by coyote » Mon 02 Jul 2007, 16:01:35
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ryan_276', 'I') more troubled with the current situation of our environment. it is continuously deteriorating and we have to move fast. I understand very less work has been done to this direction and world wide mass education is the need of the day. Can someone suggest how best we can spread the awareness?
I and others here have struggled with this question. Education is what I keep wanting to come back to; but is there time? Is the momentum of the world population and consumption behemoth so great that it cannot be stopped?
Another problem: it's been shown that classroom-style environmental education does
not create environmentalists.
One thing is certain: the many successes of the environmental movement, so far, nevertheless amount to not much. A decades-long struggle, and still we destroy more each year than the year before. Global tipping points loom, and still we continue.
As Jensen said: not only can we not slow the destruction; we can't even slow the destruction's
acceleration.
So what to do? Jensen believes the only answer is to bring the whole damn thing down. Civilization, that is. Quinn believes that people are ready for a new paradigm, a new renaissance, and that a grass-roots educational movement can turn the tide as a flock of birds suddenly changes direction. Lovelock believes it's too damn late in any case.
In the interest of not becoming too defeatist about the state of the biosphere (it's pretty tempting), I'm trying to swing around to Quinn's point of view. Not that the renaissance
will happen, but that it could be our only chance. As he says:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')uring your lifetime, the people of our culture are going to figure out how to live sustainably on this planet--or they're not. Either way, it's certainly going to be extraordinary. If they figure out how to live sustainably here, then humanity will be able to see something it can't see right now: a future that extends into the indefinite future. If they don't figure this out, then I'm afraid the human race is going to take its place among the species that we're driving into extinction here every day--as many as 200--every day.
So: tell as many people as you can about your concerns. Do it gently, so as to not turn or piss them off, but honestly. We're working against some very old and very ingrained belief systems here. Try to get them to tell others. If you can write, then write and get published. If you're in a band, work this into your lyrics, and talk about it when you're interviewed on local radio. If you're in a managerial position, try to work a positive practice into the way your company does business, and make sure the other workers are aware of it. If you're an artist... etc.
We need to change minds. A
I'm not saying this will work. But Gaia knows, what we're doing so far sure as hell ain't.