Aggregation

I have noticed, lately, a polarization over environmental issues. There seems to be a sharp divide between those who understand how important it is to change our way of life and embrace environmentally responsible practices, and those who either don't believe it is necessary, or don't believe that they can make a difference.

This is the greatest challenge that environmentalists face today - getting the reluctant and disbelieving masses to overcome their skepticism and their inertia. It is made even more challenging by the fact that today's world is overwhelming. We are all working long hours and are victimized by information overload. Too much is coming at us too fast. It is hard to get someone's attention, let alone make a convincing argument which compels them to change their habits.

My neighbor, who is a very intelligent man, has a hard time getting his brain wrapped around the changes he needs to make in order to do his part to save the planet. Not only that, but he is put off by buzzwords and slogans. I have to admit that often the media latches on to words like 'green' and 'sustainability', and phrases like "carbon footprint," and uses them with abandon. Its as if every journalist is shouting, "Me, too! I'm hip!"

I understand how someone (particularly someone who has not yet been convinced of the immediacy and urgency of the issue) can get a little tired of having every article they read, and every conversation they have, peppered with these buzzwords. Pepper is nice, but a good chef knows that it must be used judiciously. Use too much and it can leave a bad taste in your mouth. Use it too often and it soon ceases to have the desired effect.

So it is with some reluctance that I tender a new buzzword. But I have a strong belief that it can make a difference.

***

Epiphanies don't come often and they don't come easily. But I would be willing to bet that they occur often enough and to a wide enough audience that they can be considered part of the universal human experience.

It is an interesting and reliable phenomenon that when one has an epiphany, it is hard to understand why others just "don't get it." It is equally hard to keep from feeling superior because of newly won wisdom. But suppressing that tendency is important if you want to help others see the light.

So I must offer my new shibboleth with sincere humility.

***

I have a keen understanding of the dire consequences of mankind continuing down the same profligate path which has been followed for centuries. I also understand that it would be very easy to succumb to this fate. We all have a tendency to despair at complex, abstract problems - to shrink from enormous issues. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, and it is very hard to make meaningful changes in our lives. But perhaps one more touchstone might help.

In discussions with my neighbor and others I have noticed that there is a palpable tenor of helplessness and hopelessness. There is often an admission, sometimes tacit, sometimes reluctant, that perhaps the environment is in trouble. But along with these realizations there usually is the resignation of inevitability. The changes we need to make seem hard and the benefits hard to quantify. Why make an effort which most likely will entail some sacrifice if there is no assurance that it will make any difference?

That is why I need to interject a new byword into the environmental lexicon. It is because of a simple mathematical proposition that I am convinced that individual efforts do matter and individuals can make a real difference in the environment. I know it.

***

It is true, a priori, that the changes that I make and the changes that you make to use fewer resources and to preserve environmental integrity do not, by themselves, make much difference. But it is equally true that when many, many people take these same measures it makes a huge difference. It is the aggregation of small steps and small effects into huge steps and huge effects that will truly make a measurable difference to our planet.

The thing that we need to keep foremost in our consciousness is that individuals who come together with a like-minded focus and a unified purpose can overcome large obstacles. That is why, in addition to being green and reducing our carbon footprint, we also need to realize that aggregation is what will lead us to success.

I hereby propose 'aggregation' as the new environmental battle cry.

By remembering that our aggregation will allow a serendipitous accumulation of benefits, we can overcome our despair and our apathy. When we realize that we are part of a great effort which is propelled by great energy, we can resist succumbing to feelings of hopelessness. In our aggregation we will succeed.

Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people. -- Lee Iacocca

New(ly Discovered) Threat to the Environment

Our environment may already be embracing a new eco-challenge (as if there weren't enough already). Mankind, it seems, is ever ensnared by the Law of Unintended Consequence. More and more, the science that is intended to make our lives easier and safer, fosters malevolent byproducts and/or collateral damage.

It's Bad Medicine
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Yesterday, in Medical News Today, an article was published which details the results of a study of the environmental effects of antibacterial soaps. Aside from the fact that their usage yields little benefits over "regular soap and water," the study shows that the two primary, closely related, antimicrobials, triclosan and triclocarban have been accumulating in estuary sediments for many years.

"Now, Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University researcher Rolf Halden and co-workers, in a feat of environmental detective work, have traced back the active ingredients of soaps - used as long ago as the 1960s - to their current location, the shallow sediments of New York City's Jamaica Bay and the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary."

"'Our group has shown that antimicrobial ingredients used a half a century ago, by our parents and grandparents, are still present today at parts-per-million concentrations in estuarine sediments underlying the brackish waters into which New York City and Baltimore discharge their treated domestic wastewater,' said Halden, a new member of the institute's Center for Environmental Biotechnology. 'This extreme environmental persistence by itself is a concern, and it is only amplified by recent studies that show both triclosan and triclocarban to function as endocrine disruptors in mammalian cell cultures and in animal models.'"

