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| http://www.theloraxmovie.com/index.php#/splash |
The same messages I saw as a kid in the PBS public service announcements to "turn off the water while brushing your teeth," or "turn off the lights when you leave the room" are the same exact messages promoted today. Heck, you could probably show the exact same commercials from the 1980s if it weren't for the improved picture quality. Sure, those PSAs are fine for kids and may have instilled some values and appreciation for ecosystems in them, but adults are holding themselves to the same standards of their 5-year-old children. There hasn't been a lot of progress on the frontline.
Then we wonder why we are facing a dire climate with a lethargy that is not adequate to combat it and scientific reticence that does not translate into progressive policy reform. A culture of this my-small-part-is-enough and "the big shots (politicians and corporations and environmental groups) will take care of the rest" mentality has been cultivated over generations.
The same 5 year-old in 1990 who was told that all they have to do to save the planet is plant some trees and turn off the lights is now 27 and disillusioned into thinking that it is all a matter of personal choices at home. I can (insert small-changes-make-an-impact-planet-saving-scheme here) all I want.
At the end of the day, if the coal industry is still blowing off pristine mountain tops to get thin seams of coal beneath,
and the oil industry is still depleting the world's oil in a couple of centuries when it took millions of years for the earth to form it,
and the natural gas industry is pumping toxic chemicals miles beneath the surface contaminating some of the only naturally clean drinking water left in the world while spewing out methane when shale gas is burned (p.s. methane has a Global Warming Potential 25 times worse than CO2),
and the agricultural industry is still using petroleum-based pesticides that, following the chain reaction, will ultimately lead to hyper-resistant pests with no food for humans,
and all this is being done to hyper-concentrate wealth in a fraction of the world's population or for wasteful decadence at the expense of... everything else,
then my effort to (insert small-changes-make-an-impact-planet-saving-scheme here) is really not going to make much of a difference comparably. We're trying to get to the finish line by taking one step forward and 20 leaps backward.
I'm not saying that all is futile and you should just drive a truck that gets 5mpg or take hour-long showers just for the hell of it. But let's think about this logically together. Most (non-reticent) scientists believe we are close to a climate tipping point. That means that if we pass this point of no return, a genuine miracle will be the only thing to save us. We are going to pass that tipping point if the industry continues on its current path.
Right now, we are continuing on that path. All the things I mentioned above means we are continuing down that path. Pursuing the bottom of the barrel (pun-intended), dirtiest-of-the-dirty-burning oil in the Alberta, Canada Tar Sands, is continuing on that path. Actually, the Tar Sands (Keystone XL Pipeline) means we are virtually running down that path at full speed! (Click HERE to see previous post explaining the continuing tar sands battle in the U.S.).
So is the solution really monitoring personal choices, like taking shorter showers, using only post-consumer products, etc.? Or is that the maintenance work after we face the dire sources of the problem?
Here's one more just for fun:
IPCC, 2011: Summary for Policymakers. In: IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation [O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs‐Madruga, Y. Sokona, K. Seyboth, P. Matschoss, S. Kadner, T.Zwickel, P. Eickemeier, G. Hansen, S. Schlömer, C.von Stechow (eds)], Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Howarth, Robert, Anthony Ingraffea, and Terry Engelder. "Natural Gas: Should Fracking Stop?." Nature. 477.7364 (2011): 271-275.
Montzka, S.A., E.J. Dlugokencky, and J.H. Butler. "Non-CO2 Greenhouse gases and Climate Change." Nature. 476.7358 (2011): 43-50.
A question which I've wrestled over my self - "what are the cumulative effects of individual choices over climate change?"
ReplyDeleteOf course if everybody conserves water, then less water is being removed for the system. Yet over time with an increase of people the same amount conserved previous no longer reduces, but becomes consumed at higher amts and sooner the system collapses. The same could be said for oil, coal, gas, etc.... etc... The issues is no so much only an individuals choice, but the behavior/ world view. Using less does not necessary mean you're environmentally conscious. The society is in need of a paradigm shift from consumerism to sustainable stewardship. Certain behaviors can no longer be permissible.
