Here are some tips to make progress in advancing an environmental “agenda”. Actually, they apply to essentially every agenda.
Try talking to everyone – especially those who don’t agree with your views.
Listen plenty and try to understand an opponent’s arguments.
Never be caustic to others. Be diplomatic, even when you strongly disagree.
Most issues are not black and white, compromises are essential to satisfy most people.
Anticipate objections and prepare for them. If you don’t have strong counter-arguments your case is weak.
Make sure your information sources are reliable – as reliable as they can be.
Minimize the use of anecdotes – use more reliable statistical arguments wherever possible.
About elections:
1. Every voter counts equally.
2. Convincing the least informed voter to vote for some issue or person is much easier than convincing the most informed voter. For this reason most elections avoid complex issues that many voters won’t appreciate or understand.
3. Well-informed voters are a minority, especially in local elections. The implication here is that advertising is crucial to winning. Many local elections come down to personality contests or name recognition – based on the number of signs that are posted along the roadway. However, this can backfire. Money spent on a campaign often is sometimes inversely related to success. People often are suspicious of candidates or issues that are backed by too much money.
4. Most potential voters don’t vote. Motivating your supporters to go and vote is key to winning any election.
Item 1) is not necessarily true for US Presidential elections. This has to do with the electoral college. One informal study showed that a presidential candidate could win the electoral college vote with something like 25% of the popular vote. This happens by the losing candidate winning 100% of the votes in the states he/she wins, but the winner wins just over 50% in the states he/she wins. A perverse result of the current electoral college is that, based on expected results (from reliable polls), Presidential candidates do not spend much time campaigning in states where the outcome can be reliably predicted. The result is that large states like New York and California see almost no campaigning by Presidential candidates because it won’t change the outcome. Almost all the campaigning occurs in a handful of “battleground” states where the poll results show a close race.
The Green New Deal as an example for discussion
An example of a political initiative generally supported by many Democrats and opposed by Republicans is the “Green New Deal” formulated along the lines of the original “New Deal” initiated by Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression. All kinds of criticism has been thrown at the idea, calling it socialism, unaffordable, and many worse things. The following is from Wikipedia:
- On February 9, 2019, United States President Donald Trump voiced his opposition using sarcasm via Twitter as follows: “I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their Green New Deal. It would be great for the so-called “Carbon Footprint” to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military – even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!”[173]
- Republican White House aide Sebastian Gorka has referred to the deal as “what Stalin dreamed about but never achieved” and that “they [proponents of the deal] want to take your pickup truck. They want to rebuild your home. They want to take away your hamburgers.”
- During a Fox Business interview on August 13, 2020, President Donald Trump again voiced his opposition, declaring that adopting the Green New Deal would result in demolishing the Empire State Building and abolishing all animals.[179][180]
Before discussing the Green New Deal we note that there are large financial costs and valid questions about what the private sector versus public sector role should be in society. The private sector tends to be reactionary (i.e. responding to events) in its activities – and depends on a financial opportunity to arise before investing in developmental activities. Governmental activities can be proactive – initiating activities when there is no economic incentive to do so.
An example of where proactive governmental action is needed is our National Weather Service. We have a National Weather Service because no one company could take the risk to develop the required network of observations (that now includes radars and many other specialized measurements), supercomputers, satellites, and a highly educated and trained staff needed for its operation. A comparable private weather service (there are many private weather services in the world) would have to sell its services – and most people would be unwilling to pay the high cost for such a service. Exactly the same applies to military defense; no individual would (or could) provide defense against an outside force. It must be collectively paid for in advance.
Back to the Green New Deal. From Wikipedia: According to The Washington Post (February 11, 2019), the (Green New Deal) resolution calls for a “10-year national mobilization” whose primary goals would be:
]“Guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States.”
“Providing all people of the United States with – (i) high-quality health care; (ii) affordable, safe, and adequate housing; (iii) economic security; and (iv) access to clean water, clean air, healthy and affordable food, and nature.”
“Providing resources, training, and high-quality education, including higher education, to all people of the United States.”
“Meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources.”
“Repairing and upgrading the infrastructure in the United States, including . . . by eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as technologically feasible.”
“Building or upgrading to energy-efficient, distributed, and ‘smart’ power grids, and working to ensure affordable access to electricity.”
“Upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification.”
“Overhauling transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as is technologically feasible, including through investment in – (i) zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing; (ii) clean, affordable, and accessible public transportation; and (iii) high-speed rail.”
