Notes from the World Cafe Session
Nelson Institute Graduate Student Spring 2012 Retreat
Central Wisconsin Environmental Station
February 12, 2012
View posters from the discussion »
Holly’s Group
1. What is “environmentalism?”
Environmentalism is hard to define, as it is symbolically different to everyone. For some it relates “positive” meaning, stewardship of the environment, and acts of restoring and protecting the Earth. For others, it represents connectivity and the connections between people and the land, and other forms of life that also depends upon the same resources as a human. For yet others, the meaning is less positive.
Environmentalism for these individuals is merely a label, such as “green,” and indicates something unrealistic, like having zero impact on the Earth, or does not encompass quality of life. While a worthy goal of pursuing, it is not easily within the realm of possibility and therefore the word and the movement loses all meaning when perceived in this way.
2. What are the biggest issues facing the environmental movement?
Note: In the above quadrant image, in the culture section, the parenthetical in the first bullet should state (middle class environmental guilt?).
3. How can we address these issues?
Since people have different perspectives, values and interests, the environmentalism movement must accommodate this, and allow for people to discover their own role in the movement, be individuals and approach it in a way that is meaningful for them.
This creates an important role for facilitators, individuals who can foster individuality and a free flow of knowledge and ideas between environmentalists, resolve conflict, and ultimately create a critical mass of environmentally conscious people – shifting the center of gravity of society to an environmentally conscious and globally aware level.
Matt’s Group
1. What is “environmentalism?”What is the “-ism?” At its most basic, “environmentalism” is the awareness, at the level of self, of a strong connection with others and with our surroundings.
However, it is not that simple:
- Multiple Origins – environmentalism commonly understood is a product of modern industrial society and the notion of responsibility, but people around the world come at it from varied perspectives
- Environmentalism looks different at different scales
- Motivations – traditional notions of wilderness and conservation versus new concepts of holistic sustainability
- Inclusive – environment and people together (and people are the environment)
- Multifunctionality – environmentalism means different things to different people at different points in time
- Environmentalism continues to evolve, and that’s a good thing!
2. What are the biggest issues facing the environmental movement?
- Diverging goals and notions of progress, backed by different values
- Differing internalization of the basic idea of interconnectedness
- Communication – environmentalists, particularly scientists, face the persistent problem of believing that the communication problem is that they have not adequately been able to communicate what they know to others (a one-way street). However, communication (and on a deeper level, understanding) is a two-way street!
3. What can we as Nelson students do on a daily basis to address these issues?
- Personalize it! (Cal DeWitt method)
- Practice listening for depth
- Practice “lightness” when engaging in discussion with people of differing values and goals from you – this is tied to lowering other barriers
- Seek out interactions with people and groups who don’t necessarily share your values (and remember that true understanding and communication requires humility)
- Embrace our diverse skills in communication – some might be great facilitators, others great public speakers, others great at messaging. When working in groups, use these different skills to your advantage
Chris’s Group
1. What is “environmentalism?”
- A way of living mindfully, and making conscious decisions
- Tied closely to social justice
- Evolving and engaging movement
2. What are the biggest issues facing the environmental movement?
- Environmental message of sacrifice is problematic
- Altering the current cultural story/myths
- Altering behavior through cultural norms and behavioral economics
- Needing longer-term goals and better understanding of impacts
- Respecting and inclusion of diverse perspectives
- Identifying the most effective scale for certain messages and actions
3. What can we as Nelson students do on a daily basis to address these issues?
- Use education not to isolate and dictate but to share knowledge
- Grassroots involvement in Earth Day - (i.e. de-institutionalize events to allow mass participation)
- Create strong bonds with communities - by first listening to people’s problems and facilitate the discovery of their own answers
- Reframe the environmental message of sacrifice into one of personal responsibility and long-term benefit
- Education of women and populace - environmental education of policy makers
- Manage population growth
Ryan’s Group
1. What is “environmentalism?”
“An awareness of the integration of humans with the biophysical environment and its intrinsic value.”
This was a distillation to try to capture a debate between humanism (concern for environment because it serves people) and environmentalism (consideration of people in so far as they affect the environment), which is of primary concern and our dissatisfaction with the fact that both positions presuppose a Nature/People divide. Our definition strives to dissolve that divide while avoiding the nebulousness generally involved with the word “nature,” hence the use of “biophysical environment.”
2. What are the biggest issues facing the environmental movement?
The main theme to come out of this exercise: The need to address conflict at all scales amidst humans and between humans and the environment
3. What can we as Nelson students do on a daily basis to address these issues?
- Outreach both to policy makers and to those typically disenfranchised
- Create outreach materials to make work intelligible
- Work with communications department, digital media center, NGOs to do this
- Get the community involved and utilize the human capital beyond the universities walls, especially with regards to the internal aspects (e.g. collaborate with yoga and mediation instructors on your environmental projects). How about this video to inspire environmental concern?
- Get media training so you can better communicate to the public; include this in more Nelson programs (already a part of CHANGE certificate)
- Collaborate more with engineers who are actually building things (i.e. dual degree with engineering deptartments)
Vanessa’s Group
1. What is “environmentalism?”
Environmentalism is treating the environment as a public good so that all beings, present and future, have equal access to a healthy planet. It is about fostering relationships between all stakeholders and breaking down barriers in order to operate within a holistic system. It cannot be solely about achieving profits, politics, or self-interest.
2. What are the biggest issues facing the environmental movement?
1.Systems Thinking – We must balance the principles of environment, equity, and economy in order to achieve results. These categories may be viewed within theoretically neat boundaries, but they are necessarily integral when workings towards achieving successes in the environmental movement.
- Lack of Community – The environmental movement lacks a central set of principles and goals that could unite its proponents. We must develop a community of environmentalism in order to see movement success.
- Focus on Short Term Solutions – By working with only short-term solutions in mind, we create limited potential for larger, long-term successes. We must set long-term goals along with practical, short-term checkpoints in order to achieve successes within the movement.
- Lack of Accountability – We cannot achieve successes in the environmental movement without the ability to measure achievements, reward those who are achieving, and hold accountable those who are not.
3. What can we as Nelson students do on a daily basis to address these issues?
- As members of the environmental and Nelson communities, we should act as role models for others in order to raise awareness about environmental issues. This encompasses both small, daily practices and larger movement wide actions. It is our job to reframe the movement in positive, optimistic, and goal-oriented terms. We should emphasize lifestyle benefits and environmental values as opposed to sacrifice. Even simple actions such as starting a Nelson community “Run for the Environment” marathon training team will bring awareness of the environmental movement to people in our larger community.
- We should strive for lofty goals but continuously re-evaluate the day-to-day actions we are using to achieve those goals.
- All people have a stake in the health of our environment, but we lack a unifying principle to bring those people together within a cohesive movement. We must establish an underlying value system for the environmental movement in order to find common ground and unite stakeholders from different communities.
Subscribe to the blog by email
Connect
Email Updates
Receive email alerts about Nelson Institute events.