I agree wholeheartedly and also sleep well at night doing my bit, showing friends how they too can live, by example, rather than following the dominant consumerist paradigm. My kids have been brought up this way and they are not suffering in terms of physical needs. We grow some of our own food, I'm using the products we have until they are no longer repairable, buying second hand or recycled material (which is more costly, by the way), catch water for use in the garden and toilets and pay a premium for our wind powered electricity. I don't care what anyone else has - I just don't like the idea of waste - we live in a society where obsolescence is built in and we throw away so much. I feel that if we spent more time and energy on relationships, instead of shopping, what a difference it would make to our whole lives
Deleteinteresting thoughts there
ReplyDeleteI believe it was the children who got Universal to place the tips on the website in the first place. Maybe the same 4th-graders can petition again to revise the tips section :-)
ReplyDelete"Fourth Graders Speak for the Trees and "Green" The Lorax Movie"
http://www.ecovote.org/blog/fourth-graders-speak-trees-and-green-lorax-movie
My question for you would be, what would you have us teach children? That the world is going to hell in a hand basket? It doesn't work for children and it doesn't work for adults. People need measurable changes that they can accomplish and if the problem is too big too often they shut their eyes and try not to think about it.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to challenge your assumption that individual choices do not make a difference. There are a lot of people on this planet and a lot of people making individual choices and those add up. I have worked in the field of pollution prevention and have seen tens of thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions reduced through individual choice - whether they are choosing at home or choosing at their business.
Do people need to be aware of issues caused by fossil fuel production? Of course. But protesting, signing petitions and voting can so often seem futile. Voting with our wallets is something we can do every day, something that keeps us involved in the issues, something that directly reduces pollution and something that reduces the profits of large polluting businesses. Yes, changing industries is more complex than that when you add in government subsidies and the like but the force of consumer demand cannot be discounted.
Very good post; very good points, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI think individual actions are required, but not as the end point for change, but rather as a prerequisite for the needed policy actions. Take a simple case: bike lanes. There would be no bike lanes if some of us were not brave enough to take our bicycles into heavy traffic and risk injury (I was slammed hard enough to cross lanes in the air) and death (like friends and a relative of mine). No one is going to build bike lanes if there are no bikes on the road. Another example is electric vehicles: there would be no EV makers unless some people were willing to pay a premium to own the first ones. So we must lead as individuals so that the "leaders" can follow us with policies that are needed.
ReplyDeleteOn a divergent topic, I see several videos mixed into the post. I don't watch them, especially commercial videos. I would rather give a child matches than a video screen. With the matches I could probably teach the child something, and risk that they would get hurt. But commercial videos have a much higher risk of making the viewer a moron; that is their purpose and they are very good at doing it. I value my brain and won't give it to them for free, much less pay to let them poison it.
Anon, I'd just like to address your divergent topic - television is not necessarily a demon just as a car isn't because it kills. TV doesn't make people stupid unless people are watching stupidly. Television is an amazing medium, it can teach a lot and it's all there in movement and word. This can make people lazy and almost suck the life out of them taking every waking hour. However there are great things to watch too, amazing artists and emotional stories. The rubbish many choose to watch though does cause one to shake their head in disbelief. With all the amazing talent we possess as a human community, and especially now when we seem to be undergoing some sort of renaissance, who would choose a vulgar reality show to a Nova program, or a to a live stand up comic, or any one of the luscious programs that are on tv. Many people need to wake up from a sort of stupor they seem to be living in.
DeleteI think it's true that arguing for personal consumer change is not going to get us anywhere near fast enough to save us from the catastrophe we're facing. Here in America we like to value the role of individuals in decision making above the influence of powerful corporate political forces, whether in our democratic process or in "free market" consumption patterns. I think this is a useful story for those actually doing the destruction. They turn the blame on us for buying the products they coerce us into needing.
