Wecansolveit.org: The Most Deluded Environmental Campaign Yet
Posted by keith on September 2nd, 2008
Here’s an enigma: you come across an environmental campaign which, on the surface, looks well meaning, but on closer inspection is so weak in its “solutions” and so diluted in its ambitions that you actually start to question the motivation of the people running it. We Can Solve It (or “we” for short) has both of these attributes, and looks extremely polished to boot…all the hallmarks of an Astroturf. Could it be that “We Can Solve It” are a front for an industry lobby group?
No, in fact it’s worse than that.
We Can Solve It is:
“a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection — a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. The goal of the Alliance is to build a movement that creates the political will to solve the climate crisis — in part through repowering America with 100 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources within 10 years. Our economy, national security, and climate can’t afford to wait.”
So, it’s an Al Gore project, or rather a project run by people who slavishly follow the Al Gore principles, basically meaning that they will always push for “solutions” that sit firmly within the orthodoxy — lots of local “campaigning lite”, no civil disopedience, no sabotage, no radical life changes, politicians and businesses being politely asked to change and being heartily applauded for shuffling in their seats a bit…that sort of thing.
What makes it even worse (if that’s possible), is the list of “successes“, proudly displayed on their own page. Here’s a sample:
– We Members Forward National Dialogue with Letters to the Editor
– Thousands Urge the Press to Ask Questions on Global Warming
– Stunning Response to Calls for a Global Treaty
– State Department Feels Public Pressure in Run-up to Climate Conference
– How a Climate-conscious County Official Is Helping Arlington County
– Florida Governor Taking on Climate Change
– Colorado Voters Pass Renewable Energy Standards; Governor Doubles Them!
– Ceramic Tile: A Handcrafted Art Form Drives an Eco-revolution
– Trucking Goes Green!
– Pennsylvania Entrepreneur Follows Her Passion for Solar Power
– Wind Energy Is Replacing a History of Oil in One Texas Town
– US-Based Company Helps Denmark and Israel Get Behind the Wheel of Electric Cars
They range from the utterly symbolic (letter writing and “questions”) to the trivial (someone deciding to go into the solar energy business) to the superficially interesting, but ultimately disappointing (“Florida Governor Taking On Climate Change” – actually a piddling 40% cut by 2025, which I managed in a year in my house!) These are the kinds of changes that are apparently saving the world; yet the vast majority of them are (as I said) simply kow-towing to politics and big business.
Moreover, this kind of thing is exactly what I wrote about in A Matter Of Scale, and which seems to be getting worse:
What we are seeing in a so-called age of Environmental Enlightenment is actually a set of basic ideas about the way we need to act and the reasons for acting, being mutated out of existence in the cacophony of competing ideas, which no one can seem to agree upon. This is in part due to the presence of the powerful commercially-funded body of sceptics; but made worse by a huge range of environmental groups that are each trying to compete for a slice of the “we helped save the world” pie. The ideas and messages are changing so often that there is currently little chance of a genuinely effective idea dealing with the competition.
How about some solutions that really will make a difference; the kinds that stick two fingers up at the bodies that caused all the problems in the first place, placing the ability to make decisions in the hands of the people who actually want this planet to be survivable in a couple of generations? You won’t find them in the mainstream, and you certainly won’t find them at We Can Solve It!
October 9th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
They have done more than you, so I’m not sure how that’s worse than being a front for a industry lobby group. Talk is just talk… I say either become part of the problem or part of the solution. No offense there Ace, but this post isn’t worth the energy used to keep your monitor on while you wrote it.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:31 am
You sound a little bitter, Shannon. Your confidence that “they have done more than you” is remarkable, considering you have no way of quantifying that statement, nor do you know the half of what I actually do: there are lots of people who do what is necessary and don’t shout about it. Nowhere on any of my sites will you find any “success” claims, because *I* have no way of quantifying the level of greenhouse gas, consumption or damage reduction my work may have resulted in.
Perhaps you would like to tell me how many tonnes reduction CO2 “We Can Solve It” have achieved – or do you judge success on the amount of e-mails and letters sent out ;-D
October 13th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
In spite of the cynicism, organizations like WeCanSolveIt are in reality what is needed to create real change. One person cutting their home energy costs by 40% is applaudable but do little in the grand scheme of things, its organizations like We that raise public awareness and push for media to educate the masses that will effect the greatest changes…all without sabatoge and civil disobdience…extremist actions that do more harm than good. Al Gore has done more to publicize the issues than years of GreenPeace efforts put together.
Awareness of the issues its whats important, from awareness comes actions whether its throwing something into the recycling bin instead of the garbage can or buying an energy efficient light bulb instead of a cheaper incandescent etc. Politicians like Elizabeth May in Canada are creating political change/awareness that benefit all of us.
Promoting responsibility and awareness instead of cynicism and negativity is the answer IMHO
October 14th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Aaron
Could you please qualify your phrase “extremist actions do more harm than good”, bearing in mind that “extremist” is simply a term used to describe anything that sits outside the norm (i.e. what we have been told by teachers, politicians, employers etc. what is acceptable behaviour)?
Could you give me examples of where extremist action in environmental campaigning has done more harm than good and, conversely, where non-“extremist” action has done good.
One person cutting home energy costs (do you mean “costs” – surely you mean emissions, or do you think people will only listen if an action is translated into a material value?) by 40% is laudable, if this action is repeated every 3 years or less, but that is not the point I am making. WCSI haven’t even stated what they are trying to solve: if it is the irreversible change to the global climatic system then we need a permanent reduction in atmospheric carbon to pre-industrial levels — WCSI have set the bar far too low, far too late, on purpose, because Mr Gore, his disciples and the rest of the system that defines the actions of the mainstream environmental “movement” have no intention of achieving the pre-industrial target.
I recommend you read http://www.farnish.plus.com/amatterofscale/chapter11.htm for more about “extremist” actions and their value.
Non-“extremist” action does more harm than good.
Keith
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
While I support your ideas of more “extreme” action and believe in their utility, to a certain degree, it can be argued that this is at least a (baby) step in the right direction. Under the first Bush debacle-of-a-presidency our government vehemently denied the existence of a global climate crisis. Today, that’s slowly melting away to acceptance and the beginnings of action. ACTION! WOW! If you lack faith in the goals and achievements of WeCanSolveIt then in lieu of slamming them, why not join their ranks and light a fire under their asses? Or start your own revolutionary green movement? I’d be open to your ideas and means of reaching them, if you decide to do either….or neither, really.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
TS, in an ideal world, baby steps would be all that is needed – unfortunately the system ensures that baby steps are the equivalent of walking slowly up a down escalator. I see no evidence of genuine action; all I see in the corporate world hijacking the green movement, and the environmental mainstream lapping up the effluent they are creating. The solutions I propose in my book (http://www.timesupbook.com) most certainly do “light a fire up their asses”. More than that, the fire can’t go out until their asses are well and truly burnt to a cinder.
I am starting a green movement, made up of uncountable free-thinking individuals. It hasn’t got a name, it is just humanity, unfettered by the economic dream. Join it if you want: it is as much yours as mine.
K.