What is the role of regulation in approaching climate change?
posted by Lisa Satin on September 27th, 2007 Go to comments
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An article in the New Republic, “A Manifesto for a New Environmentalisms” argues that regulation, while necessary, is not the solution to climate change. Rather than imposing limitations, as regulation generally does, it is most productive to unleash possibilities. For instance, the author states that academic programs in new energy sciences; post-graduate fellowships for scientists, engineers, and technicians; and training for the electricians, construction workers, efficiency experts, and installers are needed to make the clean-energy revolution real.
I have copied a few excerpts from the article pertinent to the subject of the role of regulation and to the role of higher education:
“The kind of technological revolution called for by energy experts typically does not occur via regulatory fiat. We did not invent the Internet by taxing telegraphs nor the personal computer by limiting typewriters. Nor did the transition to the petroleum economy occur because we taxed, regulated, or ran out of whale oil. Those revolutions happened because we invented alternatives that were vastly superior to what they replaced and, in remarkably short order, became a good deal cheaper”.
“In promoting the inconvenient truth that humans must limit their consumption and sacrifice their way of life to prevent the world from ending, environmentalists are not only promoting a solution that won’t work, they’ve discouraged Americans from seeing the big solutions at all. For Americans to be future-oriented, generous, and expansive in their thinking, they must feel secure, wealthy, and strong”.
“Today, there is quickly emerging a new political lobby and movement for clean-energy investment that is unburdened by the pollution paradigm. Increasingly, energy companies and investors are realizing that they cannot rely on the environmental lobby and must take political matters into their own hands. And, with young and grassroots environmentalists more inspired by the vision of creating a new energy economy than regulating the old one, there’s new hope that we will soon see the emergence of a more expansive, relevant, and powerful ecological movement, one grounded in possibilities, not limits”.
September 27th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Is this for real? Is AASHE picking up and parroting neo-liberal garbage now? Calling the idea that humans must limit their consumption “a solution that won’t work” has got to be one of the most head-in-the-sand things I’ve read in a while. And extolling industry for trouncing the environmental lobby in their efforts to greenwash and reap profits from an impending crisis?! I was expecting to see the quotations in this post followed by some critical analysis but there was none. I’m really surprised to see that kind of thing here.
September 27th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Hi enviro4real,
As indicated by the title of her post (”What is the role of regulation in approaching climate change?”), I think Lisa was just trying to start a conversation. The New Republic quotes provide a good starting point, giving people something to react to (as you did). Thanks for joining the conversation.
As an administrative point, I should note that the ideas and opinions expressed in posts on this site are *not* official AASHE positions. We allow our staff to share their thoughts and experiences without going through any kind of “is this what AASHE would say?” review process. We think that freedom is important to keeping ideas fresh and sparking good conversation.
September 28th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I decided to blog about the New Republic article, not to agree or disagree with what it said but to begin a discussion which I think is really important. Each of us has a limited amount of time and energy to bring about social, cultural and political change, so it is worthwhile to give careful consideration to how to do that most effectively. If after thoughtful discussion and consideration, we find that the nature of our political process, combined with human nature, makes it an uphill battle to resolve problems by focusing on regulatory changes, then we should work on other ways to address sustainability issues. It may be that regulation is the best way to resolve some, but not all issues.