"Sustainability is inevitable."
What do you folks think are the probable or potential near/mid/long term consequences of our overextended ways? If you anticipate consequences, what if anything are you doing to mitigate or encourage those consequences? We all want to save energy, conserve, live within our means, etc... What consequences really motivate us to do those things? Are we environmentalists because we fear the consequences of not being such? Is it economics? Are we preservationists? Warm fuzzy feelings? What is your bottom line motivation???
Global warming? Economics? Resource depletion? Do you believe that it will effect you? Your children, or theirs? How? Other consequences?
David Korten's Keynote Presentation Now Online
15 years ago
I have thought about this a lot lately as well. I have always said I am a humanist rather than environmentalist, because the whole point of conservation is to leave things of value for the future generations, ie humanity. I firmly believe that in a free market economy economics is the prime driver. I am not saying that should be the way it is, just that is it the way it is. "It is what it is" (my favorite line) is a similar expression of the feeling that change happens, it largely happens outside of our control, and all we can to affect it is to be efficient by realizing the path of least resistance.
ReplyDeleteIn the age of Obama we all become pragmatists, don't we? In my fortune cookie yesterday I got "Turbulence is natural, instead of trying to apply control to minimize it, we should embrace it and set ourselves free". Or something like that. I'm not sure, I was in a food coma by then.
I identify as an environmentalist for a number of reasons, including selfish ones (I would rather live near a field of wildflowers than densely packed McMansion suburbia) but mostly, I think for social justice reasons. Environmental destruction disproportionately affects poor people and countries. And I totally get Chris' humanist view – we aren’t doing this for the environment – the world will go on in some form without us. It is about the environmental consequences for people.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know about "the consequences for our overextended ways" but I think everything can relate back to the environment. For example, the current economic slowdown, for me, is a result of taxing resources we don’t have. As money is worthless except as an placeholder to indicate wealth of whatever (x) resource, one could conclude that our overuse of resources has depleted some things that we need to continue growth. It is getting harder to obtain those things (food, space, land, fuel), thus more expensive, thus we have less of them. Which means less growth, hence the economic slowdown.
Perhaps a consequence would be a long economic stagnation, maybe even a new sort of dark ages of regression.
I think this sort of cycle has happened frequently in the past and will continue to happen in the future. When life is “good” with suburbs and Walmarts popping up everywhere people can tune out and be selfish. When things get worse we start working with our neighbors and planting Victory gardens.