I see environmentalism increasingly causing environmental degradation because the core of its practice is misguided. I started this post to write about the two greatest flaws I see in environmentalism, but three more came to me while writing. My goal is not to be comprehensive or authoritative but to provoke thought and behavior change.
- To believe that suing more solar, wind, or any energy source, including nuclear or, should it ever work, fusion, will lower use of fossil fuels or uranium, or their resulting pollution and depletion.
- Corollary: To believe that calling solar, wind, or any energy source as implemented today “clean,” “green,” or “renewable” means that it is clean, green, or renewable.
- I propose recognizing instead that only reducing pollution, depletion, use of fossil fuels, or use of uranium reduces pollution, depletion, use of fossil fuels, or use of uranium.
- To believe that reducing pollution and depletion makes your life or culture worse
- Corollary: They have no hands-on practical experience
- To confuse protecting or conserving the environment with stopping the cause of its needing protection: New human behavior
- To believe that you can lead others to live by values you don’t live by yourself.
- Result: They look like doctors smoking cigarettes lecturing on how unhealthy smoking is, claiming their personal action doesn’t affect the systemic problem, not understanding why no one listens to them.
- To confuse effective leadership skills with manipulation, being sneaky, or something icky
- Corollary: To believe that telling people facts and knowledge will change their behavior.
- Corollary: To practice convincing, coercing, cajoling
- Corollary: To prioritize educating children over leading influential adults
- Corollary: To try to coerce behavior through government outside of democratic processes