“Spurring massive growth in clean manufacturing in the United States and removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as is technologically feasible.”
“Working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible.”
Let’s consider some of these items by themselves and discuss whether they are reasonable or not.
I suspect that most people, upon reading each of these items, would find little to object to. Whether they are feasible and affordable is another matter, and is subject to much uncertainty. But the fundamental goals of each point I suspect would not in themselves be objectionable.
Note that many of the points have the qualifier “as much as is technologically feasible”. Obviously some would be much more expensive to achieve than others. The items “upgrading all existing buildings in the United States and building new buildings to achieve maximal energy efficiency, water efficiency, safety, affordability, comfort, and durability, including through electrification” is a huge task and not realistically feasible – at least in the near term. But the goal of constructing new buildings to be better-insulated is obviously laudable. Few of us would not like a better-insulated house or apartment to live in. Better insulation reduces the amount of cooling or heating needed. If less electricity is needed for air conditioning that means society needs less generating capacity in our power plants. With enough efficiency improvements, we might be able to run our electricity grids on renewable energy (not realistic today). So efficiency, insulation, and renewable energy are all tied together.
In summary, the green new deal has a number of idealistic goals that most people would like to see happen. The objections lie in the cost involved. For example, public transport may be meaningless to someone living in rural Wyoming who has to drive. Such individuals may justifiably not want to finance, through their taxes, something they will never use. They would rather keep their money and spend it on what they see fit. There is a fundamental conflict between doing what the commons requires (clean air, water, stable climate etc) and what individuals want.
Avoid slogans and clarify concepts wherever possible
Try to explain controversial concepts from more than one perspective. What is the most desirable state of affairs? Is it affordable? Who doesn’t like it and why? Why should people be for some cause? Anticipate as many objections as possible and have convincing arguments to counter them.
Let’s take an example. We all know that everyone likes National Parks. Right? But what if you are a rancher just outside a park like Yellowstone that has wolves? Will you like the wolves to eat your sheep or calves? To them a park is fine – as long as dangerous wildlife stay in the park. But the wolves don’t read maps or understand political boundaries.
The point here is that you may think everyone should agree with you on some issue, but you will likely be surprised that everyone doesn’t agree with you – and for many reasons you never thought about.
Local action in Norman
Much of the above discussion has related to environmental issues that might affect a large part of the US or even the world. But what about local action? Where should one begin to try to affect a change in Norman? Suppose you have a great idea that you think everyone in Norman should adopt. What is your next step?
Obviously, getting to know your city council members and Mayor is important. They are surprisingly accessible. These positions are essentially volunteer activities for a city the size of Norman. These individuals provide guidance to the employees of the City of Norman – who number in the hundreds. They approve the budget and provide conceptual steering for the city’s activities. To get to know them go to City Council meetings and listen. Some discussions will be boring. But as you listen and learn, you will see the personalities of each council member come out. You can identify approachable people this way. If a council member is sympathetic to some environmental issue or shows particular interest or knowledge about a subject you have interest in – use that as a subject to approach with. Almost every politician is interested in interacting with potential voters.
There are a number of environmental boards advising the city of Norman. Each has a role. But approaching them isn’t always easy and you may not get replies to emails. I’ve received replies to only a moderate percentage of the emails I’ve sent in recent years. The following are some suggestions.
1) Contact teachers at the Norman Public schools. Don’t assume that only the biology teachers will be interested in nature. They may not be, and the fine arts teacher might be your most passionate supporter. You won’t know this beforehand. Likewise, don’t assume emails to the principal will be passed on to the teachers. Contact each teacher individually.
2) Give talks to civic groups and environmental organizations. The local Sierra Club chapter is one, there are others – but they hide well.
3) Give talks at the public library. You may have competition for time slots and the attendance may be less than you hope for, but if your ideas fall on one sympathetic ear consider that progress. In any effort you need as many allies as possible.
4) Write letters to the Editor of the Norman Transcript. I’ve tried this, without success, but you may be lucky. That will reach many people.
5) Start a Facebook page specifically for the activity you are proposing. Then advertise your ideas with many other Facebook friends and other Facebook pages with similar interests. Other social media may work better.
6) The Chamber of Commerce should be approached. I received a thoughtful reply from the head of the local Chamber to a message I sent to them. They may not agree with every environmental perspective you might have, but they do want a better Norman – just like you.
The Sutton Wilderness 