What we have now that we didn't have then

Yesterday, we attended a screening of “Earth Days”, a documentary film by Robert Stone on the history of the environmental movement. It is a movement that arose in the 1960s and deflated in the in the 90s, only to be taken up more recently by our generation. The film helped put things into perspective by showing that, 40 years ago, we were fighting largely the same problems and attitudes that we continue to confront today. While the focus back then was on issues like air pollution and deforestation instead of climate change, they, like us, were working to dispel the fundamental notion that humans should control nature and exploit it to their convenience.

The economic boom that followed WWII gave rise to a culture that equated the accumulation of material goods with success and happiness. What developed then was a definition of progress as unrestricted GDP growth which did not take into account the distribution of the benefits of that growth or its impacts on the environment. But not only the environment: those who looked ahead were able to predict the toll that unchecked industrial proliferation and resource exploitation would eventually take on the health and quality of life of people. It was a growing discontent with this warped notion of development that galvanized visionaries into launching an environmental movement. The young and progressive all over the country got inspired. This was to be “the beginning of the end of pollution or the beginning of the end”.

On April 22, 1970, the nation’s first Earth Day was held. In practically every major city, people came together to deplore the environmental abuses of American industry and society. Denis Hayes, national coordinator for the event, spoke about challenging the ethics of the U.S.’s utilization of 50% of the planet’s resources while only holding 6% of global population. The environmental movement then became active in more formal political sectors, managing to influence important decisions and pass groundbreaking legislations. Although global issues such as climate change were not addressed, the early environmental movement was able to make significant progress in the cleaning up of lakes and the reduction of air pollution within the United States.

But then came Ronald Reagan, who ran for President promising to thwart the environmentalists’ agenda of “constraint”, “privation” and “lowered lifestyle”. Under his leadership, parents would not have to deprive their children of a life as full and prosperous as the one they had had. And that was the end of the partnership between government and the environmentalists. With Reagan, it was said, “we lost 30 years”.

How did this happen? How could a movement that was already underway lose traction and die out so quickly? Personally, I can only explain this by drawing on the comments of one of the film’s primary subjects (unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you his name). He said that there is no benefit for politicians in acting on long-term environmental problems because only by focusing on the short-term will they get reelected. I would extend this idea to the rest of society: we are unwilling to act until it is almost too late. We are reluctant to give up our comforts to prevent a crisis that is not yet inevitable. 20 years ago, we were not yet aware of the imminence of anthropogenic climate change or the effects it would have on life on Earth. For that reason, there was no real popular support for a true transition towards sustainable living.

This is a sad fact, but it is also empowering. Today, we DO have all the facts. We also have the technology to make change happen. The awareness, meanwhile, is spreading slowly but surely. Climate change has come to be seen as the most pressing problem currently facing humanity and this urgency is something we can harness! We can act, even if only in the nick of time. And this time there will be no Ronald Reagan to dissuade us.

And where should we start? I shall quote another unnamed film subject: “environmental problems emerge out of daily life” and so must the solutions. Change needs to happen within each one of us first, and when it has, we have to transform it into political power and present it to our leaders. It’s time to team up again!