ReplyDeleteDriving electric cars will not save life on the planet. Using energy efficient light bulbs will not undo the mass extinctions underway. Conserving water while brushing your teeth will save gallons, sure. But that's a drop in the bucket compared to the water use of industry, agriculture or golf courses.
If we're going to mitigate in some small way the ecological disasters unfolding we need to let go of the fiction that small individual consumer choices are going to make a great deal of difference. Then we can go to the root of the problem, which is industrial capitalism itself.
Capitalism just isn't cutting it anymore. It's got to be mitigated or done away with altogether. There are other systems, it doesn't have to be communism either. But it does seem to be socialism because that's what socio means, it's about people. Not the 1%, not the "upper-crust" not the ones who only have the money are the ones to get the resources. It's coming to the phase where people are going to be going without water because they won't be able to afford it. Is that what our economic system should do?
DeleteI feel that every little thing adds up to make a big difference!
ReplyDeletePosted by Kris Martin
As someone current undertaking a PhD in 'Nanna Technology', I find the issue of choice is key, particularly for women. I think this should be fostered as it underpins all social and political change.
ReplyDeleteCatherine McFaul
I agree that one simple action does not a planet save. However, personal integrity requires us to do all we can on the home front even as we work on the bigger picture. Think of it as compound interest (well maybe not these days) - it grows over time.
ReplyDeleteContact me with your email address if you would like a copy of a 2-page Family Action Plan from Green Irene. And find products you can use to have a greener home at http://www.GreenIrene.com/1144
It will help, but save the planet, I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteIndividualism can be a corrosive social force; however it is important for individuals to take responsibility for their consumtpion patterns. Vegetarianism is a good example where indiviudal choice can have a positive environmental impact while not damaging the broader society. In the abscence of effective political movements indivudal choice is important.
ReplyDeleteIs it not individual choices that have lead us to our current predicament? Countries are full of people making individual choices. Corporations are full of people making individual choices. If individuals are not responsible, who is?
ReplyDeleteIndividual change creates individuals who consider themselves as stakeholders. Stakeholders can be impacful when they go lobby for local, state, national and global change. People change things they care about.
ReplyDelete"think of it as compound interest."
ReplyDeleteEspecially When it comes to children these days, it is the most we can do to try and instill in them the very virtues of doing more with less, and having the mindsets that will be vital to them, for we would be doing them all much a disservice by not educating themnow on how they will need to live their lives in the upcoming years if there is to be glimmers of hope/somewhat stable, safe prospects for futures.
I don't think we can even imagine what our beloved children are going to be living like. Things are changing now never mind when they grow up. How many more places will the hurricanes strike that they have already recently struck? How many more summers are Texans going to go through record-breaking consecutive days of 100 degree plus heat and fires? Multiply that by every state, every country, the oceans, everything all being destroyed. We are losing our minds if we think we can go on even in our lifetimes, actually even now without knowing the effects of climate change. The weather is going ape. What about all the other environmental shockwaves which are going to strike back? How do we know that the oil in the ground is not depleting a kind of "cartilage" between the bedrocks which could trigger earthquakes like in the days before oil when the earth was still young? Seismologists are seeing unprecendented earthquake activity. Wouldn't that be something hey? It takes carbon collected from millions of atmospheres for oil to become oil. So when we pump all that carbon into an atmosphere in only a couple of hundred years, we're going to be getting a concentration of hydrocarbons causing a sort of shortage of oxygen. The best thing we can do is talk to people about this. Why should only the ones with awareness bear the brunt of turning the monster around? Our energies are well spent if we start demanding our politicians change direction. Get loud. Get sassy. Deniers need to be outnumbered.
