Communication is perhaps the most fundamental aspect of the human condition, and the most imperative tool in combatting the global obstacles due to a deteriorating Environment. Who caused this problem? We did. Who is bearing the repercussions of this problem? We are (along with the poor plants and animals). Who can ameliorate this problem? We can. But who is the “We”? Is it the activist, whose voice blares on the TV? Is it the tree hugger in the forests of Rajasthan? Or the guy smoking Marijuana who can’t shut up about the “beauty of extensive green”? “We” is them, its you and me. We need to leverage a broad scientific education against a critical appreciation of culture to fully explore the nascent capabilities of policy and advocacy of Sustainability and Ecology.
Companies are, and are becoming environmental activists, simply because it makes profitable business sense. It is naïve to think otherwise. TV personalities have the weight and sometimes the will to do better for the world we live in. I suppose Democracy is hogwash, when the powerful don’t get their way.
While it may be easier for them to be heard by more people, it does not negate the effects ordinary citizens have on the environment. One famous man never created the problem, and it is not going to take one famous man to solve it. When I think of the word ‘activist’, I see the word ‘intrepid’ sitting next to it. And next to intrepid, it’s distant cousin ‘intelligence’. They must sit together on a bench, perhaps a loveseat, and it is their conversation that can make one into a good activist.
In his book “Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere”, Robert Cox highlights the myriad of channels and conduits through which “Diverse Voices” relay specific needs and challenges in real-time, to the authorities who make decisions. According to him this “landscape of communication” is as varied and multifarious as the ecology of the Galapagos or the Amazon. According to Cox, human communication is in itself a form of symbolic action, and this is rightly so. The spectrum ranges from ordinary citizens to environmental groups to corporations. It is this very discourse that ultimately shapes our beliefs, ethics and actions. However, advocacy must be translated into action. Cox opines the “Linking of Social Justice to Environmental quality” as seen in Environmental Justice, and promoting sustainability.
Simple and comprehensible policies are the most effective for societies evolving politically, demographically, and economically. I often wonder, with all the pieces in place, how do welfare states – founded on the principles of equality, social justice and democracy – display such inequities in Environmental issues and access to health care; how do we combat the systemic and institutional forces arrayed against the weaker section of society? Why are nations of engineers, doctors and activists, so curiously resistant to sustainable innovation? What we cannot do is stagnate, cling to the models of the past: because the future is now, and we are accountable. We can make a difference- we is you and me.
Cox, Robert, and Phaedra C. Pezullo. “Chapter 1 Studying/Practicing Environmental Communication.” Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2016. Print.
