't even discuss issues on an issue-based website, we are indeed doomed. I have decided that I am not getting through. I feel very much as though I am talking to myself. This is the same thing that many environmental organizations and activists find when they try to talk to the public. If it is bad news, no one wants to hear. We are having fun, don't disturb us, don't be a wet blanket. We will fiddle while the world burns.
So, this has been my paradigm shift. The movement hasn't been a failure. We have been a "catastrophic success". Now, we have succeeded as much as we can succeed on our own. We need help, and we need it desperately. For years, Tink has been drinking your medicine for you. Tink knew it was poisoned. Actually, so did you, and you let her drink it so you wouldn't have to drink it yourself. Now, when you are having trouble seeing Tink's light flashing, you are blaming her for your failure of vision. It is too much trouble, too much work even to bother to put your hands together and clap to save her life. The irony of it all is that if Tink dies, you will lose the only hope you have for saving your own life. Eventually, things will catch up with you, Never-never land will disappear, and you will be forced to grow up and fend for yourself. Tink will be dead, and you will have to get by without her.
As for me, the results of my paradigm shift have been painful indeed. As a failure, a spectacular loser, things were in my control to change. I could change my action. I could change my language. When things rely on others, I feel much more helpless, much more alone. I have been banging my head against a brick wall for years, thinking that in time it will quit hurting. It never does. Now, all bloodied and bruised, I have decided perhaps it is time to hang up my column, to hang up my commitment to the environmental community, and just live my life out, simply and quietly. Someone once posted the question in the guestbook, "Was anybody really listening?" I believe the answer probably is no. Perhaps, after all, Tink is already dead.
Voice your opinion on our message board (you don't have to sign up to post).