Mine, all mine!

So, I have my blog back, as my professor put it. Am I going to use it? I don't know yet. However, there are some other things that I do know:

I know that I have a week and a half left in this semester before I return to Boston. I'll be living with my brother Michael again at his place in Medford and interning at EnerNOC where I worked last year.

I know that by nightfall on June 19th, I will have a sister-in-law, as the aforementioned brother Michael marries his fiancee of three years. I know I'm looking forward to that weekend.

I know that later in the summer (though I do not know exactly when yet), Michael will move to the west coast to get ready to attend grad school at Berkeley in the field of sustainable energy. This means me being happy for him, and it also means a slight change in my living arrangements from that point in the summer onward.

I know that this fall, I will be taking courses that I'm very excited for. All of my classes follow a "I liked it the first time, so I'll probably like more of it too" pattern:

• Seminar in Human Motivation: Intrinsic Motivation. I took the 200-level version of this course last year and loved it; now I'm back for more with the same professor and a similar topic at the 300-level.
• Topics in Peace Studies: Conflict Resolution Skills. There's been a lot of discussion in the Peace Studies department lately about how students feel like we talk a lot about building consensus and using mediation techniques, but we never actually learn these skills. Some of these discussions later turned into informal skills workshops run by faculty and students, which have been great. Perhaps part of that discussion lead to one of the professors offering this course next semester.
• U.S. Environmental Policy. My current enviro class has been great (the one that I've done these posts for) so I'm taking another enviro course with the same professor.
• Internship with United Workers. Working with that particular non-profit has been incredibly educational for me, especially this past semester, and I believe by spending more hours a week with them, I'll be able to learn more about community organizing and running or being part of a campaign.
• African Drum and Dance. I'm coming back for round 3. I still don't even really think of this as a class; it's just a fun thing to do that they happen to give me credit for.

I know that this fall, on October 10th (10/10/10) there will be a massive global work party organized by 350.org. Baltimore will be the site of just one of the thousands of events happening worldwide that day. As it stands right now, we're trying to get as many local groups involved as we can. We're still early in the planning stage, but I know it's going to be awesome.

Of course, I use "know" loosely. I say "know," but I really mean, "These are my current plans, but all things are still possible." I don't know where the universe is going to lead me, but I'm excited about it. Yay life!

Response #8: Nature vs. Nature

I appreciate Berry's willingness to break down the typical environmental discourses. Basically, he points out that we see nature either as a pool of natural resources from which we can and rightfully should take everything we can, or we see it as a beautiful thing to be protected because we are really just part of nature and when we hurt nature we are only hurting ourselves. These have natural parallels in Dryzek, namely Promethian and Survivalist, though the survivalist parallel is more tenuous. Then he points out that, although the survivalist mentality is closer to accurate, viewing ourselves as "part of the natural world" doesn't really tell the whole story.

Berry states very well a point that I've tried to make before, though never done as him. Our definition of "progress" is leading to our own destruction, and that's no progress at all. Once again, it's not about saving polar bears because they're cute, and it's not about planting flowers because they smell nice (although Berry isn't inherently against those things). It's about a recognition that helping nature thrive helps us thrive, as the survivalists say, with the caveat that it only works if we know exactly what we're doing. We don't need to leave nature alone, as some would say. We can help nature. But we also need to be aware of the difference between helping nature and spraying nitrates which double crop production. There are short-term and long-term effects, and the long-term has been ignored.

Last, and most importantly, I'm going to restate the point I made two posts ago, because Berry says the exact same thing. Nature conservation areas were a good idea to get us started on the environmentalist path, but really, it's an illusion. Everywhere needs to be a conservation area, in a sense. Farms, forests, cities, etc. Of course, they'll look different than what we think of as a "conservation area" today, but they will all be operated under the same principles.

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Side note: I've had some experiences with the "so-called nature lover" phenomenon this week worth sharing. A friend posted on his Facebook status how annoyed he gets when people shake cherry blossom trees so that they can get a picture of them swirling around in the wind. I said early on that there is a difference between a pet owner and an animal lover (though they sometimes line up), and similarly, there is a difference between a person who thinks cherry blossoms are pretty and a nature lover (though they sometimes line up). Many people I know aren't willing to make the leap and say that every living thing is worthy of care. Unfortunately (or fortunately, really) we can't just protect the pandas and butterflies; we also have to protect the snakes and algae and spiders.

