Environmental Problems are Human Problems

Michael Maniates article takes an interesting perspective on the role of everyday citizens in the global environmental crisis. Basically, he expresses the idea that people are capable of more than we are being asked, recycling and taking shorter showers are all well and good but people are capable of banding together and making a stronger effort for change if only they would be given more credit and asked to rally together to make difficult changes instead of just trying to get them to do the minimum which will not have an extreme enough overall effect.

He refers in his piece to great leaders who inspired people to make tough choices that changed the world: Martin Luther King Jr., Paul Revere and Franklin Roosevelt. However there is a major flaw when it comes to comparing our environmental crisis to the Revolutionary War, Civil Rights movement or fighting facism. All these battles had to do with human rights and while I would absolutely agree that environmental problems are human problems because, as we have discussed in class, humans are inherently connected to this planet we inhabit, we have also discussed how in general humans have seperated themselves, placed themselves above, the issues of the planet. When it comes to protecting their nation or their rights or their families or their ideals many people are still willing to make hard choices and take strong action, but when it comes to protecting their planet it is much harder to inspire the kind of passion that is necessary for taking the hard steps towards change. It's undoubtedly a sad fact, but i believe that it is true. Even with all the books he mentioned about the 'easy' steps, when you look around many have not even taken these small steps so how can you assume that these people will care enough to take the large ones.

On the brighter side, awareness is being spread and more and more people are acknowledging the huge environmental problems that lie at our doorstep. I do not deny that people are capable of the revolutionary change that is needed to save our planet, but it will not be as easy to get people involved in the push for environmental change as it is to get them involved in issues of human rights (not at all to imply that those are easy fights, but hopefully you get what i mean.) It will take more widespread acknowledgement of the problems, great leaders and frankly, a new 'spin' to make people realize that environmental issues are human issues and they are our issues to inspire people to protect their planet with the same fervor they would protect their country with.