Thoughts on Environmentalism

I have just finished reading a wonderful essay on environmentalism, that was incredibly thought provoking.  I generally try to keep this blog relatively free of overly emotive posts (or at least keep them short if I do indulge), but I just felt like I needed to let this one out.  (And really, who actually reads this blog other than a handful of people?)  If anyone is interested, the essay is called "Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist," by Paul Kingsnorth.  I found it via Grist, and I found the email conversation at the bottom of the article to be particularly interesting.  

So here is my response...

I would like to think that I come to the table as an “ecocentric.”  I do not intrinsically value humanity above the non-human world.  If I’m being perfectly honest (which I try to do rarely, as it can come off as radical and scare people away) I actually value the non-human world above humanity.  The thought of a world entirely devoid of humanity is not scary or startling to me.  I actually find that thought rather calming and peaceful.  It reminds me of being on a mountaintop in the Appalachians, with no tin-roofed houses marring the perfect hills, or laying on the beach at night with no light pollution blotting out the spectacular, superhuman Milky Way.  So much of what I value in life is not a product of humanity, and thus an Earth without humanity, sounds like a marvelous place to behold. 

But the reality is that most of the world would see this as a radical view.  Not only radical, but also contradictory to, and in conflict with, their own lives.  They would hear me say this, and see me not as someone worth listening to, but as someone worth actively disliking.  They would pick apart my own contradictions (after all, aren’t we all walking contradictions?), twist my words, and overall make me out to be someone I’m not.  So I tend to keep these thoughts private.  Instead, I try to find mainstream arguments to support my thoughts.  This, I think, is what has happened to environmentalism.  We want no development, what we fight against is rabid development, and so we compromise at sustainable development.  This is not always a good solution, I will admit, but is it better to accomplish sustainable development than to watch a new freeway being built?  I think it makes us feel better, because we’ve at least mitigated even if we haven’t stopped. 

But I do think that sometimes we get too caught up in this public appearances battle.  We spend so much time and effort trying to convince people that our ideas and theirs can align, that we are not crazy radicals, that we forget the whole reason we started this fight.  Nature. 

I also think that environmentalism can be overtaken by other ideas.  While involved in the campus environmental group in college, there were many other organizations that wanted to partner with us, figuring that we were liberals, and they were liberals, so shouldn’t all the liberals want the same thing?  There were groups for legalizing marijuana, and Planned Parenthood.  We all supported the same things right?  The reality is, I was in the Green Club because I cared about the environment.  I wanted to learn about the environment, and share ideas with others like me.  I wanted to expand my environmental views.  I didn’t want to join other clubs.  If I had been as passionate about Planned Parenthood or legalized pot, I probably would have just joined those groups, wouldn’t I?  Sometimes the fringes join forces because they’re on the fringe.  On some level, we come together in solidarity and support each other’s groups.  But when it gets right down to the heart of it, we’re all after different things, and again, we lose sight of the nature that we set out to fight for. 

Reading Mr. Kingsnorth’s essay was very therapeutic for me.  It made me feel like I was not alone in this world.  I have always thought of myself as a short-term optimist, but a long-term pessimist.  I believe that things are worth fighting for, so I am an optimist.  But I also believe that in the end there is nothing we can do to stop humanity from going down this truly ruinous path of natural destruction.  In other words, don’t give up yet – don’t while away your life making excuses for doing things you don’t believe in.  You should at least be bold enough to try to live the life you want.  But also, realize that the world isn’t “[yours] to save” as Mr. Kingsnorth says.  Maybe the best option for environmentalists is just to take a walk.

Oh!  Now I have an idea! If the whole world could just for a day take a walk, maybe we could recreate some of the youthful enthusiasm Mr. Kingsnorth advocates.  I wish there were some way to just make everyone go for a walk.  If people could reconnect to the land they are in the process of developing, the nature they are destroying, do you think they would stop?   Or does that only happen in movies?  Food for thought...


*It should be noted that what I have chosen to include in this post is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of my reaction to this essay.  I swiftly wrote over 1200 words as my personal response to the essay, but many of my thoughts were tangential and did not seem to address what I wanted to get across here.  I'm not quite sure if anything came across, but I'm hoping for the best.