This is the cause of the generation, we're often told. If so, we might expect a public debate like other causes of different generations. Thus, history might be instructive.
Largely, it has not been the case that climate change has exhibited similar dynamics of other movements. The GreenHumanist, someone with a keen interest and some expertise in history, has wondered why that is. There are numerous reasons.
One is scale; climate change will affect the globe (some areas more than others) and so traditional governance mechanisms do not work. Besides geographic and political scale, temporal scale matters. Climate change rarely affects populations tomorrow or next year; instead, it threatens working ecosystems over the long-term. Rarely have political or social movements attacked such a problem with such a long view. (And there are few political rewards for policymakers to act now to help future generations who don't vote.)
Also, there are not widely accepted principles that undergird the issues that cross the political spectrum. The movements to abolish slavery in antebellum America or to promote civil rights
from the 1950s through the 1970s could appeal to broad democratic principles. Even much of the environmental movement of thd 1960s and 1970s centered on democratic participation of the public in environmental decision-making. There are general principles for climate change, such as the belief that our species does not have the right to despoil the Earth. Yet, such a ecocentric view is not widely accepted.The issue of "enemies" also lacks here. The enemies of civil rights were clear: Bull Connor,
George Wallace, and Ku Klux Klan members. With clear enemies, it was easier to protest their actions. The perpetrators of global climate change are more diffuse. They are us in our fossil fuel usage. They are businesses that expend great amounts of energy and pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, the economic growth that does so much to harm the environment also helps lift many people out of poverty, which is critical to stabilizing global population and environmental damage. So, the lack of unambiguous enemies prevents massive mobilization against them.There are many other reasons why this movement appears unlike previous ones.
But maybe this is changing. An article on TreeHugger.com today announces a new tactic. The story is about a letter written by twenty scientists to President Obama urging stronger presidential leadership on this issue. (The letter is worth reading; click the link.) TreeHugger
also discusses acts of civil disobedience concerning mountaintop removal for coal by prominent public figures; ramping up the protests suggests greater traction of the climate issue and might mean we are poised to move in new directions.Congressional debates. Public calls for greater leadership. Civil Disobedience. (Blogs?) These may be signs that climate change could be evolving as a social and political movement. But because this issue is different from earlier causes, it will likely require new types of action.
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I think the movement is making more progress than you think. It has penetrated the culture really well in America. That is the best way to raise awareness with Americans. Also, another way is to get into their pocket books, which the new cap and trade bill will do. It will affect every American whether they are in the movement or not.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Risten. I don't think I disagree with your points, but you emphasize areas I was not considering. My point was about the nature of climate change in the context of social movements, not its penetration in political or economic measures.
ReplyDeleteThere are myriad political/economic issues that occupy Congress or policy wonks that do not penetrate broader American culture in the form of a social movement. My interest was that since climate change is supposed to fundamentally alter the Earth's ecology and cause untold (and unpredictable) damage, it was surprising that common past elements of social movements (e.g., civil disobedience) were comparatively absent from a broad-based movement that crosses political and social divisions. My sense is that the movement is limited to a relatively homogeneous group.
Again, though, that may be changing.
hi
ReplyDeletethe social movements towards Attacking and taking action to cushion the effects of climate change realzzn an important role in current scenario
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