Environment - Naivete, Hope and Politics: Green Fail

I'm a bit of an optimist, at least I am with my hopes for the future. For some reason I can't help but think that we as a species will wake up from our history and bravely charge in to the future, aware of where we have come from and willing to take risks doing something new.

This first decade of the 21st century has seen some amazing events occur. We've had the rebirth of terrorism, the collapse of our economies (again), and the environmental debate gain a great deal of the social agenda.

The terrorism argument never quite sat right with me after becoming aware of world news in the 80's. It seemed that a week didn't go by where there wasn't a terrorist group on the news making demands for one thing or another. September did raise the stakes in some regard, but terrorism wasn't new, it just had a new face.

The economic collapse that the globe has just suffered also wasn't new nor unexpected. In fact it was well overdue, and that's probably why the severity took us by surprise. The decade of milk and honey was over and we were fast looking like 1989 again and the recession we had to have, only this time nobody told us we had to have it. For some reason people are still surprised that there is a negative side to growth and profit. I don't quite get it myself, it seems pretty logical to me.

And the environment debate. I first became aware of this debate in the 80's when the hole in the ozone layer was going to promote painful cancerous deaths across Australia and eventually the world. I remember that this got people riled up to fight the impending environmental apocalypse. Society became aware of recycling and impact. In 1987 I first heard the term “Think Global, Act Local” and it resonated. I looked around to see what could be done, and my then young mind grasped it quickly and began to collect cans and bottles to take to the recycling depot and increase my pocket money. It was a good deal. The kids got together and started asking their teachers why the school doesn't do a paper drive, and so they did.

Then I went to high school. In high school, things changed. Gradually the debate and fervour for environmentalism faded. By the early 90's the debate was a relic. It came back again at the end of the decade, faded slightly before coming back to stake it's claim in the new century. It was whilst I was at university that it really came together.

The thing is, I changed many of my practices to adapt to the green way of life – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – and waited for my society to get on-board. It didn't happen fast enough. Council's now supply Recycling, Green waste, and other waste. Do people use it? Some do. A lot don't. In the suburbs I've lived in, I've seen many homes not even use their recycling bin. In the Adelaide Hills I've seen a very prominent politician utilise their green waste bin for ash (which the bins clearly state not to fill it with). I've seen people pour liquid waste into their recycling. All manner of things that people should no longer do, but just don't care about. Even after two decades of discussion on the subject, countless media hours and publications, Kyoto, it still hasn't sunk in enough even though it is now one the hot political issues.

The Copenhagen conference occurred recently, filled with all the hype and media coverage you would expect from such a hot political topic. Leaders from around the globe gathered to ratify a deal that contained no real substance. Look it up, there's nothing much to it besides a great deal of posturing and 'hope for future discussion'. For some reason, I thought that was what Kyoto for.

Maybe it's my naivete, but I honestly expected more from this. In light of all that this decade has brought us, I really thought we were ready to move forward positively, free of grandstanding and posturing. I know, very naive.

Here's what I was expecting – a clear discussion of reworking global economics towards a sustainable future. What would that entail? Well for starters not a carbon trading program whereby companies can offset their dangerous environmental practices by purchasing unused carbon credits from greener companies. It's a novel first step, in line with our current economy, but lacks the punch required to actually move companies to better practices. What we now need is for the governments to forcefully shift companies through legislation toward better practice.

One such approach would be to force corporations that use large amounts of water to use recycled water instead of potable water. Currently the governments are making business adhere to water efficiency programs in an effort to reduce their water usage. This is not enough, but it ensures that business profits remain intact and largely unaffected. Unfortunately that approach is very short sighted. There have been numerous studies, reports and papers that discuss how to transition our economies now by taking a small hit it will limit the economic impact a decade or more down the track.

Yet, our politicians and too weak to actually make a stand and force change. And we the people, how can we force our politicians to do what is needed to save our future, both environmental and economic? We can write and email our elected officials, which should at least get you a form letter response. Or you can do as I'm choosing to do, and that is to start to research and to use my purchasing power to support companies that are transitioning voluntarily and avoiding those companies that are not.

Sometimes it seems that's only power we have to make change. Choose with your wallet. If enough people do this, then the economic balance starts to change and the other companies will catch on and have to play catch up to stay in business.

Who knows, maybe that is the only true democratic power that remains to average human.

Introduction: January 2010

Today I archived my previous blogs and deleted them from Blogger. I hadn't touched them in well over a two years and thought it was time.

So what am I doing blogging again? Well, the need to write for myself has arisen in my mind again. I just finished working on a project with a friend and collaborator Dan Best and have been working on a project for me. It also dawned on me that the reason I stopped blogging in the first place was because of the Job I had started and was worried that if I said anything it would be misconstrued and I would find myself out of a job that I greatly enjoy. I'm still working at the job, although the nature of my work has changed several times over the course of the three years and I'm just settling into my new role after six months, and I am sick of worrying about saying something out of turn.

I've also spent the last several supporting my fiancée as she struggles to build an art career. Anyone who has spent time with a creative person can attest that it's not all roses and can sometimes become quite difficult. Also, in supporting her artistic endeavours I found that a lot of my own creativity evaporated and the words that flowed quite easily had dried up like the mouth of the Murray. The words were still within the mind, they just no longer flowed through mouth and fingers to any purpose.

It's been in the last six months that I began to realise that I needed to do more for myself, personally and creatively. I must take time out of the life that I have built to indulge my own whims and fancies. I am calling this my Mental Health time. Largely this will consist of working on my own project(s), both writing and researching the project, and writing this blog.

I've hear said recently that the only purpose of writing anything is for the gratification of publication. This was from a Freelance Writer/Editor. I have to say that I disagree. I've worked with people who have chased this and similar goals and seen it do nothing but eat them up with the frustration that comes from reaching the audience (professional and public). I firmly believe that the purpose of creation should not be about reaching an audience, although that would be nice, but fulfilling that need within yourself to create something. This approach has been far more satisfying for me.

The projects that I've been involved with over the years have given me great satisfaction when they have concluded successfully and been given life beyond my involvement, yet I have also felt that same satisfaction with those projects that have been passed over and left on the scrap heap.

Looking around my study at the moment I see boxes filled with my writing and I am proud that it exists, even though nobody shall read it but me.

Now I must depart, for it is breakfast time and the Central Markets are beckoning.