I Want To Be Environmental

I was not raised with an environmental perspective.  But, over the years, I became aware of what humans in general and I specifically have done to negatively impact the quality and functionality of the planet.  In spite the extremism and reactionary perspectives both for and against environmentalism, I came to realize that we are damaging the very things that sustain life.  Yes, that is a strong statement.  I have looked at what both sides have said and, more importantly, have done.  Historically, we have a bad track record.

You know those English movies, like the Sherlock Holmes series, where there is what appears to be fog all the time.  I remember being curious about why that kind of "fog" is not present in the same places today.  Was it just a dramatic affect in the movies?  It turns out that the early industrial expansion was very bad on the environment.  So much unfiltered pollution was put into the air that there really was an ongoing haze in the air.  And, yes, there were health affects that were apparent but ignored.  At the time, industrialists argued against regulations to clean up the air.  But the negative impact eventually could not be ignored.  Now, the same mistakes are occurring in some newly industrializing countries.  To catch up, the mistakes of other countries are being ignored and industry is moving forward without the necessary controls to prevent harmful impact on the health of their people.

In the USA, so many harmful chemicals were pumped in coastal areas of the Great Lakes that people developed diseases by just swimming.  Again, industrialists tried to block regulations to clean things up and to minimize harmful dumping in the water.  But the affects were eventually undeniable.

There was a battle to stop using lead in gasoline and other products that were impacting health. Catalytic converters and increased fuel efficiencies were fought against.  The list goes on.  Humanity seems to have a pattern of doing whatever makes money or is convenient while ignoring, hiding or denying environmental and health impacts.

What about the general public?  As much as I think that companies and the government can be more honest and forward thinking, the general public does affect what is done by what we buy and how we vote.  A core factor is how we decide what is correct.  When it comes to the environment, we tend to go with whatever fits our general perspective.  There are people who are in general denial.  Sometimes, this denial is even a reaction to the opposite extreme where some people also jump to conclusions without looking at the facts and science.  Too many of our perspectives toward the environment parallels our ways of looking at things in general.  We believe one thing or another based on our leanings and won't be convinced to the contrary.  But the quality of future human life is dependent on getting things correct.

We need to go past what is comfortable for us to believe and look at reality, both current and historical.  Before we jump on a bandwagon and start condemning cleaner technologies and renewable energy sources, we need to look a little at industrial history and some of the science.  On the environmentalist side, we have to be careful with lumping things together, such as blaming all weather abnormalities on global warming.  The opposition will use these statements against us.  My wish is that we all will take a more thoughtful perspective and look at the facts, not just the statements and rhetoric that happens to fit our current perspective.  I think that we need to get past the placement of short term economics and growth above long term global health and stability.

Speaking of the short term, why is it so difficult to carry our trash to the appropriate disposal areas.  I think this is a micro example of the macro issue.  So many people are careless with their trash.  It is somehow too inconvenient to carry that beverage bottle out of the park.  Somehow, it is too difficult for industries to always put health first.  I remember reading a statement by one industrialist that said that he would stop using a harmful chemical when it becomes illegal or regulated.  Yet environmental regulations appear to be behind the abilities for industries to produce harmful chemicals.  Regulations on food and drugs are far tighter than regulations on air and water.  In some ways, it's the economy again.  If we keep placing the economy above the environment, we will be leaving future generations with a bigger mess than what previous generations gave us.

I know this has been a bit "stream of consciousness" but I wanted to put the ideas out there.  I will refine the discourse in future posts.  I hear so much emotional bantering about the environment and not enough discussion of the facts.  I had already been concerned about my personal impact on the environment and the track record of industry toward environmental health.  Although I am somewhat technically inclined, the science is a bit complex.  But I worked my way through enough of the information to realize that there are serious environmental issues.  One interesting book is Carl Sagan's Billions and Billions.  It was written a few years ago and covers a lot of other material.  But there is a quite good section about the environment, covering both historical and technical aspects.

I am open to seeing the reality of things, even if it contradicts with my current perspectives and behaviors.  I am a product of past experiences that got some things correct and some things wrong.  I realize that I have been ignorant about a good number of things and this ignorance has consequences to myself and others.