Response #7: Goucher

To my friends: I know, my blog got all formal 'n' stuff. I apologize to anyone who's disappointed, which means you, Eli Moss, the only person who reads this anymore now that I'm not in Denmark. Hi Eli!

So, what do we do at Goucher, and what don't we do?

Well, I see the school taking some steps towards environmentalism, all of which are admirable. Our dining services do a good job, and we have a very efficient heating and cooling plant. However, we miss the boat on some fairly obvious measures. I somewhat accepted reliance on paper as a fact of life in college until I went to Denmark for a semester. All my classes either encouraged or required that we hand in papers via e-mail, which were returned with comments via "track changes." No paper involved. So, why don't we all do that? Well, professors here have reasons that are understandable, but I'm not sure if they're sufficient. Most of them fall back on "I don't want to stare at a screen all day," or a lack of desire to learn a new piece of technology.

In order to get any kind of environmental initiative pushed through, it has to start with student action on a large scale. The school rarely actively opposes initiatives except on the grounds of funding, and even then they don't push back very hard or for very long if the suggestion is unambiguously the right thing to do. So, in truth, all we have to do is ask. Only a few years ago, SGA made double-sided printing standard on environmental grounds; it's just a question of how much we want it. Of course, the difference between reduced-paper and paperless is significant; nobody really opposed double-sided except for a few professors who were sticklers for proper academic format, and even then they didn't really care that much. Students and professors will oppose a paperless classroom much more.

That said, there are certain things that absolutely should be digital. The course syllabus should always be online, as should reading handouts. Even if a few people decide to print it on their own, we're still saving tons of paper. I'm using very specific examples, but the point is that in nearly all cases, the thing that we could be doing better is raising more of a fuss. The school only very occasionally makes a move on their own without student demand.

Response #6: IPCC

Unsurprisingly, the 2007 IPCC report and its summary were brought up quite frequently at Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen, giving me another opportunity to discuss my visit. (Hey everyone, did I mention that spent last semester in Copenhagen? I thought some people may not have picked up on that yet).

The report took several years to put together from hundreds of pieces of scientific and sociological literature, and by the time COP15 rolled around only two years later, some of the data was said to be out-of-date by climatologists. In fact, further research done in 2007 and 2008 pointed at climate change occurring even more rapidly and dangerously than that predicted by the IPCC. This seems to be a recurring trend. Perhaps due to fossil fuel lobbies, greed, naivete or some other factor, but we seem to think that climate change is not as big of a deal, only to find later that we should have taken action a long time ago.

On page 15 of the report summary, there is a table of how various sectors could improve in the area of environmental sustainability. In almost every category, after a series of specific suggestions, is the idea "incorporate climate change concerns into design and daily practices" or something to that effect. This points at an important goal of environmentalism. A Department of the Environment is important, and many countries have one in some form or another. However, the goal of any environmental bureau should be its own obsolescence (credit to Ailish Hopper-Meisner for teaching me that concept). A government cannot have a Department of Energy build new coal plants and a Department of the Environment create conservation areas and claim to be meeting everyone's needs. Environmental concerns will not be met as long as they are considered separate from other concerns. They must be integrated into every aspect of society. The IPCC does a good job of showing the magnitude of the problem and pointing out that it cannot be solved by disjointed efforts.

Response #5: Multi-faceted

In chapter 6, Speth focuses on the multitude of socioeconomic factors that go into calculating environmental impact. I appreciate his willingness to depart from the "old model" (that is, IPAT) and recognize the many other factors involved.

Matt brought up a great point in class a few weeks ago about the unfairness of using population as a factor with such prominence. Environmentalists are more or less in agreement that more people leads to a greater environmental impact, but the population factor is not of equal bearing with affluence, technology, or any of the seven other factors Speth lists. To paraphrase Matt's point, one average American child will consume more resources in his lifetime than fifty average children in the developing world. Therefore, limiting population, especially in the developing world, is a band-aid solution at best and a dishonest and unjust non-solution at worst.

The third factor, technology, I feel is also misapplied. Speth does a good job of clearing things up. It is not inherently the development of new technology that is the problem, but our unwillingness to change the definition of "progress." It has been pointed out by many environmental leaders (including many at Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen) that we have all the technology we need to solve nearly every environmental problem we are facing. We can create a sustainable electric grid worldwide, produce the things we need in a nearly waste-free way (see: Cradle to Cradle), and keep CO2 down to safe levels. Our problem is not that we need more technology. Our problem is that we have not committed to the applicaiton of technology. For example, once we have started building the number of wind turbines we really should have in the US, then we can always upgrade or switch to new methods when more efficient wind turbines become available. In the meantime, we ought to get started; the tendency is to say "the technology is not ready yet" when in fact, it has been ready for anywhere from 10-50 years, depending on which aspect of climate change we're talking about.