DeleteThank you for this. Ethical behaviour should be expected, demanded, and mandated (via policy) for companies and governments. It is our individual responsibility to demand more of these institutions, not just ourselves.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Robinson
MA Environmental Education and Communication
I think it can make a difference. Starting w/ one person is the only thing that has, as the saying goes
ReplyDeleteThere are a large number of studies abt social influence; we tend to put belief into what the majority of other people believe. We also tend to follow the lead of people and organizations we view as trusted institutions and leaders. Doesn't Sierra Club come to mind, for social leadership on environment? Sure! When individuals know that their choices/actions are contributing, and especially when they are acknowledged by both peers and trusted institutions, those beliefs are reinforced and grow in their dispersion.
ReplyDelete++ Tom brings up a great point!! :
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental org.s as leadership and positive reinforcement for all the smaller things individuals can and will begin to do; so they don't feel alone, or too small, and can have a resource to turn to to see the Collective Effects of individual & community efforts!
it's cumulative and empowering to do individual items. it makes it feel bite-sized & managable on everyday basis to most people, and once it's attained can have a cumulative effect. YES, we need broad sweeping change to corporate practices and our public policy is so slow & lacking in this area that all these individual efforts may seem futile, but I think 1) it sets an example be it for kids, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc thus hopefully spreading and 2) many people who take the individual actions may find themselves snowballing into activism, careers in green, policy-making, etc. I guess every little bit helps, but no at this junction is probably won't 'save the world' - greed & dependance is so deeply entrenched that it may have gone too far so maybe all these little individual actions just give us hope.
ReplyDeletei realize i'm talking out of 2 sides of my mouth on this one, the article brings up a good point.
Julie we can't rely on "hopefully". We have to take matters into our own hands and get active. We have to stand up, speak out and demand change. Yes it's tedious. But can we afford to lie back and leave it to others? What if there are not enough others because they just are not taking things seriously enough or think that others will take care of it for them? If we steer things in the right direction the earth would probably heal faster than we think. What if we banded together and actually did change the "entrenched greed and dependence"? What if there were enough of us to force healing on the world and avert the worse? I bet we can if there is enough of us. Every moment we choose who we are going to be - the ones that changed the course of humanity or the ones that waited. The former are already busy, some for several years.
DeleteCould things change if individuals didn't change? I think that getting large groups of people to change their lifestyles is extremely important for lasting change.
ReplyDeleteOne morning I wake up thinking: Yes, my efforts will make some difference. Another day I read the latest papers on climate change and get depressed. As others have said already, I feel we are running late.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is something that certainly is worth doing: getting ready, gaining more skills (sowing, growing veggies, etc), becoming more self-resilient, as a person, as a family and as a community, learning to live with little, becoming more grid-independent, becoming vegetarian, enjoying that world around me that is at a walk distance, etc.
Many groups, such as the Transition town, work in this direction and after many years wondering what is that I should do, I believe that this is also my direction.
I don't know if my efforts will make a difference for the planet but if my family can learn to live more sustainably while connected to some type of network living nearby, this will make us more capable to adapt, logistically and psychologically. I will do my best to mitigate what is going to happen, but this will help me also to learn how to adapt, whatever happens.
MSc in Climate Change Management
http://ealingsustainable.wordpress.com
with billions of us here, corrupt leadership everywhere, corporate power that doesn't seem to care about the future, individual choices, especially "voting with your dollar (Euro, Yen, what have you)" is what IS going t make a difference.
ReplyDeleteYes! That is so right. That is using the language of accelerated learning.
