Ecomyths is a blog designed to help people think for themselves. Empirical data are contrasted with theories to examine axiomatic myths: ideas taken to be so well accepted that they don't need to be proven. It seeks to change ideas, correct fallacies and challenge dominant constructs by having people read, think and reflect for themselves about contemporary issues. Facts don't change your perspective. Your perspective changes your facts.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Samizdata quote of the day

Here from Samizdata is a quote that gets more profound the more you consider its implications:

Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.

Isabel Paterson, The God of the Machine, 1943.

Environmental issues today are not a function of a lack of information, knowledge nor technique. Generally, they are not a function of neglect. Rather they are the result of well intentioned interventions wherein the people advocating the particular course of action are precluded by their ideological perspective from altering the path they have set out for themselves. This is the case with climate change, waste management, energy policy, habitat preservation and water management.

Resource management is not constrained by lack of information, by its foundational science: it is bounded by the rationality of the people making political decisions about the management of human activities and the agendas individuals bring to the policy arena.

O.K., so why does this situation persist? Good question. Phillip Stott has this answer:

To me, that is one of the most maddening things about the environmentalists’ pre-occupation with the issue of global warming: it is driving out virtually every other environmental issue and is eviscerating the concept of individual responsibility for dealing with environmental problems on a local basis.

Highlighting global warming as a priority makes every other environmental concern secondary. The political and scientific zealotry with regard to global warming has taken public attention away from a host of legitimate environmental issues.

Concentrating public attention and efforts on combating global warming has swept these genuine environmental issues under the rug and has made dealing with the environment a governmental issue instead of one in which all of us can play a constructive role.

Problems persist because they are subsumed within the larger political agenda of well-intentioned people who believe that their ends justify whatever means are necessary for them to be achieved.

About Me

Dr. L. Graham Smith has over thirty years experience as a researcher, teacher and consultant in resources management. The author of over 70 publications, his writings successfully balance academic and practical considerations and provide a systematic framework for empowering change. His areas of expertise include: environmental ideology; globalization; the dynamics of change; the design and implementation of strategic planning processes; sustainability and its implementation; individual and institutional capacity building; educational praxis and, skills development.

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Sustainability

Sustainability is the capacity of a system to engage in the complexities of continuous improvement consistent with deep values of human purpose. Fullan (2005)

Dynamism is Freedom

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. Heinlein

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All you need is love

The more you love, the more you can love--and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just. Heinlein.