In the last few years, I have literally started noticing that people haven't just reduced their activity. It's not just about the decreased interest in environmental issues in society. People are increasingly claiming that they don't believe in any environmental problems. More often, they say: “You're all lying. There are no environmental issues.”
Literally, comments on all problematic “pain points” actively state that there are no problems:
- there are no issues with cutting down the Russian Taiga because “the taiga regenerates and grows again”;
- there are no problems with the destruction of animals and birds, again because “they recover themselves”;
- there are no global environmental issues from warming to international poaching because they simply do not exist without clear explanations, or because someone “made them up” for some purposes.
So, it all boils down to a simple “believe”—“don't believe”, and this kind of average “public opinion” is increasingly leaning towards “don't believe” and “you're-all-lying”.
Why is this happening?
Are there environmental problems, from global issues to the local extinction of species in our native Russian Taiga, or aren't there?
And if the problems do actually exist, then how can we convince people of the need to address environmental issues if they don't believe in them?
Let's start with the fact that this is a systemic trust crisis in society as a whole. In relation to environmental issues, we only see its echoes.
At first, I wanted to write about the existence of scientific data. How can there be a game of “believe-don't believe” in such a case?! You just need to rely on facts, on science! …
…but…
I quickly realized in my simple and completely superficial reflections that any “fact” can be interpreted differently. And this is in the case of conscientiousness!
And when talking about “science,” you need to immediately ask yourself literally basic questions: “Who is funding this ‘science’, and in whose interests is this ‘scientific activity’ being conducted?”
Which immediately brought me back to the problem of trust in society in general as a fundamental and basic issue.
Understanding the world you generally live in, you begin to understand well the reasons for such, let's say, “environmental skepticism”:
- Information overload and even “information fatigue”. The constant flow of alarming news already causes many to reject it. People are literally being poisoned, driven by fear like a whip!
- Politicization of ecology. Environmental topics have become part of real “information wars”. How can there be trust when people are pitted against each other?!
- Disinformation and manipulation. The deliberate spread of known lies undermines trust in both real facts and science in principle.
- And, the corruption of science itself also adds to the collection of causes generating total distrust in society.
Oh… and how to live and what to do in such a world of total distrust?!
I think that all of us, comrades, are doing the right thing. The main thing is not to give up and to keep moving forward!
Value the trust that we already have, and that is tested by time.
Value the independence from power and business that we persistently maintain. It is this independence that allows us to continue speaking the truth.
And maintain connection in a world where we are incited by conflicts and attempted to be driven under electronic control by fears.
Lying instead of protecting nature, lying under the guise of protecting nature — this is, of course, a big problem due to its systematic nature. And we, including you, will have to overcome this problem repeatedly.
Nature protection as we know it today has formed recently.
To put it this way: social institutions around nature protection.
There is no need to rewind the timeline far back to see how all this happened. Everything is quite within recent memory!
Three, conditionally, stages:
Scientific data from individual researchers appear. For example, on the harm of toxic waste to humans and the diseases it causes. On the connection of ecological systems with weather and climate. And so on — today there are many such studies, and they are structured and generalized globally.
Masses of people learn about such scientific studies, which causes serious concern about the future among some of them. Environmental activists appear, and environmental organizations are formed thereafter.
- But alas: this process is almost instantly intercepted by corporate business structures in conjunction with states. As a result, independent public opinion is not even allowed to form. Instantly intercepted! As a historical example, we can cite trade unions. Born as societies for collective employee protection, they eventually came under the control of states and commercial corporations, ceasing to be unions. Losing their essence.
Overall, it is not difficult to understand that one of the fundamental bases of lost trust in society is the detachment of power from the people. And again, we just have to overcome this problem repeatedly.
Can we influence the decisions made by politicians and businessmen?!
Yes, we can!
We can influence through simple public discussion, through the open dissemination of information about problems and the formation of public opinion!
I agree with those of my readers who write about the detachment of authorities from the majority of people. This is so. But it's only a superficial impression. Largely — just an illusion. Just as there is a longstanding illusion of the power and grandeur of our technological civilization, reshaping the Earth, which has suddenly become small in comparison with our greatness. In fact, this “greatness” — is the “greatness” of large ant hills compared to the ecosystem of the entire forest. No more than that!
Our “great civilization” is integrated into Earth's Biosphere and still fully depends on the Biosphere!
Similarly, the small number of the “elite of humanity” is completely dependent on the entire social system, on us. This “elite” is in the illusion of its own exclusivity and demonstrates their misconceptions to us. We just shouldn't seriously consider their nonsense, in which they try to convince us!
“Man — king of nature”? Really?!
“Rulers — ‘Representatives of God’ on Earth”? Especially — send those ideas far away!
And again, all we have left is to remain one step at a time in systematic thinking. Simply put, don't let ourselves become mindless, don't let ourselves degrade. And uphold the ideas of Living Systems in society.
© PAVEL PASHKOV
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