DeleteAn important aspect of this enlightening discussion is to focus on your realm of influence. As individuals we can manage only a certain range of impacts. It is with these that we can try and be most strident. The management of imapcts beyond our immediate range requires to consent of others and it is here that we need to adopt patience and humility. It is worthwhile conducting your individual responsibilities in accordance with your principles even if this is in the face of political and institutional momentum.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly and also sleep well at night doing my bit, showing friends how they too can live, by example, rather than following the dominant consumerist paradigm. My kids have been brought up this way and they are not suffering in terms of physical needs. We grow some of our own food, I'm using the products we have until they are no longer repairable, buying second hand or recycled material (which is more costly, by the way), catch water for use in the garden and toilets and pay a premium for our wind powered electricity. I don't care what anyone else has - I just don't like the idea of waste - we live in a society where obsolescence is built in and we throw away so much. I feel that if we spent more time and energy on relationships, instead of shopping, what a difference it would make to our whole lives
ReplyDeleteI've heard some people say durable change requires 30% inspiration and 70% legislation. Change starts with individual inspiration, like valuing a stable climate for our grand children, without which institutions such as government and corporations have no incentive to change. However inspiration is not enough; it is too fickle and vulnerable to manipulation. Corporations and governments have become masters of psychology. They know how to manipulate us. So yes, recycle and ride your bike, but don't forget to vote, occupy or write letters, whatever you can do to get political, to transform inspiration into legislation.
ReplyDeleteIt's baffling to imagine what the CEO's of corporations are thinking when they choose to exploit more resources, cause more pollution and destroy more habitats. How can they prosper in the kind of world they are driving us all towards? Do they think they are going to be exempt somehow because they have money? I just can't understand what they must be thinking.
DeleteIndividual action is part of the solution along with education, but until we price goods and services to fully account for their true costs including all associated externalities, we will continue to operate in a dysfunctional system that encourages unsustainable behavior that is rational nonetheless within the distorted system. For full-cost accounting to be implemented, we need bold policies that include appropriate taxes, discount rates, regulations, and subsidies
ReplyDeleteDont forget that it is Individuals who change history, that is why women can vote and work (not everywhere in the world yet). The only problem is when Earth will go on "strike" people wont be able to see it because we will be extinct. So saving the planet helps save ourselves. And everyday choices helps you live healthier. By walking instead of driving you exercise and that improve your quality of life. Same with organic food, pollution etc. So by being selfish we can help the planet - and maybe she will let us stay here a bit longer.
ReplyDeleteAround half of our society refuses to recycle.
ReplyDeleteAnd we do not have time to wait for the next generation to get it right. We , our generation, are crapping in our own bedroom.
Okay, there are many other green lifestyle choices for us all but who is recycling is blatant every recycling day. Walk down your street.
Trust me, getting businesses to recycle (food in my case) is far easier. One person decides for many. When I used to bang on doors to get householders recycling food it took far more work for a thousandth of the results.
Who will persuade them of a better way?
Dont leave it to someone who wears a local government High Vis' jacket.
The local media just bash the councils every move (it sells papers).
National media fails because recycling schemes always depend on local private recycling commerce.
We need the FoE, Greenpeace etc to start targetting the biggest issue of all - Joe Public. They have done a good job of changing policy, but the unpleasant task of attacking people within our society, MUST begin.
LOL, most people won't even bend over to pick up a piece of litter they see as they walk along a street or path in a park let alone recycle.
ReplyDeleteAs far as attacking. That is part of the reason there is resistence. The human response to attack is to figuratively cirlce the wagons and resist.
Successful change begins at the most grass roots levels and works up, Successful change seldom starts at the top and works down. It only appears to do that. Unfortunately activists get confused. Frequently they start at the grass roots level and then attack or do someting that creates attention, but they also get push back.
If every day everyone would do something as humble as bend over and pick up a piece of litter and put it in its place, there would be hundreds of millions fewer pieces of litter each day, and we would be taking our first step to cleaning up the planet. Perhaps the next day people might pick up two or even three pieces of litter.
Of course we could try the alternative and attack litterers and disregard the stuff that is already on the ground. But, isn't that the failed policy of so many anti-litter campaigns?