What does this say about us? Well, to repeat a point I've made at least three times in previous posts, we're always looking for excuses to be passive, when this is a problem that requires us to be active.

Response #four-and-a-half: Charismatic Megafauna

A screenshot which I think aptly illustrates the "charismatic megafauna" effect described in response #1 (click for larger version):

Response #4: More Opportunities to Bash Free Market Economics

Ah, yes. The old "free markets would solve everything if only those stupid governments would stop getting in the way" approach. How I missed thee. Dryzek chapter 6 focuses on the market, and the discourse in which the market can solve all of our problems. While Dryzek does poke holes in this discourse, as he does with all the discourses, I want to add a few that he missed.

On page 124, Dryzek notes that "owners of forests that could not be logged economically would keep them as wilderness areas or invest in wildlife conservation in order to attract hunters or photographers, who would be charged admission to provide income for these conservation investments." While Dryzek later points out that privately owned conservation land often end up being sold to developers, he missed an opportunity to make a broader point: conservation lands need to simply exist. We cannot just save forests that people want to visit, hunt in, or take photographs of. That is not truly a market solution because there are only so many hunters and photographers and only so many people taking vacations at any given time. The entire model relies on the assumption that photographers are a major economic actor. I can think of few wildlife photographers who have the kind of money required to make conservation a good investment. In the end, a forest that is not commercially viable for logging will now (most likely) eventually be commercially viable for logging, or at least for something, and whatever that thing is will probably make the owner a lot more money than conservation. Therefore, by this model, the forest will eventually be cut down. Therefore, we need a system in which forests are allowed to simply exist, regardless of whether we are actively using them for something (because we passively use them for regulating global CO2 levels, among other things).

In my high school economics class, when we were studying Adam Smith's notion of free-market capitalism, my teacher was quick to point out that even the most hardcore, bottom-line, anti-regulation capitalists admit that governments have certain responsibilities. Namely, governments must handle pieces of business that are in the best interest of everyone, but no individual has any reason to take care of. For example, ensuring drinkable water: no individual will clean a whole reservoir, but collectively everyone around needs the water to be clean. Smith lists other examples including education, the prevention of monopolies and maintaining an active military*. So, Dryzek is making a straw man argument in parts of this chapter. I'm not sure there are truly that many free-market capitalists who believe that a healthy environment will happen when every single piece of air, water, and land is owned by an individual or firm. All but the most extreme capitalists tend to back off when it comes to certain issues like drinking water. The government does have its place, and that place is to protect the people when the market does not protect them.

*I find this somewhat questionable, but he was writing in the 1770's, so I'll cut him some slack. Anyway, while I'm staunchly anti-military, I suppose if one has to exist I'd rather it be run publicly, by the government, than by a bunch of rich people each with their own private militias.

Response #3: Promethians are Environmental Obstructionists

A bold title, I know.

Dryzek barely hides his own contempt for the notion that we can solve every problem by figuring out how to exploit new resources, or exploit old resources better. The Promethean argument extends as far as saying that we will eventually figure out how to harbor yesterday's pollution into today's energy source, which Dryzek compares to alchemy. There is only really one central point where I agree with Prometheans, but then feel that they take their argument in entirely the wrong direction.

I absolutely agree that there is no limit to human ingenuity. We are amazing creatures and can come up with a solution to any problem we put our minds to. However, unlikely Prometheans, I would argue that this is what we are doing right now. While the Promethean viewpoint appears to be, "we're smart, so we'll learn to live with global warming, depletion of resources, and pollution when the time comes," my viewpoint is, "we're smart, so we'll build wind farms, a smart grid, and take a sustainable approach to logging." Yes, we are incredibly resourceful as a species. That's why many of us are trying to nip this problem in the bud now, rather than wait for the economic tipping point.

At the risk of simply restating Dryzek's point, the Promethean viewpoint is unabashedly capitalist, and sees no other form of progress other than continued accumulation of things. It relies heavily on the use of misleading statistics such as global averages, which fail to account for regional differences. For example, it includes the absurd notion of "trickle-down economics," by stating that mean global increase in wealth equals increased prosperity and ability to solve new problems as they come up. In fact, what is happening is that one part of the world is accumulating wealth, and when these new challenges come up, that part of the world will be fine while the rest of the world is left by the wayside.

