Just Cause

By Vince Meserko

Friday, June 27, 2008

In the last post I commented on environmentalist's preoccupation with "saving" things and how that can bog down the debate and unnecessarily polarize the conversation. Environmentalists are often dismissed because they are seen, simplistically, as only interested in "saving" nature in order to preserve its natural beauty. Environmentalists are perceived as only being concerned with the aesthetics of the environment and the climate debate is often waged under those perceived dispositions. Environmentalists are the treehuggers and the rest of us are the realists. I would argue instead of "saving" nature we should be thinking in terms of regenerating nature's resources and restoring nature's productivity. Most importantly, environmental preservation should be viewed as an essential to protecting basic human rights.

For instance, instead of "saving" trees for the sake of preserving nature's serenity, environmentalists need to think about the people that rely on trees for survival. When trees are destroyed in Kenya, for example, it automatically reduces rural Kenyan farmers into a position of subservience. They are at the mercy of the government to provide the basic resources previously provided by nature. In this way, "saving" trees doesn't become an issue simply to serve the career interests of uppity, latte-drinking liberals, but rather, as a way of ensuring human needs are met in the world's most impoverished, subjugated populations. Environmentalists should assert their positions within the context of action (resource regeneration, tree-planting, seed-sowing) rather than reaction (perpetual whining). Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai is a wonderful example of the sort of proactive and re-framed environmentalism that I am most interested in. She started the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots tree-planting initiative to help rural Kenyans restore their natural forests. Here's an excerpt of a paper I wrote for my "Human Conflict and Peace" class.

"The planting campaign itself became an opportunity for part-time employment as nearly 2,600 employees were working in various regions in Kenya at its most active period. Moreover, the movement's reach has transcended merely economic benefits and has become a model of community empowerment and civic education and has allowed for informed decision-making that advances self-determination ... Without the civic literacy learned through participation in the Green Belt Movement, the farmers likely would not have understood how to effectively organize themselves ... Maathai's nuanced and holistic conception of peace sees societal harmony as dependent upon self-sufficiency. To her, justice comes with careful and fair resource management."

For more on Maathai, check out this interview with her from the Sundance Channel conducted by Simran Sethi. There's also a brief introduction and some pictures as well.

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Posted by mitzibel (Misty Nuckolls) on June 27, 2008 at 12:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Excellent.

Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on June 28, 2008 at 2:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Vince:

"I would argue instead of "saving" nature we should be thinking in terms of regenerating nature's resources and restoring nature's productivity."

This is the point at which we agree. I knew we'd get there.

I am reading this post as a welcome promotion of holism over reductionism.

Thanks for highlighting the work of Wangari Maathai.

Posted by justthefacts (anonymous) on June 28, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

George Carlin did a very interesting commentary on humans trying to save the planet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzME...

Just Cause

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