Is the environmental movement screwed?
The environmental movement is about more than just climate change, though from the coverage of the last few years you might be hard-pressed to notice.
Tue, Feb 02 2010 at 8:00 AM EST
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Photo: Theilr/Flickr A note from Shea: I'm out of pocket this week working on a project in Iowa and have asked a few of my green blogger friends to help me out by writing some guest posts. Enjoy this piece from Chris Baskind, writer and editor of More Minimal. I'll be back in action next week.
So how screwed is the environmental movement, anyway?
The question is worth asking. You'd have to be pretty tone deaf not to realize we've all been dancing to a score that has hit a few sour notes of late: the failure of the Copenhagen COP-15 talks, Climategate, and last week's State of the Union address (with its litany of nukes, coal and offshore drilling).
An unfortunate series of temporary setbacks, perhaps, but there's still some good news. Polls to continue to show strong public support for climate legislation. A Washington Post-ABC News survey taken in December showed an overwhelming 65 percent of American favor government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, and these results mirror others worldwide. But that such polls could be commonly viewed as a barometer of green health is telling. Environmentalism has essentially become a single-issue movement, and this is as bad for our overall cause as it is the planet.
Who are you calling 'single issue?'
We owe An Inconvenient Truth a debt of thanks for renewing ecological discussion. Before 2006, when former Vice President Al Gore's book was first published, the environmental movement in the United States was largely on the ropes, reeling from six years of an unfriendly administration and largely off the cultural radar. A surprising hit movie and a Nobel Prize later, you can't walk down a store aisle without seeing energy-efficient bulbs and eco-friendly packaging.
This is progress, driven by the specters of rising global temperatures, melting glaciers, and castaway polar bears. But the very nature of this climate theatre has pushed aside — at least in terms of popular agenda — the fundamentals of environmentalism: clean air, clean water, and care for the biodiversity on which human life depends. As I've been writing for the past few years, there are numerous issues demanding immediate attention that cannot be shoved aside by a sole focus on climate change.
The problem with being a one-issue movement is it only takes a single game changer to bring everything to a standstill. We're living through one of these today, in the form of worldwide recession. It's really not surprising that COP-15 was a political failure, given the current economic climate. Our job hasn't been made easier by public belief that technology is somehow going to solve all our problems without significant social change. Like it or not, all our lives will be transformed by the Minimalist Century.
Back to basics
Climate change isn't likely to go away anytime soon, but it's my hope that environmentalists recommit themselves to at least five fundamental issues.
1. Strengthening existing environmental legislation: The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts have been chipped away by eight years of polluter-friendly dithering, and should be expanded to address the challenges and technology of the 21st century.
2. Radical investment in renewable energy: There's probably no more pressing issue than addressing the end of cheap oil. Finding scalable replacements for fossil fuels is essential to our environmental and economic health.
3. Restoration of ocean and forest ecosystems: Up to 29 percent of marine species have been overfished or so affected by human mismanagement that they are on the brink of collapse. On land, this destruction is paralleled by runaway deforestation.
4. Clean water for everyone: Over a billion people lack access to safe water supplies. This is a crisis — and it's likely to get worse under pressure from ballooning urban populations and a restless climate.
5. Promotion of sustainable, less consumptive living: This is my particular area of interest, and I'll be launching a new website this month, The Minimalist Century, to explore the coming revolution in personal and community lifestyles.
Just like the environment, the green movement requires diversity to remain healthy. We're only as screwed as our refusal to address the basics of environmentalism.
Chris Baskind writes about sustainable living, minimalism, and the environment. He's the editor of More Minimal, a blog about minimalism and sustainable lifestyles, and Lighter Footstep, where "Living Cheap Is the New Green." Later this month, he'll be launching a new site, The Minimalist Century (read more about this project here). Follow Chris Baskind on Twitter.
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Comments
Cam
02/04/2010 19:34 PM
Im an environmental scientist who once was a climate change hysteric also. Real data coming in over the past 5-7 years has now turned me into the ultimate sceptic to the point of being an agnostic. CO2 as a driver of climate is total and utter fantasy. The game is up.
And as a scientist I am sad, as real tangible issues relating to water quality, biodiversity, desertification, erosion, ocean and reef protection, chemical management and waste management are all being pushed to one side for.... More
Richard Cochrane
02/03/2010 13:25 PM
I think your missing the real point of the discussion here, that being the generation of responsible human beings to act as custodians of the planet and not all powerful masters. We seem to view the Earth as a resource to be plundered whereas in fact it is a world that needs to be nurtured.
Providing the public with incentives, and increasing the utility of cooperation (for example Green Shipping) is a step in the right direction.
We only have one world - let's not continue to wreak
marianne7
02/03/2010 11:55 AM
Enter your comments hereThe environmental movement as the fad of all the cool people is dead. Those of us who believe in responsible environmentalism, which includes the species homo sapiens, will be fine, tho we all cleared out of the organizations years ago.
Miranda
02/02/2010 20:49 PM
You live in a fantasy that alternative energy leave no mark or use less resources.. Bio fuel energy kills rain forest , takes agricultural land away, increases food prices and there creates starvation of people. It also uses too much water.
Windmills need a lot of infrastructure and certainly do not provide stability of energy. Windmills look awful and are dangerous to birds and people.
