Getting to Green

A friend of mine has pointed out repeatedly that, while Environmental Studies graduates can talk about the environment, Environmental Science graduates can actually do something. (Of course, the guy's an Environmental Science professor. No surprise, there.)

The city of Backboro, like many northeastern cities, has chronically aging infrastructure. A key element of our transportation infrastructure is fast approaching the end of its usable life, and the city parents (we used to say "city fathers", so I guess "parents" must be the current term) are doing a creditable job of planning for its replacement.

Many times, I've chuckled at Congressman Earl Blumenauer's 2009 invocation: "Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle."

I've never really thought of Phoenix AZ as a sustainable city, for a whole lot of reasons like lack of water, phenomenal sprawl, constant need for air conditioning. If America is addicted to energy, Phoenix has traditionally had the biggest Jones of all. But things may be changing, perhaps in reaction to Andrew Ross's recent book Bird on Fire.

First off, let me thank Paul Haeder for his extended comment on a recent post. My heart is definitely in synch with the position he expresses, although my head is convinced that trying to sell sustainability by direct frontal assault won't work (indeed, hasn't worked). And expanding on that heart-vs-head thing . .

In a recent post, David Roberts describes the downside of being reasonable during discussions about ecological sustainability and climate change. His main point is that in order to win (effectively, if not technically), all that unreasoning climate denialists have to do is to refuse to budge regardless of the evidence and logic against their position. Eventually, any reasonable person gets to the point of walking away or dismissing them as stupid or agreeing to disagree. Any of those leaves them as the last combatant in the arena, such that the last man standing wins by default.

Last week, I happened to pick up an old issue of National Geographic Magazine. The cover story was on Ireland which, at the time of publication, was ramping itself up into "Celtic Tiger" mode. The writer was focusing on how the increase in industrial, commercial and financial activity was affecting more traditional social values. The phrase that caught my attention was him wondering "what more efficient nations do will all the time they're so busy saving."

First, let me respond to David's request by posting a digital version of the hand-drawn sketch which is the working version of my current model of sustainability: