Monday, December 7, 2009

Quotes

"'If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.'"
From Hot, Flat, & Crowded
Thomas Friedman
p. 7 (quote from movie The Leopard)

"We cannot simply do nothing; neglect will not be benign."
From The End of the Wild
Stephen Meyer
p. 73

Saturday, December 5, 2009

"An ethic, ecologically, is a limitation on freedom of action in the struggle for existence." - Aldo Leopold, The Sand County Almanac

"These features of capitalism, as they are constituted today, work together to produce an economic and political reality that is highly destructive of the environment. An unquestioning society-wide commitment to economic growth at almost any cost; enormous investment in technologies designed with little regard for the environment; powerful corporate interests whose overriding objective is to grow by generating profit, including profit from avoiding the environmental costs they create; markets that systematically fail to recognize environmental costs unless corrected by government; government that is subservient to corporate interests and the growth imperative; rampant consumerism spurred by a worshipping of novelty and by sophisticated advertising; economic activity so large in scale that its impacts alter the fundamental biophysical operations of the planet--all combine to deliver an ever-growing world economy that is undermining the planet's ability to sustain life." - James Gustave Speth, Bridge At The End Of The World

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
- Margaret Mead

Friday, December 4, 2009

About the environment and our grasp

On the ride home from Philadelphia late into 2 am on Thursday, my dad brought up the topic of Global Warming.
He mentioned a recent article explaining that apparently quite a few scientists have been kept from stating their data that Global Warming wasn't affecting temperatures as much as scientists have claimed recently.
While I didn't read the study myself, it brought some realizations for myself.
Through the teachings and journals I have read about environmental issues, many of them revolving around predictions of damages in the future, how can I be sure that what I learn is correct without extensive research, meaning can I take anything for face value. I'd like to, I'd like to take my American History books for face value, but we've learned that they might not always be accurate. I wonder how what I have learned will play out in the future.
Later on my parents talked about my future in the environmental field. They wondered what the difference between environmental studies and science, I informed that if I become an environmental lawyer with a focus on an international level, I can help process and interpret current environmental law and push for more useful ones if need be.
I think, as I have learned from my parents in the past few years, if the word environment is used, it is automatically marginalized. If you use the idea of social justice or feeding the hungry or managing resources, these are listened to. It's because the environment isn't a separate issue, it's a concept that embraces all issues in itself; social, mental, physical, material, and immaterial.
In speaking to my parents, normally when I speak to my parents about the environment, it usually ends with my dad stating that science will solve everything and there is nothing I can do to convince him otherwise. However, I think two things have helped me in having better talks with him about the environment.
1. Framing environmental questions in terms of necessity rather than an "environment" theme. This means it'd be more effective to talk about flooding issues or food contamination rather than Global Warming or deforestation.
2. Studying more about the environment so that my dad assumes I am knowledgeable about the topic. My dad now talks to me about environmental issues because he knows I have been studying about environmental issues and gives me a set amount of respect.

Favorite Quotes

1. From Bill Mckibben's "Think Again Climate Change" article, "Unless climate change is de-ghettoized, the chances of making a real difference are small."

2. From Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. Chapter 6 "Bio-diversity": "Biodiversity doesnt only help us to live - it helps us to adapt."

Thanksgiving Conversations

Over Thanksgiving, I engaged my older brother in a conversation about the environment. I kind of went into it knowing that he would be the one that would be the most interesting to talk to, because while the rest of my family is pretty liberal and generally sympathetic to the environmental movement, my older brother is very conservative. So as I sat down to eat my Tofurkey for the first Thanksgiving ever, my brother asked me why I was a vegetarian. "Mainly for the environment," I said. This sparked a short discourse that covered topics such as organic food, climate change, and other issues pertinent to environmentalism. I found that my brother's views are mostly driven by one principle: self-interest. When I brought up the threat of rising sea levels for island states, he simply said that was their problem. He also said he refused to buy organic or natural foods because they were too expensive. So what do I think this says about try to present a convincing argument about environmentalism? In my case, I began to frame my argument in a way that emphasized government and corporate responsibility. I said that the government should subsidize green consumer options so they are more affordable. It was apparent to me that I could never convince my brother to become vegetarian or do anything intensive on the personal level. However, if I could convince him that we needed responsible policy, he would perhaps be more interested in the cause. When I mentioned increased business responsibility, he also had a hard time agreeing. His self-interested principles guided comments like, "well, a business needs to make as much profit as possible, and organic methods are more expensive." Again, I tried to convince him that the state needed to make these options that are currently fiscally unfavorable become a reality.

