Environmentalism Blog Jerry Brown & Charlotte Laws Responds

Local Environmentalism Lives -- In Oakland

Jerry Brown writes:

Recently, several well publicized books have made the claim that environmentalism is dead. Not so. The laws of nature don’t change to accommodate right wing politicians or “junk scientists.”

Scientists--at best--craft partial understandings or clever manipulations. That is why good science and all tradition advise humility when attempting to alter God’s creation.

Charlotte Laws - Jerry Brown Blog
LEAP founder Charlotte Laws in April 2005.

St. Paul counseled “fear and trembling,” while Dr. Pangloss prescribed endless optimism in this “best of all possible worlds.” Despite his fundamentalism, it seems President Bush prefers Voltaire to the Apostle.

Here in Oakland, environmental action is alive. The city has just received the honor of being named one of the top ten green cities in the country. So judges the Green Guide, “the nation’s premier news and information source for green living.”

“More affordable than its Bay Area neighbor, Oakland benefits from San Francisco’s transport system and bike friendly status, with 23 percent of residents commuting by bike or public transport. The city devotes 11 percent of city land to parks, and shares in Bay Area initiatives for renewable energy. Oakland has its own initiative allowing solar production facilities to waive design review requirements for installation, which has sped up solar energy generation use by the city.”

Oakland will have five megawatts of solar energy going online this year, and the long term plan calls for 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. A green building ordinance –- which will assure environmentally healthy and energy efficient edifices of the future –- goes before the City Council soon. Fifteen percent of the cars in the City’s fleet are alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) and that number is slated to increase.

As an industrial port city, we have our share of problems –- like diesel trucks spewing pollutants as they idle, driving up asthma rates –- and it will take creative solutions to address them. The East Bay recently received low marks for air quality, partly because prevailing winds blow San Francisco’s smog into our faces.

The president and the president’s men have stuck their heads in the sand when it comes to the environment -- with their federal tax breaks for carbon emitting industries and persistent neglect of renewable energy and end-use efficiencies, such as energy-saving appliances, cars and buildings.

It’s up to local government leaders to carry the vision of a sustainable economy.

America is a mountainous land, and science must be urged to scale those slopes which promote sustainability, rather than those which place our planet in peril.

It takes its cues from us. Due to our materialistic bent as a culture, our cursory endorsement of "progress" and our captivation with technology, the scientific world chooses those mountains which are the highest (great accolades to be received), the easiest (the path of least resistance) or the most profitable (grant money from special interests or an emphasis on reducing labor so companies can realize greater profits), rather than those which are the most ecological and peace-enhancing.

The research community has rivers of creativity and forests of energy that could instead be directed towards rivers and forests. It could move towards ecological preservation and restoration, peaceful alternatives to conflict and a furthering of life on this planet.

We will know a cultural transition is underway when news reports following fires, earthquakes and other disasters address the impact on natural systems and nonhuman species, rather than just the human and economical consequences, such as the number of homes lost. Our capitalistic culture thrives on the fact that nature is cost-free, which in turn, reinforces the notion that it is expendable and devoid of value. This reality must change. Our reality must change. And science must change.

Coincidentally, I completed a piece yesterday about this topic: Shifting science towards peace and ecology. It will be published in the next edition of E (The Environmental) Magazine – I'll provide a link later because I know you love my articles! Especially when I place them on your blog!

As for the disturbing direction of many scientific pursuits, I read about an ethics committee that endorses the co-mingling of human and animal tissues, such as creating mice and sheep with brains almost completely comprised of human brain cells. This is already being done, by the way. They hope eventually to turn animals into living factories for human tissues and organs, but they worry that a "human could become trapped inside a sheep." They suggest these "creations" be closely monitored and killed if they display any human-like behavior! Unbelievable! An ethics committee that advises scientists to create monstrosities, then kill the beings if they seem even remotely human! They have no regard for these sentient beings – regardless of the species to which they might belong – human or otherwise. The anti-ethicists worship an idea, a line, a chasm, a "distinction between humans and others" rather than embrace even the slightest reverence for life. They will kill to retain their precious distinction.

Of course, this leads us to another upsetting topic: patents on life forms (i.e. Jeremy Rifkin).

You bring up so many interesting topics with this post, but I have to get some sleep. If I get time, I will explore the Panglossian or Leibnitz-like worldview... or perhaps other intriguing seeds you plant.

(Tony C. wants to meet with me next week to discuss ideas about how to transition L.A. into a more solar city.. following the example of Oakland).

We have all been duped. Rumor has it that Niccolo is the real brains behind Oakland. Glad I found out before wasting time with puppets, props and distracted figureheads.