Although these east coast estuaries were the focus of this study, the implication is that the same type of accumulation might be found anywhere. The entire article can be found here. The recommendation is that we limit or eliminate the use of antibacterial soaps. The research shows adverse effects for shellfish and crabs among other species, but, being at the lower end of the food chain, these organisms' decrease or demise could eventually propagate up the chain.

Mother Earth Knows
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An equally compelling argument for eschewing antibacterial soap can be found in an article at Mother Earth News, called Why You Should Abandon Antibacterial Soap.

This article states:

"Triclocarban (TCC) is one of the most commonly used antimicrobials and is also a pesticide. TCC leads to reproductive complications (for mammals) as well as cancer, and, for human babies, can cause blue-baby syndrome. When TCC residue washes down the drain, it's immune to water treatments, meaning that most of the TCC resurfaces in municipal sludge and is found in over half of U.S. streams. Since municipal sludge is often used as crop fertilizer, TCC can even potentially appear in our food supply."

It would seem that the risks far outweigh the benefits of these products.

There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments, there are consequences. Robert Ingersoll (1833 - 1899)

Motivated By My Mantra?

Are you convinced that it's time to take action on environmental issues but uncertain about how you, as an individual can make a difference? Here are some suggestions of some simple things you can do to make an environmental difference in addition to making your viewpoint known to your government representatives:

Replace your incandescent light bulbs with the new, high-efficiency fluorescent ones. And when those new bulbs burn out, dispose of them properly - not in the trash!

• Avoid using paper towels, paper plates and disposable cups whenever possible. Sure it will mean that you have to wash a few more dishes and cloth napkins. But for heaven's sake! How much of a hardship is that really? Have we really been seduced permanently into such laziness?


• Stop buying bottled water. This, when collectively embraced, can have a tremendous impact, not only by reducing the number of non-degradable plastics going to our landfills, but also by greatly reducing the petroleum being expended to transport those bottles from factory to retail store.


• Spend a little more money at the grocery store to buy organic produce. It helps the environment on so many levels!


• Start talking up your cherished beliefs to your family, friends, and acquaintances. Yes, you run the risk of alienating a few, but are they really the people that matter in your life? Perhaps you can start a family project that will have the side benefit of revitalizing your family life!


• Start educating yourself on all of the environmental issues. Read everything you see which addresses them.


• Educate yourself on the opposing views. You can't seriously debate anything without being prepared for the opposing arguments you will likely face.


• I'm sure you can think of other ways to get started if you truly realize that It's time!

Here is a good place to start your research. Here is another.

Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself -- Chief Seattle, 1854

Compromise and Win

There are some people who are so single-minded about saving the earth for the creatures who live here, that they forget that we humans live here, too. They would, it seems, throw the baby out with the bath water. Returning to a primitive lifestyle, eschewing technological advances, economic progress, and our modern way of life, is not only impractical, but it is also absolutely impossible.

Such naivete is a luxury that many in the environmental community refuse to give up. Their hearts and their ideals are in the right place, but their understanding of political reality is seriously flawed. Why be an advocate for a solution which hasn't a ghost of a chance of being realized? Why not expend your energies in a more productive venture?

Then there is the other side which values commerce above common sense. Ignoring the environmental impact of human commercial endeavors is the worst form of short-term thinking, and we’ve recently been shown previews of the evils of short-term thinking.

Short-term thinking puts this quarter’s profits above everything including long-term viability (Enron). It puts a company’s stock price and personal enrichment above its business plan (Worldcom, Healthsouth, Tyco, et al.) It puts profit from natural resources (oil drilling in the Arctic, the burning of forests in the Amazon) above the long-term viability of the ecosystem. Short-term thinking promotes the institutionalization and rationalization of greed -- it promotes individual aggrandizement at the expense of humanity. Short-term thinking jeopardizes the future health and the very viability of our planet, and short-term thinking is winning disciples who are eager to prosper at any cost.

On the one hand we have a coalition of environmental concern which realizes that a future without a robust ecosystem and flourishing wildlife would be a depressing prospect. They realize that when America the Beautiful ceases to be an uplifting hymn, and instead becomes an vapid, ironic dirge, the United States of America will no longer have the history to inspire, the resources to empower, or the political will to lead. When the resources are used up and the land is scarred beyond recognition the music of liberty will stop.

On the business and energy side, we have interests which realize that our productivity and the economic engine of our progress require fuel. Our military strength and our ability to defend our freedom depend on energy. Our world class economy and the employability of our citizens depend on power sources. To surrender our energy sources would turn us into a third-world country bound in extreme poverty and fearful for our autonomy and our very existence.

Both sides have their heels dug in for fear that to give an inch would lead to ultimate surrender of those things held dear. Both sides seem to want a better world and a motivated existence, but have great difficulty in compromising their positions in order to harvest solutions.

But solutions always lie in accepting reality and working with truth. We must accept the reality of our environment, our economy, and our technologies, and design solutions around the premise of ensuring our long-term survival as individuals, as families, as a society, and as a planet.

Environmentalists must realize that our economy and our very freedom depend on being able to keep the economic engine running and the wheels of progress turning. If we do away with technology and a fuel-consuming economy we will lose our way of life and risk losing our autonomy and our freedom.