Solar energy has similar problems as wind energy.
You just replace carbon.... More
Konrad
02/02/2010 19:13 PM
I don’t see the environmental movement as totally screwed by the collapse of the AGW hoax. In fact the movement could be strengthened by recent events. Many people have had a negative view of environmental groups as they have allowed themselves to be used as a stalking horse for those with hidden political or financial agendas. The collapse of the AGW hoax gives the environmental movement a good chance to regain public trust. The faster this is done the more chance there is that the baby.... More
Christof
02/02/2010 18:54 PM
While global warming is a real problem, clearly influenced at least partially by the billions of human beings living in a tiny fishbowl globe and burning fossil fuels like crazy, there are so many other problems that the burning of fossil fuels fosters -- air pollution, lung damage, polluted waters lakes and streams. These are more tangible issues for many -- people can see the truck spewing carcinogenic diesel fumes in their face on the street corner and even taste the diesel. Global.... More
Derrick Mains
02/02/2010 16:26 PM
As the CEO of a company focused on attitudinal and behavior modification around environmental issues I really loved this article. Recently a major university published an report that starts with . . .
“The ultimate solutions to climate change are workable, cost-effective technologies which permit society to improve living standards while limiting and adapting to changes in the climate."
I about had a fit when I read this. Consumption is causing the problem and only a lack of.... More
Aaron
02/02/2010 16:11 PM
First, this article needs some copy editing. I saw several typos and clunky English uses throughout.
That aside, the environmental movement has been usurped by big money types like Al Gore and his banker buddies. Environmentalism is about real problems that need solving with the environment: pollution, over-use of resources, dead and dying species, and so forth.
Instead, it's become, as the author here says, focused on false claims of AGW and a series of disaster-laden,.... More
David Piller
02/02/2010 16:08 PM
I agree with you that it's time for us to go back to the basics of striving for the healthiest possible air, soil, water, and food we can provide for ourselves and future generations. Along those lines I've applied myself to the "single cause" of Industrial Hemp. While it may appear that I have a one-track mind, the truth is that hemp crosses the tracks of so many issues I care deeply about. The following is my take on how we can maximize the power of numbers that concerned citizens have not.... More
Norm
02/02/2010 16:08 PM
So . . . why does the blowup- in the climate change community shower tar and feathers all over the rest of the ecoactivist world?
Pretty simple, really. Once the movement as a whole adopted climate change as the big umbrella every other area of the movement would march under, all of the eggs were riding in the same basket. Rip the wheels off the climate change issue, with the other-worldly assistance of a group of the top climate change researcher committing just about every form of.... More
Diana
02/02/2010 14:57 PM
People allover the world have already waken up and seen this whole thing for what it is, meaning a total fraud, an international effort of power and money grabbing based on the marxist concept of "wealth redistribution".
On April 28 1975 Time magazine had on its front cover the title GLOBAL COOLING!!, with an article, signed by climate scientists, concluding that the Earth is cooling to the point it will all be covered in ice and all living creatures will die of freezing.
After a.... More
Adela Kostea,Chicago,USA
02/02/2010 14:52 PM
World class scientists are speaking out, exposing AGW for the premeditated fraud it is...
These scientists are not looking for government or private companies grants, they just express their opinions,honestly and openly.
The truth is out and the liers will soon have to face law suits in public courts.
.... More
Adela Kostea
02/02/2010 14:43 PM
The man made global warming lie was pushed upon children allover the world from kindergarden to universities, they were indoctrinated and innoculated with self hatred and guilt, by being forced to watch Al Gore`s documentary.
There must be a number of parents out there whose children suffered mental anguish caused by this fraudulent propaganda.
I even heard that some 12-14 years old kids developed suicidal tendencies based on the idea that their own existance was putting the Earth.... More
Mr. Xyz
02/02/2010 14:12 PM
"We've told so many lies, young scientists are totally confused"
http://climaterealists.com/?id=4960
(a video spoof of climate science)
rukidnme
02/02/2010 14:06 PM
You people have allowed your once revered movement to be taken over by chronic liars and fear-mongers. When the wheels fall off this global warming scam (they have already begun to), a lot of legitimate environmental concerns will be put on the back-burner for generations. You shouldn't be thanking Al Gore, you should be cursing his name.
Julianne Applegate
02/02/2010 12:43 PM
Thanks for hitting the reset button. In my opinion one critical environmental factor is missing, equitable labor. People in general and especially businesses should commit to more sustainable practices and to equitable labor practices too. Humans are an environmental element too. People who can expect to live a fair life can invest in the world around them and the future.
Julianne Applegate
02/02/2010 12:24 PM
Thanks for hitting the reset button. In my opinion one critical environmental factor is missing, equitable labor. People in general and especially businesses should commit to more sustainable practices and to equitable labor practices too. Humans are an environmental element too. People who can expect to live a fair life can invest in the world around them and the future.
Steve Janke
02/02/2010 10:18 AM
Chris, you make a lot of sense. For environmentalists, the risk is that issues not fundamentally an issue connected to global warming will be painted with the same broad brush. So do you plan to rework your minimalist page to remove the reference to the IPCC? These days, a reference to something Pachauri is just as likely to turn people off from what you want to say.