The Apostle's "fear and trembling" does perhaps lead to greater respect for nature, a more proactive and environmental outlook, but this is only because...

a) the Panglossian view in Candide is defeatist, assuming human actions are not part of the foreordained universe—that people should not intercede in misfortune or curtail behavior, but should instead "stand back and watch" then "justify" their laissez-faire policy.

b) you are implicitly defining St. Paul's "God" (or as I prefer, God/Goddess—less sexist) as pro-sustainability and pro-ecology. The Apostle's "fear and trembling" need not relate to plants, animals and the land. Perhaps President Bush interprets the Bible and the Creator in an anthropocentric way. He might experience "fear and trembling" (or convulsions, as the case may be) over the idea of protecting the environment.

Rather than elucidate what I consider to be the innumerable flaws with both worldviews, I would prefer to promote a third: namely, that of "determinism," which I hold to be more environmental and loving. You may say this resembles Panglossianism or Leibnitz's "optimism." It is true they both embrace the idea that "there is no effect without a cause,"—or a multiplicity of causes--but this is wholly unproblematic for promoting the environment or improving the world.

Determinism is not fatalistic; in other words, it is just stark causality – there is no great manipulator who shoves the world onto a particular path with forethought or design. Determinism does not preclude action or working towards bettering a situation; it does not mean ignoring problems or tragedies. People are "determined," but they can still impact others in a positive way. Most important, it fosters a connectedness with other species.

When some beings are considered free and some are not, a gulf exists, and the flow of the universe is disrupted. True unity and harmony require "metaphysical equality," not the random, self-serving or malicious sorting of species into enemy camps: the powerful vs. the pawns, subjects vs. objects, "ends in themselves" vs. the ones trampled upon, those who think they have dominion vs. those who are voiceless and defenseless, those who have inherent value vs. those who are denied value.

Although freedom is a fiction (in my view and from a scientific perspective, even within quantum physics), it radiates a God-like aura that leads those who think they possess it to feel superior. "Freedom" cannot be rivaled by any other talent or skill, such as the ability to fly or intuit an earthquake.

I have provided a link to “The Parable of the Game,” the most inspirational and bewitching essay I have ever read. I extracted it from John Caputo’s excellent book, “Against Ethics;” which embraces anti-foundational postmodernism. Dr. Caputo is a Catholic philosopher and currently involved in studying the link between St. Paul and political action (He held a conference on this three weeks ago in NY).

Although his book offers clever insights—mostly drawing on the thought of Kierkegaard, Derrida and Nietzsche --I personally do not accept the notion of building upon air. I feel structures—such as public policy, legal institutions and societal visions--need a solid foundation: a deterministic metaphysic.

The essay, which reveals no author (other than to tease us with the Latin -“Felix Sineculpa,”) seems to embrace this deterministic grounding. I telephoned Dr. Caputo years ago and asked him who wrote the piece. He was curiously evasive and secretive, offering only that it was “sort of derived from Nietzsche.” His mysterious response makes the reading more seductive. I do not believe it came directly from Nietzsche, although it has his imaginative and brilliant flair.

My interpretation of the tale may differ from that of Caputo. For me, it says that the universe swirls with deterministic beauty, then humans appear, corrupting and distorting this innocence by imposing a fiction called moral absolutism. They hate, judging each other in harsh and unkind ways. The universe (or healthy forces) ignores their divisive mutterings because it is more powerful, more honest and truer to its essence. Humans eventually destroy themselves (through scientific error or terror) or wither away with time, but the universe continues into perpetuity with causal forces, with swirling, dancing, tossing … with infinite perfection.

P.S. I want to mention an interesting fact about Leibnitz. He was outwardly friendly to Spinoza, yet secretly called him a "heretic" and plotted his death with the religious authorities of the time. Disease took Spin's life before the fatal back-stabbing. He did not, of course, escape the non-fatal kind.

You probably know that a Spinozistic metaphysic is wholly deterministic. The philosopher argues this worldview prompts one to forgive those, for example, who behave in a rude, disrespectful or condescending manner. This does not, however, minimize the need for an apology when one is due.

Not sure about books, but the "environmentalism is dead" debate stems from a speech delivered at the Alliance for Global Sustainability March 2005 Conference and...

An essay called "The Death of Environmentalism" (Shellenberger & Nordhaus), which asserts environmental leaders have accomplished little over the past 15 years and…

An article by NY Times columnist Kristof (the same guy who wrote the fascinating pieces about sex slavery in Cambodia).

P.S. Tremendously upsetting that Bush reversed Clinton’s initiative regarding the 60 million acres of national forests. Now this acreage can be developed. (NY Times today).

Link below to article published this morning in Human Beams Magazine about the “Death of Environmentalism.” And for those of you who never saw my “Omniocracy” article, it also appears in Human Beams today. (Click on “Both Sides Now” to read. Plus there is a link to this ever-popular blog.)

My article "Another Doomsday, Another Dollar: Shifting Science towards Peace and Ecology" can be viewed online at E The Environmental Magazine. See link below.