From: beast@netcom.com (J. Kintscher)
Subject: Becoming Green (was Re: save the earth - ridiculous!)
Organization: Belle & Philippe, Pty. Ltd.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 19:06:19 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.230031.16964@beaver.cs.washington.edu> pauld@cs.washington.edu (Paul Barton-Davis) writes:
>
>Instead of harping, I should make some suggestions.
>
>1) Education. 
>	Instead of believing that slogans to convince people to modify
> 	their behaviour because of claimed threats or problems caused
>	by current practices, we need to help people understand much more
>	instinctively how the problems arise. This is very difficult
>	in a world where the carbon cycle is alien to most people.
>	Talking about complex systems science or ecology to "the
>	person in the street" is probably going to fail. We therefore
>	need to find ways to teach more children about basic ecology
>	in a way that will leave this information with them in a
>	state that will last. I was taught ecology in high school, and
>	most of it just went in one ear and out the other.

Two years ago, if you tried to describe environmental issues to my wife, it
would go in one ear and out the other, with her finally saying "So?  What's
it got to do with me?"  This is the attitude I've come across with most
people.  Since then, simply pointing out to her how specific companies or
industries are destroying the environment whenever we encounter such damage
(e.g. seeing clear-cut land, seeing or hearing a news report, etc.) has made
her more and more conscious of environmental concerns.  Now she is a
fledgeling environmentalist not because she was force-fed the "evils of
environmental damage," but instead was simply made aware of what the
problems are.

>
>	We don't need "indoctrination", we don't need to teach kids
>	about the environmental agenda; we merely need to make sure
>	they can do some basic math, understand the major cycles
>	of ecosystems, co-evolution, food chains and so forth.
>
>	Without this information, trying to convince adults of the
>	Green agenda is pointless. I find it hard enough as an adult
>	already convinced of the rightness of this stuff to keep
>	all the ecology in mind. What this is like for someone who
>	has never really read any basic ecology I can't even imagine.	
>

Last fall I took an eglish course with a special focus on the environment. 
The instructor spent time every session talking about environmental
problems.  However, showing two episodes of "Race To Save the Planet" (one on
the results of the agricultural revolution brought on by pesticides, and the
other on deforestation in the tropics) where cause and effect were clearly
discussed in a non-technical manner did a lot more to convince the skeptical
students that there really was a problem out there.

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Jeffrey A. Kintscher	 | "Now, my suspicion is that the universe is not only
beast@netcom.com     	 |  queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can
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