This time, in answering the question "what does this say about us?" I can't help but be a little sarcastic. It says that many of us in the wealthy part of the world are comfortable living the way we are living, and will come up with any excuse to protect what we feel is rightfully ours, regardless of whether or not we earned it. We are willing to cause very direct harm to people in other countries, or even the poor within our own countries, as long as it can be rationalized in terms of progress or blamed on some other factor. Critical? Yes. Harsh? Absolutely. But I can't see any other way of putting it. This is happening right now, and it's going to take a lot more pressure and education than previously thought to convince Prometheans of the error of their ways.

Fantasy and the Art of the Mundane

Note: this is not a PSC140 post. Scroll down for my environmental blog contribution for the week of 2/8/2010

I've had a few conversations with friends recently about growing up in a world filled with wizards and magic spells. Somewhere between video games, books, movies, and role-playing, many of us spent our childhoods in the backyard with a boffing sword, holding off hordes of imaginary Chaos Warriors (yes, I went for the obscure Hero Quest reference). I've been thinking back on that a bit lately, and I've got a few thoughts about my own childhood that I want to try to iron out here. There are references in this post that not everyone will get, but I'll try to keep it accessible, such that with context clues, you can figure out what I'm getting at (if I haven't already lost everyone with Hero Quest). All references to "Avatar" are to "...: The Last Airbender," not James Cameron's recent film.

First, magic (and other magic-like things, such as elemental control in Avatar) seem to only exist as a backdrop to war. It's especially black-and-white in video games like Final Fantasy or non-video games like Dungeons and Dragons. Magic is a weapon, and nothing else. In an RPG, you would never waste your precious spell slots/points on a spell you're not planning on blasting goblins with. Maybe an occasional spell such as invisibility, so that you can sneak up on a goblin before blasting it. But that's about it.


(Gandalf with his Instant Comedy Sticks. Just add fire!)

In books, the world is typically more complex and developed, but the non-battle applications of magic are still limited. Gandalf makes fireworks for the hobbit children. Avatar Aang amuses children with spinning beads. But it's more for comic relief than any actual plot purpose. Much to my own surprise, the one counterexample I could think of was one of the most pop-culture-ish interpretations of magical worlds: Harry Potter.

The world of Harry Potter leaves room for day-to-day magic use. It's the only system I can think of where there is a spell for cleaning a room. There are magic objects that serve "mundane" purposes, like pensieves, or the Maurader's Map. Sure, they end up being plot-relevant and in the book exist only to further the fight against Evil. But it is made clear that the Maurader's Map was created for common childhood pranks, and that was it.

J.K. Rowling took steps to create a world that is "normal" except for the inclusion of magic, and I think that's noteworthy. It may be part of the reason why the books were so compelling. But at the same time, I sometimes felt like she stopped short, and created a number of spells and items that only existed for Harry and friends to find. The one I joke with friends about most often is the "patronus" (from the third book, but used again later). It appears to serve no purpose other than scaring away dementors. Which are something that the average wizard never ever encounters. Yet, it's set up as an important spell that every wizard would know. There are hundreds of these convenient set-ups in fantasy stories, and we, the readers, wouldn't have it any other way.

A second thought is that fantasy worlds tend to be completely black-and-white in terms of good and evil. Granted, other genres fall into the same trap, so we're not talking about something unique to fantasy. Still, it's worth noting that we're comfortable with our Saurons and Voldemorts and Kefkas and Firelord Ozais, and the list goes on. One of my favorite comics points out the limited nature of this setup.


(The classic D&D "alignments")

So, this all got me thinking. What if someone created a comprehensive fantasy world, with as much richness of history and detail as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, (or even MORE history, perhaps). Then someone took that world, and *didn't* turn it into a cataclysmic battle of good vs. evil. Would anyone read it? Would it be engaging? Could a non-epic story be told in an epic fantasy setting? If properly written, could it be deep and nuanced? The only thing that's coming to mind right now is a modern Hollywood romantic comedy set in a fantasy world, and that's actually the thing I'd *least* want to see created out of this little brainstorm.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I know how to define the problem I'm having. Regardless of the medium, the fantasy world is a place where pretty much any action is justifiable if the enemy is "evil" (see comic linked above). And if the enemy is not human, it's even more justified. Maiming evil humans sometimes require a degree of moral turbulence, but nobody ever feels bad for an orc. Again, fantasy is not the only genre to oversimplify good and evil, but it's the one I grew up with. I see fantasy, along with a million other forms of media, as continuing the notion that the world is black-and-white. Without some other counter-balancing perspective, it becomes easy to see criminals as The Bad Guys, rather than human beings screwed by a society we create and control. It's easier to view greedy CEOs as People Who Should Die, rather than people who need a new kind of education.

