Author Seeks to Reframe Environmentalism in Post-9/11

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> Tue, 10 Aug 2004 13:07:13 GMT

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> Author Seeks to Reframe Environmentalism in

> Post-9/11

>

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> August 10, 2004

>

> AUTHOR SEEKS TO REFRAME ENVIRONMNETALISM IN

> POST-9/11

>

> In the newly published The Last Refuge: Patriotism,

> Politics,

> and the Environment in an Age of Terror (Island

> Press), David

> Orr aims to reframe the U.S. environmental movement

> in the

> post-9/11 landscape. He is concise, lucid, and angry

> about the

> Bush administration's refusal to act on " the

> connections between

> real security, prosperity, climate stability,

> environmental

> protection, and fairness. " Orr advocates for a

> redefinition of

> " living well " to include living within the world's

> natural

> means.

>

> Environmentalists and other progressives, many

> forced into a

> reactive, 'emergency' mode by the Bush

> administration, may find

> Orr's ideas useful for putting their work into a

> larger, more

> hopeful context.

>

> Orr offers inspiration for thinking the big thoughts

> that

> sustain political and social change. While some of

> these are

> certain to provoke controversy, they enrich the

> public

> conversation about where to take the movement.

>

> Orr takes special aim at the scientific dishonesty

> of Bjorn

> Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist --

> a favorite

> read of Vice President Dick Cheney and The Economist

> magazine.

> He argues that the libertarian, " go it alone "

> strains in

> American culture have outlived their usefulness in a

> world where

> pollutants flow across national boundaries.

>

> Orr describes the " Great Work " of our time: the

> transition from

> fossil fuel to renewable energy resources; from

> extractive to

> regenerative economies; from social and economic

> inequity to

> fairness for all peoples; from violence to

> nonviolence. He

> considers this the true patriotism. Many activists

> will likely

> be eager to reclaim that much-abused term for their

> own.

>

> Progressives will find grist for debate in The Last

> Refuge.

> Orr's enthusiasm for a " global spiritual revolution "

> may make

> secular readers uneasy. And he eschews deep

> examination of the

> transformative potential of new communication and

> green

> technologies.

>

> Most likely to prompt discussion will be Orr's

> overall

> anti-urban bias, best expressed in his celebration

> of writer

> Wendell Berry's agrarian ideals. Such a bias is no

> longer

> considered realistic or useful by many greens.

> Megacity living

> is not for everyone, but as his fellow environmental

> philosopher, New York University professor Andrew

> Light recently

> noted, " residents of New York consume less energy

> per capita

> than any other Americans and so make less of a

> contribution to

> some of our most critical problems, such as the

> production of

> greenhouse gases... rban density is a key to

> sustainability. "

> [1]

>

> Orr's ultimate frustration is that we -- the

> collective 'we'--

> can and should do better: at sustainability,

> economic equity,

> basic fairness and respect for all life. Both

> comforting and

> controversial, The Last Refuge may be a touchstone

> for

> articulating a larger vision.

>

> ###

>

> SOURCES:

> [1] " Trip the Light Fantastic: Andrew Light, an

> enviro-academic,

> answers Grist's questions, " Grist Magazine, Jul. 26,

> 2004,

> http://ga3.org/ct/m7zkGk91LBDA/.

>

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