I think that when confronting someone about environmental issues, it is easy to become annoyed or angry, especially if they are seemingly ignorant about the issues. But I think what we need to do is make sure we take into account what kind of person we are dealing with: how do they feel on certain issues, what is their overall guiding ideology. This can better prepare us to frame a meaningful argument that makes environmentalism seem practical and compatible with their views. Don't offend or become defensive, note each one of their points and try to respond to it constructively. My conversation with my brother showed me that I could have an intelligent conversation on issues that I don't think he had ever even considered before. This is good news because we need to engage people, no matter what their political views, on the most important issue of our time. I think I am learning how to do that constructively and effectively.

Constructive Change?

From doing this exercise over Thanksgiving I saw the importance of not feeling like you have to convince everyone. I tried to keep in mind what Mike Maniates said in our video conference about how there are already enough people who believe in climate change and are concerned with it. We do not need to spend our time and resources educating people who do not seem to get it or do not want to accept what changes need to be made. This realization was especially important for me because had I tried to convince my grandmother or my great aunts and uncles then I think I would have had a completely miserable Thanksgiving.
It was very helpful to structure the talk I had with my cousin around the commercial. It was such blatant evidence of how the fuel companies are trying to manipulate scientific facts to maintain their consumer base in light of the recent environmental movement.
I concluded that its best to communicate with people about climate change in a calm way, using examples around you rather than trying to bring in abstract examples to illustrate a point. People do not respond well they feel targeted or accused of something so speaking in a general sense is also helpful. However, all these things help to facilitate conversations about what change needs to happen, its something quite different to cause actual change. I think to cause constructive change in our society the environmental movement needs to just bypass people like my grandmother and inject change right into the system with industry reform and clean energy alternatives.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Politics at the Dinner Table

Over Thanksgiving, I spoke to my Mom briefly about climate politics, but got very little useful feedback. Essentially, she acknowledged that "global warming" was a real issue, but she wasn't convinced that it was as severe as scientists make it out to be. She expressed her belief that carbon dioxide from cars and trucks should be reduced, but from my understanding, she didn't seem to understand that her lifestyle choices in consumption contributed to those emissions.

Drawing from more interesting conversations I've held with a friend of mine at AU, I believe that the most important thing to do in these discussions is to listen and remain as emotionally neutral as possible. Once the conversation becomes emotionally hostile, I feel that the stance of the environmentalist is oftentimes compromised beyond recovery.

After many, MANY heated discussions with my friend about how horrible her family's small fleet of Hummers are for the environment, she finally understood my viewpoint when I pointed out the fact that the air in her town was not her's to pollute. Before that point, she firmly believed that if she had the money to buy these cars and the fuel to run them, it was her right to do so. This was the point of contention for the majority of our arguments, and I had a lot of trouble addressing these issues in a successful way.

From those experiences, I learned that emphasis should be placed on the impact your decisions has on your neighbors--the idea that your decisions affect others as well as yourself.

Overall, I think it is important to remain as calm as possible during discussions(though it's extremely difficult at times), and to take the time to understand where the other person is coming from. It is often impossible to convince the other person to change their opinion, but it is NOT useless to listen. By doing this, we can gain a greater understanding of public opinion on controversial issues, and we can use that knowledge to create solutions to environmental problems.