The Triangle...

I think Prof. Maniates was quite persuasive in presenting his "Trinity of Despair." When thinking about the lack of effectiveness in the environmental movement, the three corners of the triangle seem to be three concrete obstacles that stand in the way of real progress. This is not the first class where students have attributed man's inherent flaw (being inherently selfish) to the many problems of the world. I think it's natural that we make this assumption because we see it play out it our daily lives. People are out to get what's theirs and often what belongs to others. Perhaps the persistence of this flaw should open our eyes and make us realize as Leigh Ann said to "break the mold." Prof. Maniates said that humans are inherently social creatures and are a coopearative species. I think it is difficult to grasp our minds behind this idea because it may be a rare occurence. When I see cooperation take place, it's usually when there is a problem that needs to be solved--a large one at that.

This leads to the corner of Social Change. I liked his key phrase about finding "pressure points" in order for the system to change. While it may be ideal for everyone to be on board, we know that it probably won't happen. Therefore, even if everyone is not on board, we can't allow this to discourage the small masses who call for change and believe in the power of change. Personally, I think those small masses probably need to get a bit bigger before they can take off. I think it's also important that those small masses contain powerful voices and key players. Gathering the right spokesperson, leader, etc may make a big difference in getting more people interested in the environmental cause and getting the wrong people may "turn off" those who started out with minimal interest.

The Environmental Strategies corner is a place where I may still disagree with Prof. Maniates. He makes a good point that the simple environmental strategies lead to the problem of just being "good consumers." The light bulbs and green living books do not allow people to put "pressure" on something else. I go back to the last paragraph in my previous blog regarding his article we read, "I think it's great that people make the effort to become aware of the environmental issues and make small steps. However, it is impossible for the small actions of one man to save all of mankind. ... I believe that most of us have probably done too little in the past or even in the present to tackle the environmental problems that face us. Call me an optimist, but I'm a believer in that it's not too late to change our ways."