"Global Warming did not eat my homework"

Bart Simpson on school blackboard

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT Environmental protection is about the protection of the environment, and the mainstream strategy for achieving this is to minimize environmental impact. These pages explain why this is a problem, despite the many environmental improvements that have been and are being realized simply by raising people’s awareness and introducing legislation to minimize environmental impact. These pages aim to stimulate thought and discussion towards the resolution of this problem and to demystify environmental management. In my profession ‘the environment’ is often defined as that which needs protection from man. By defining the environment as something which needs protecting from man, we are not only defining the environment as ‘weak’ and as ‘worthy of protection’, but we are also defining man as ‘the cause of environmental deterioration’. But this is only part of the story. For starters, the environment is not weak; it will survive in one way or another; with us, or without us. Secondly, the environment is not only something that is worthy of protection, it also is a resource for our development, and we need protection from the environment as much as it needs our protection. And finally, man is not just the cause of environmental deterioration; he is also a product of the environment. Although today’s environmental debate recognizes the conflict between environmental protection and human development, it is largely polarized, with environmental interests represented by one party and development interests by another. Regular news reports warn us about the imminent threat of global warming, yet our energy consumption continues to rise. What is it that we need? Our relationship with the environment To answer this question we need to explore the underlying question of why we want to protect the environment in the first place. Having heard many answers over the years, I am still not clear about this. Is it to preserve the environment for future generations and if so, what should we refrain from today? Is it to protect the intrinsic value of the environment, and if so which specific values? Is it to observe our moral responsibilities, and if so, how? To me, an understanding and appreciation of our often dualistic relationship with our environment can reveal strategies to manage the resolution of environmental issues. As mentioned before, the environment does not only need our protection, we also need protection from the environment. The environment limits us in the form of climate and geology, the availability of food and other resources, our physical strength, illness and life expectancy. Mankind has developed by challenging and overcoming many of these limitations. We look at religion, art and philosophy to help us come to terms with the limits that we cannot (yet) overcome and as our abilities to control our environment have increased so have shifts taken place in what we believe. More to the point; there is an increasing denial of the relevance of natural limitations as we progress. This denial has become so profound that the fact that we are vulnerable has become an inconvenient truth which has retired to the subconscious. And so profound that philosophies about our relationship with nature have emerged which are based exclusively on the idea that nature is beautiful and good, and that we should therefore protect it. I recognize this in the symbols which surround us. Many environmental protection initiatives, for example, put animals at the centre stage which are symbolic of a nature that is beautiful and weak; often baby like and cuddly. At the same time, films with a ‘nature is strong, but man is stronger’ theme prove popular time and again, including: The Towering Inferno, Jaws, Twister, Deep Impact and The Day After Tomorrow. And then there is the excitement that can be obtained from extreme sports and other ways of proving strength over nature. It could even be that we welcome environmental impacts as proof of our ability to overcome nature. The truth is that solving environmental issues is not as simple as pointing the finger at environmental impacts. Our relationship with nature is complex. It is one of fear, fascination, adoration and reliance. It would seem that in contemporary environmental management we turn a blind eye to the survival aspect, the very aspect that drives us to have an environmental impact. Instead it seems to be driven by a romantic notion of what the environment should be like. Yes we love the environment, but we also want to survive it. Romanticizing nature does help us to mask its cruel aspects and accept these, but also makes us feel guiltier for impacting it. The above is summarized in the following Figure.   Theory 1 2 3 4

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