Corporations and goverment taking reasonable ownership in sustainability will help preserve the plane for children... Not the other way around... Sadly, developing countries will not do their share until after enough damage is done to the environment to warrant attention and need to change ways...
ReplyDeletei think Kids need to learn more the environment and better sustainable ways ( green innovation projects to re- think the way old systems and old business models have crippled the world we live in to new green world though this involves national innovation systems that is governments, green institutions and muiltinational companies to agree in changing and educating the youth thanks for the discusions
ReplyDeleteWendel Berry praised ignorance, because with it there may still be life, & places we have not known to exploit or fix, often with our solutions even worse; like automobiles instead of horse manure; or continuing to use uranium for electricity while falsely claiming there are no fossil fuel emissions in its use, in addition to Chernobyl; Fukushima; cancer in children living near French reactors; and police states for plutonium waste. Another example is the recycling of alum. cans. Berg cites studies showing cans, with multiple toxic coatings, are too thin to be recycled. They are vaporized at the smelters and produce toxic air. Should I keep recycling my cans? I agree, too many environmental campaigns in the media are more feel good than problem solving. The most important thing is for kids to learn to share, but how can they when becoming adult means they may have more money and power. Then we do not keep sharing everything since that is for kids. I am 60. When I was a kid we got our first black and white TV, my mother got her first automatic washer, and her first car. Half the gadgets in my house would be unimaginable to my parents who were born 100 years ago. Yet they were largely happy as kids without the stuff I had.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add that to say "the third world needs to become more polluted" was used (in an opposite sense) by Larry Summers who Obama first named to head the World Bank. 'Lives are worth less in those countries, so our pollution can make them sick at less cost,' was in a famous memo from Summers. Another thing is we have too much specialization and division of tasks. This leads to a discconect between people, and for a faith in hidden experts. Our impacts need to become visible to us. For example California has cleanest power production, yet hidden from that view is the coal power it gets from Nevada that pollutes Native American land, as does our uranium mining. We have no idea how most things work in a time of "Bottleneck: Humanity's Impending Impasse" -- the title to William Catton's latest work, after "Overshoot" that he wrote 40 years ago. Which brings up the cult of progress, and that new things must be better. How can his older book be any good now. We will have a better future as long as we put up some windmills, PV, recycle more, & turn off the lights, etc. But as Catton adds up; since the industrial revolution there are not only 6 times more people, but an average 5 times more ecological wealth taken per person. There are giant prosthetics now serving as our hands, backs, and eyes; seeing into the earth for oil and minerals, explosives, and euclids for moving mountains. The Aral Sea dried up because the FSU rerouted the rivers. So 6 times more people times 5 times more impact is a further exponential jump to 30 times more ecological impact per person these days, and that is averaging in people who use 30 times less than people do in the US. We have peak: oil; greenhouse gas emissions; extinctions; water shortages; and so on. We need to use so many times less stuff, rather than to just live efficiently in the way we currently do. People living in various cooperative ways is great, the more they share. Places with links to people trying to make more radical changes are also good like at the Post Carbon Institute where there is also a link to Heinberg's excellent paper, "In Search of Miracles" about it takes energy to get energy, and the importance of conservation. Even permaculture sites, and transition towns movements are good. Also I highly recommend groups like the Worcester Energy Barnraisers, because while the energy savings from their project may not be tremendous across the city, people are becoming empowered to do things themselves, to seek solutions, and realize there is no wizard behind the screen of a thermostat, recycling bin, nonprofit, or the banking system. Children need to see us walking the walk, and take part in it. Now for my disclaimer. After praising ignorance I became a know-it-all. The truth is there are a couple of amazing adults in the world today despite my wife and I having known almost nothing about kids, and yet because I know next to nothing about raising chickens I have yet to take the step of raising them for fear they will come to harm under my care. We are afraid to do things wrong. I think with some children around, like neighbor's children, I would dare to take the next plunge, and then the next.
ReplyDelete