by Steven A. Leibo, Ph.D.
Professor of International History & Politics
The Sage Colleges
International Affairs Commentator
WAMC: Northeast Public Radio
Re-posted with permission by the author
Now I know that in some circles it’s not very fashionable to admit it
but I really don’t like nature
I’d much rather curl up with a good book
or a great old movie
Star Trek keeps my feeling quite hum hum
sure I occasionally walk in the woods
will look up from a book if confronted by something as impressive as Yosemite or the Grand Canyon
but mostly I am not interested..
I don’t fish
I don’t hike
I’ve only gone camping a few times in my life and hardly found it much of a thrill—sort of buggy
In fact, half the time nature gives me allergies
or sets off my asthma
which is why I have found it so odd recently when people
aware of all the public talks I give on our emerging climate crisis
the profound changes being caused by man made global warming
started to call me an environmentalist
you know that ghettoizing term that consciously or not
puts people who worry about what we are doing to our planet, the only one we have
into that tree hugging, crowd of Gaia lovers
folks who cares more about the spotted owl than human beings
care more about the Karner butterfly than feeding our children
that category of concerns that always ends up somewhere behind important political issues like
the war in Iraq, or the economy
an issue that really only gets first booking once a year
on earth day
when we are all supposed to give the environment a second glance
before resuming our busy and more serious concerns
no, what I don’t understand is how
the environment our environment—the only environment we have
gets treated as something separate from us
as if the environment begins when the houses and highways end
when its abundantly clear that it was only with the emergence of a more complimentary climate,
the well named “Long Summer” that began some 15 thousand years ago or so
that we even began, building the modern civilizations we are so proud of
and now, due to our own efforts we are shoving ourselves into a climatic balance significantly different from the one we have thrived in
which is why I still don’t get how the environment ended up some how being over there
something beyond the city lines,
while we live our lives as if our lives were not totally dependent on it…
no as I said, I really don’t care about the spotted owl
but I do care about is what happens if rising waters flood our water treatment plants—submerge some of our most vital real estate
make life impossibly difficult due to draught in places from Australia to the American southwest
from Georgia to north central China
and shockingly—dare I say it — I don’t even care that much about Polar Bears
But I do care that jelly fish, moving north into what had once been the colder waters of places like Boston’s harbor
Are devouring the eggs of the fish we do eat
which is why I found it so curious that some people think of me
as an environmentalist
no, perhaps its time to come up with a new wordone that will make people realize that the new environmentalism
is not about what’s out there
but about our own futures here at home on the only planet we have.