It got more lame about the time it got more real for more people.
It is one thing to appreciate watersheds, biodiversity, save the rainforests, preserve the wolves and so on. These are good things, yes.
It is quite another thing to understand that we are not merely interconnected in an abstract sense, but that we participate in and are intimately bound to, deeply regulated networks of many kinds. Indeed they are very the stuff of our being. As our understanding of regulation in all spheres grows, our notion of the commons and thus our responsibilities grows and deepens with it.
This notion of a continuously expanding commons and associated responsibilities is pretty hard for a lot of folks to deal with, given deeply held notions of liberty, justice and individuality. So they tend to pretend its not happening. Or throw up their hands in despair and mumble some platitudes. Or think, say, that adapting to something like climate change will mean stocking up on canned goods.
It is so weird to me that people would stop at saying, social or government regulation historically sucks (no it doesn't), so we should not (some would even say never) respect the attempt. On the contrary, we need to get better at it. Much better. We need to excel at understanding and adapting to regulatory processes. It is what we are made of.
A nice summary and discussion of the key points of the IPCC report by Steve Easterbrook is here: http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/what-does-the-new-ipcc-report-say-about-climate-change-part-1/
We need more of this kind of explanation so more people can wrap their minds around it and squeeze.
We need to get more real about this stuff every day and if that means Earth Day gets more lame, then ok. It's like only planting trees on Arbor Day.
Carl
On 4/22/14, 8:02 PM, Leigh Fanning wrote:
I thought this might be of general interest, the author is an
environmental philosopher.
http://enviroethics.org/2014/04/22/blog-when-did-earth-day-get-so-lame/
"Today is Earth Day, April 22, 2014. Like most Earth Days these days, a
few grey-haired environmentalists may take note of the event,
celebrities will tweet meaningless platitudes like Daryl Hannah?s
exhortation that we should all ?love your mother,? and college students
will have celebrations at their campuses emphasizing individual consumer
choice and the pursuit of sustainability through better technology. When
did Earth Day become so lame?"
...
Leigh
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