Commercial interests must realize that raping and polluting our planet is a short-sighted philosophy destined to short term viablilty at best. If, in fifty or a hundred years, we have used up all of the oil and timber on the planet and destroyed the ecology and the natural beauty in the process, will we feel better off? Would life be worth living in such a world?

If either side gets what they want, no one will get what they want. Either of the extremes will result in the impoverishment of our society and the surrender of our nation to those that would destroy us and our way of life.

Green energy sources must be pursued, discovered, and developed. Clear-cutting, strip-mining, and fossil fuels have to be replaced with eco-friendly alternatives. But unrealistic environmental demands must also be replaced with feasible alternatives. Somewhere in the middle is a robust economy fueled by environmentally friendly energy and moderated natural resource usage. In this Utopian middle ground, metals, minerals, and fibers would be aggressively recycled and remediation of present-day pollution would become a self-sustaining industry.

We cannot deny economic and cultural progress and return to a pre-industrial age. Nor can we continue on the present path to environmental anihilation. In order to succeed as a nation and ensure a bright future, positions need to be altered, philosophies transformed, and hard lines softened.

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives. -- Sioux proverb

It's Time!

The environment is in trouble.

I believe it.

There are millions of American citizens who believe it.

With all of that Yankee ingenuity and American initiative to muster, one would think that this problem would soon go the way of the do-do bird. Unfortunately, this equation doesn't compute. Belief and action don't always coalesce.

Regrettably, it is easy to assuage our environmental conscience by sending some money to the Nature Conservancy or the Sierra Club, and then convince ourselves that we have done our part. It's easy and it's relatively painless. But money comes and goes too easily. Effort and action are what's required.

Although the pollution of our environment, deforestation, a general loss of habitat, and the degradation of our natural resources portend very dire consequences for our children and future generations, one can witness an appalling disinterest among friends, neighbors, and coworkers. The environmental laissez-faire attitude of our culture is downright embarrassing!

What will it take to wake these well-meaning but actionless environmental zombies out of their collective stupor? I start to get indignant and self-righteous, but then I have to ask myself, "What am I doing to help?"

The answer which rudely confronts me has inspired me to do a lot of self-examination. I grow weary of my own excuses.

In an attempt to overcome my inertia, I have come up with a new personal battle-cry: "It's time!"

• It's time to quit talking and take action.
  
  
• It's time to quit making excuses.
  
  
• It's time to stand up for what's important.
  
  
• It's time to resurrect the long-buried belief that I can make a difference.
  
  
• It's time to reawaken the passion I felt about changing the world when I was young.
  
  
• It's time to make the time to write to a congressman.
  
  
• It's time to take the time to educate my family, my friends and my acquaintances about my concerns.

There are many things that we environmentally concerned citizens witness that moves us to lament the sad state of the environment, but do we expend any effort to be part of the soution? Are we moved to action? We have become too comfortable, but we cannot afford to be seduced by our comfort any longer! It's time!

If not now, when? Will we go to our graves knowing that we could have made a huge difference in this world and the quality of life we bestow upon our progeny... but we failed to take action? Will we fail to even try? It's time!

Now is the time to start making a difference in this world because the time is extraordinarily propitious.

Have you noticed, as have I, the recent green trend that is invading (if not pervading) the national psyche? It's time!

Have you noticed that many more news stories are about environmental issues? It's time!

Have you witnessed the gradual acceptance of the theoretical relationships and ramifications of global warming? It has been transformed from "a crackpot theory" to a generally accepted doctrine. It's time!

Have you noticed the new trendy buzzwords in the national conversation, "carbon"and "sustainability"? It's time!

Our opportunity to truly build a better world has never been better! The popular wisdom has been primed. The “tribal knowledge” is amenable. The public receptivity for environmental issues is at an all-time high. The field for discourse is very fertile. It's time!

Will you or I be able to make a big difference overnight? Probably not. The solution is a process, not a moment.

Will we be able to have any positive effect in isolation? Maybe.

But isolated efforts would be so much more profound if they were combined in a confluence of voices and efforts - if they came together into a raging torrent of poignant synergy. Such focused energy would surely render a palpable example of how the whole can be much more effective than the sum of the individual parts. It's time!

Perhaps you think that you don't have the time? That is going to be a difficult misconception for you to correct. But I firmly believe that once you start this process, you will find that you do have the time!

Will you have to watch less television? Most definitely.

Fewer computer games? Assuredly.

Less Internet surfing? Of course!

Fewer unimportant calls on your cell phone? Hallelujah! You have a tremendous opportunity to turn those chats into something significant!

Do you need to reevaluate your priorities? It's time!

Today is the day. Now is the moment. I am changing my direction and feeling empowered to make a difference in this world and I am inviting all of my readers to do the same. I encourage you to take my new mantra and embrace it as your own. It's time!

Can we make a difference?

When you realize that "Ye are angels, if ye only but knew it," can there be any doubt?

It's time!

We will be forever known by the tracks that we leave. -- Dakota Indian saying