Filed under: Business + Politics | Tags: environmentalism, focus the nation, kansas legislature
“The arrogance here is that environmentalists ask not what we can do for non-environmental constituencies but what non-environmental constituencies can do for environmentalists. As a result, while public support for action on global warming is wide it is also frighteningly shallow.”
This particular paragraph made me stop while I was reading “The Death of Environmentalism.” It made me think back to Focus the Nation, when the panelists kept going on and on about what green habits each of them has adopted to “make the world a better place.”
Though I applaud each of them for their efforts outside the workplace (someone spoke of wanting his next car to be a hybrid, and another spoke of taking 2-minute showers), I am more interested in the efforts inside the workplace—i.e., the Kansas Legislature—that will become the norm, if not the law, for the whole state. Sure, everyone is interested in preserving the environment and cleaning up what waste has accrued, but when? When will environmentalism top the list, as the authors point out in their speech, of things to worry about?
I feel as though my skepticism is in line with that of the authors’. For this speech to have ruffled as many feathers as it did, you have to wonder: Why were people so taken aback? Is it because what these two said was right?
The biggest problem with the environmental movement is that there will be no immediate solutions or instantaneous results from our efforts. It took years of human pollution to take a toll on Mother Earth—now it’s going to take years of human action to reverse the effects. But we, as a people, are a NOW, NOW, NOW society that counts on miracle solutions to problems that take time to fix (think about all the insane things people do to themselves to lose weight!).
Environmentalists need to align with lawmakers to tackle this problem more efficiently. That means 1) no more blame game (we are all humans—we all contributed to this—it’s not a one party vs. the other things) 2) surrender to the dollar (make it evident how going green/saving the world will put more money in your pocket—in the long run, of course).
-Kim
