Pessimism and Optimism in the Environmental Movement

It can feel discouraging in the environmental movement like when the current political administration takes away more than half of the protected land from the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase Monuments in Utah, leaving the land vulnerable to resource extractive forces. The fight for saving the planet from further environmental degradation is not an easy one. I’ve been thinking about what it means to be pessimistic or optimistic in the face of a rapidly changing planet. Paul Hawken wrote how he feels about pessimism and optimism for the future, If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic,

you don’t understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth

and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. (p.55)

I like the way Hawken frames his perspective. It’s not like you have to feel one or the other.

I feel both powerless and hopeful for the future of the planet. In a sense you have to feel pessimistic

first to become optimistic. Optimism requires a level of pessimism, because you have to feel sad or

upset when things go wrong to be motivated to make them right. But in this movement, you can’t allow

pessimism to take control of your thoughts or it can be overwhelming and prevent action. So, we can

view pessimism as fuel for our optimism. In Howard Zinn’s essay, “The Optimism of Uncertainty” he writes,

Understand that the major media will not tell you of all the acts of resistance

taking place everyday in the society--the strikes, protests, individual acts of courage

in the face of authority. Look around (and you will certainly find it) for the evidence

of these unreported acts. (p.78)

It’s true media coverage does not always highlight environmental wins, but we need to

remind ourselves of all the people fighting the good fight and who have accomplished many wins.

We also must remember that despite who is in office or running the country, we still have the power.

The actions we take, even in small numbers, can enact change. One such example,

of how our voices and opposition matters is when Trump nominated scientist Michael Dourson to

run for the EPA’s office of Chemical Safety, who himself has a history for weakening protections of

harmful chemicals being released into the atmosphere. Dourson withdrew his nomination after facing

backlash from the American people.

There is one pessimistic view I’ve heard all too often, it is that the human species will disappear in

an apocalyptic disaster and the Earth will regenerate itself as it always has. This resilient giant rock

being held by gravity among the universe. How small and meaningless we are in the span of time.

I sometimes fall into that narrative, because the planet has been here long before we have and life can

continue without us. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We are responsible for the mass destruction

we’ve inflicted upon this planet and it is our responsibility to fix it. We can live in harmony with the

environment because we came from it. There are so many people who care about issues of environmental

and social justice. It is because we care, that we can make a change. It’s going to be a slow process

though, no movement can accomplish everything overnight. Patience and hope are required.

The title of Zinn’s essay, “The optimism of uncertainty” is beautiful. Those words are what

keep me an optimist in the environmental movement. The uncertainty of the future is a relief, because

that means it is very possible to pave the way for a future of sustainability and peace.

Source:

Loeb, Paul Rogat. The impossible will take a little while: perseverance and hope in troubled times. Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, 2014.