Yes sad but the two sides will never agree on a compromise.
I think you are being unduly pessimistic here, Dennis. There are many conflicts where the two sides may never share common ground but in the case of ‘conservationists’ and ‘environmentalists’, I would say that most would at least recognize that the middle section of Ralph’s venn diagram is where we need to be. If you consider environmentalist organisations such as the Green Party or Friends of the Earth then I would suggest they certainly ‘get’ the importance of protecting biodiversity even if it is not their main focus. Likewise most conservationists recognise that it is important that we don’t just focus on protecting species and habitats using conventional conservation techniques but that we should aim to ‘tread more lightly’ on the Earth by reducing our resource consumption, limiting pollution and so on. Of course people (and organisations) have different perspectives and we can all be guilty of paying lip service to the idea of green living and so Ralph is right to highlight how two groups of people who should be in agreement are often working at odds with each other and need to take steps to move into his middle ground.
The really big challenge, though, is to try and persuade all those people who don’t sit anywhere inside Ralph’s venn diagram that they need to recognise that the environment (and the wildlife in it) needs a lot more help and that this needs a big changes in many aspects of how we live our lives and run our country(ies).
There’s a strong impression – and a general assumption which Ralph accurately portrays – that the overlap must cost – there must be compromise.
I simply don’t agree with that – and I don’t think current events bear out the commonly held assumption. Companies going head to head with the environment – and public opinion – aren’t doing very well at all: the clunky, engineer driven, insensitive approach to wind turbines has effectively killed the onshore industry in England. Would you invest in fracking ? I wouldn’t. I actually believe GM could be a big positive force – but not in the hands of aggressive companies who, having crashed the global Maize crop and left us all starving will simply turn round and say ‘our duty is to our shareholders.’
I know because I was there – working in an industry, forestry, which completely lost public confidence – and, over 20 years has won it back through painstaking attention to what is right and what people want – alongside fellow travellers like B&Q which realised it was running into serious trouble over sustainability and set out to put it right – including leading the introduction of Forest Certification in Britain.
Roderick,would that painstaking attention include the ludicrous thing of exporting of Ash seed to Denmark for them to grow seedlings for us to bring in a serious disease or is that all here-say.
Jonathon,restored my faith in conservationists.
Mark,became a twitcher this morning as a Short Toed Eagle was just half a hour away.Several hundred twitchers there all perfectly behaved and helpful,really impressed with them.
Comments are closed.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Yes sad but the two sides will never agree on a compromise.
I think you are being unduly pessimistic here, Dennis. There are many conflicts where the two sides may never share common ground but in the case of ‘conservationists’ and ‘environmentalists’, I would say that most would at least recognize that the middle section of Ralph’s venn diagram is where we need to be. If you consider environmentalist organisations such as the Green Party or Friends of the Earth then I would suggest they certainly ‘get’ the importance of protecting biodiversity even if it is not their main focus. Likewise most conservationists recognise that it is important that we don’t just focus on protecting species and habitats using conventional conservation techniques but that we should aim to ‘tread more lightly’ on the Earth by reducing our resource consumption, limiting pollution and so on. Of course people (and organisations) have different perspectives and we can all be guilty of paying lip service to the idea of green living and so Ralph is right to highlight how two groups of people who should be in agreement are often working at odds with each other and need to take steps to move into his middle ground.
The really big challenge, though, is to try and persuade all those people who don’t sit anywhere inside Ralph’s venn diagram that they need to recognise that the environment (and the wildlife in it) needs a lot more help and that this needs a big changes in many aspects of how we live our lives and run our country(ies).
There’s a strong impression – and a general assumption which Ralph accurately portrays – that the overlap must cost – there must be compromise.
I simply don’t agree with that – and I don’t think current events bear out the commonly held assumption. Companies going head to head with the environment – and public opinion – aren’t doing very well at all: the clunky, engineer driven, insensitive approach to wind turbines has effectively killed the onshore industry in England. Would you invest in fracking ? I wouldn’t. I actually believe GM could be a big positive force – but not in the hands of aggressive companies who, having crashed the global Maize crop and left us all starving will simply turn round and say ‘our duty is to our shareholders.’
I know because I was there – working in an industry, forestry, which completely lost public confidence – and, over 20 years has won it back through painstaking attention to what is right and what people want – alongside fellow travellers like B&Q which realised it was running into serious trouble over sustainability and set out to put it right – including leading the introduction of Forest Certification in Britain.
Roderick,would that painstaking attention include the ludicrous thing of exporting of Ash seed to Denmark for them to grow seedlings for us to bring in a serious disease or is that all here-say.
Jonathon,restored my faith in conservationists.
Mark,became a twitcher this morning as a Short Toed Eagle was just half a hour away.Several hundred twitchers there all perfectly behaved and helpful,really impressed with them.