I guess what I'm asking is this: in a few years, when most of the world has figured out that we've been missing the point for most of human history, and that widespread cooperation, respect and trust are truly the basis of civilization, and that there is no such thing as Good and Evil, and that we are all just People... when all those things happen, what will fantasy look like?

Response #2: Review

Before we started reading Red Sky, it was mentioned in class that the book was a good summary of environmental issues. Unfortunately, that's all it has been for me so far. If I hadn't just spent a semester in Copenhagen learning about these issues, it would have been the perfect book for me. Unfortunately, it's ended up being more of a review so far. Hopefully later chapters will present new information. For the record, I'm not writing this to be smug about my vast, unending knowledge of environmental issues or anything so bold. Merely pointing out that this book is a summary, and is review for folks who are already involved. That said, it is incredibly well-written.

One piece of information that stuck out the most was the 450ppm C02 target. It was only three years ago that studies confirmed 350ppm as more of a "safe" target (safe in quotes, because even 350ppm will result in significant climate change). Perhaps seven years ago, during the writing of the book, 450ppm was still seen as a reasonable target. Now, further research has debunked that.

These constant readjustments seem to mirror a larger issue in our society of wishful thinking vis a vis global warming. We are constantly saying "maybe the problem will fix itself" or "maybe we'll only have to make small, incremental changes in our lifestyle." In reality, environmental issues have always required a complete overhaul of society, but we have never collectively risen to the challenge. Even if 450ppm was still considered "safe," we're on track to pass that in only another 20 years. What does this say about us? Well, first and foremost, we're comfortable living the way we are. We don't want to change, even at the expense of those who will suffer the brunt of the consequences despite their lack of contribution to the problem. Even more than that, it says that active environmentalists need to ramp up their efforts more than ever before. Helping educate people who don't know about the environmental issues, and helping mobilize people who do. That's the next step (and coincidentally, the next chapter in Speth).

Response #1: Saving the Cute Animals, and other missed opportunities

"Defending species on a one-at-a-time basis has proven politically treacherous, at least beyond the defense of bald eagles, bison, and other charismatic megafauna." - Red Sky at Morning, James Gustave Speth, p. 25

More than any other, this snippet from the Speth reading caught my eye. While serious environmentalists generally have a sense of respect for all forms of life, it can be difficult to rally the public around the idea of saving a rare snail or fern. While saving the whales is important, the whales have somewhat hogged the spotlight for the past 40 years. Smaller, less iconic, less "majestic" animals get little press.

It brings me back to 2007, watching the film "Happy Feet," which does do a good job of presenting overfishing in a way that is accessible to children. But I ended the movie feeling that the point was, "Let's save the penguins because they entertain us with their wacky tap-dancing antics." The film presented this as a triumph, but for me, it more closely resembled a scene in a different animated film: the scene in The Lion King, where Zazu is being forced to sing for Scar's amusement, and if he stops he will be fed to the hyenas.

At the end of the chapter (p. 42) Speth notes that the cost of a well executed nature reserve plan would equal the amount of money spent on pet food annually by wealthy OECD countries. Pet owners are often mistaken for animal lovers, and while those two groups sometimes overlap, they certainly do not always overlap. I frequently meet pet owners who love their pets, but care little for other animals. While there are clearly much better ways of funding conservationism, I appreciated the notion that a sudden abolishment of pets could free up enough money to meet present and future forest needs.

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Side note: Comedian Denis Leary also has something to say about saving the cute animals (first 1:20 of the clip. Contains profanity, and quickly devolves into some disturbing imagery after about 1:30).

Two Point Oh

In an unexpected turn of events, I have a school assignment to keep a blog (for my environmental studies class, no less). So, it turns out that I will be using this again after all. For my friends and family who were reading my Copenhagen postings, there's nothing stopping you from keeping this up, but expect me to make quite a few references to books and articles you haven't read.

Consider this blog rebooted!

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*whirrrrrrrr...*

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*BSOD*