{"id":758,"date":"2006-09-23T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2006-09-23T04:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.synapse9.com\/signals\/?p=758"},"modified":"2006-09-23T00:00:40","modified_gmt":"2006-09-23T04:00:40","slug":"where-doing-good-is-the-harm-were-fighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/where-doing-good-is-the-harm-were-fighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Where doing good is the harm we\u2019re fighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

From: phil henshaw <\/span>Sent: <\/span>Saturday, September 23, 2006 1:38 AM
\n<\/span>To: \u2018overpopulation@googlegroups.com\u2019
\n<\/span>Subject: RE: Another good link to ponder<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One reason I see to criticize a great organization like NRDC (I\u2019m a long standing member too) is that\u00a0one of their effects is to divert the effort to heal the planet away from dealing with the central problem<\/strong>. \u00a0They and other genuinely well intended efforts to protect the earth are, in their physical effect, really just putting on a show of addressing the problem, diverting attention to various immediate \u2018newsworthy\u2019 issues and away from the relentlessly widening impacts of our fundamentally unsustainable development process.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a growth turning point for any natural system where multiplying good becomes bad, <\/strong>that we passed for most things, say 50 to a 100 years ago, and are bounding merrily along thinking that we\u2019re still multiplying good, though the net effect has become the opposite. \u00a0That we\u2019re not watching and these turning points sneak up on us is obvious, and that we need to learn to look for such things should be too. \u00a0On our road to infinity, where are the tipping points? \u00a0It\u2019s a good question, that\u2019s never been widely asked.
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>It may be a bizarre truth, but nearly everyone trying to effect change is\u00a0caught up in multiplying what used to be \u2018good\u2019 that now has the actual effect of multiplying harm<\/strong>. \u00a0NRDC\u2019s approach would work fine if there was not a growing cause of environmental impacts\u2026. the institutionalized growth imperative of business, that they explicitly avoid mentioning, fixing its smaller impacts as bigger ones relentlessly develop. It\u2019s not from malintent in any way. \u00a0It\u2019s from\u00a0a shared mistaken perception held by both the \u2018do-gooders\u2019 and the \u2018do-badders\u2019 <\/strong>, that good intentions are good enough, even when\u00a0the actual whole effect, fairly easily traced from a self-critical approach, is the opposite<\/strong>.
\n<\/span><\/span>
\nPhil Henshaw
\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

R<\/span><\/span>esponding to:<\/span><\/span>Frank Vraniak
\nSent: Friday, September 22, 2006 9:52 PM
\nTo: overpopulation@googlegroups.com
\nSubject: RE: Another good link to ponder<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Let me get this right. The NRDC statement is lacking in insight but they are doing something and not just throwing ambiguous e-mails back and forth. We are making feeble attempts at making sure that we survive and it is better to \u201cwatch the world go round\u2019\u201d and do nothing. The fight against global warming is for the protection\u00c2\u00a0of us against the devastation of nature but lets not save nature because it really doesn\u2019t support us in any way, shape or form. Got it. We are own best enemy but we are just now starting to look in the mirror and should destroy ourselves because we don\u2019t like what we see. I am complicated but I am only the enemy if I choose to be. I know who my enemies are and they are ignorance, selfishness, greed, as well as a few others. Those are the enemies that cause the problems. They reside in people but not all of the people. The enemy is pretty simple if you ask me.<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014
\n<\/span><\/span>Responding to:<\/span><\/span> Espey, Lawrence L.
\n<\/span><\/span>Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 7:59 PM<\/span>
\nTo: overpopulation@googlegroups.com<\/span>
\nSubject: RE: Another good link to ponder<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Frank,
\n<\/span><\/span>Although a mission statement is important, the NRDC statement is lacking in insight. \u00a0Nature (not mankind) \u2018knows\u2019 best how to \u201csafeguard\u201d itself. \u00a0This is the precise reason Homo sapiens is threatened with extinction. \u00a0Most, if not all, of our efforts to be \u201cstewards of the Earth\u201d are, in fact, only feable attempts to save our own habitat. \u00a0It is \u201cus\u201d that needs protection, not Nature. As the cartoon character Pogo once said, \u201cWe have met the enemy, and it is us!\u201d\u00c2\u00a0 We are a terribly complicated enemy.
\n<\/span><\/span>I wish you well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014
\n<\/span><\/span>Responding to:<\/span><\/span> Frank Vraniak
\nSent: Fri 9\/22\/2006 6:36 PM
\nTo: overpopulation@googlegroups.com
\nSubject: Another good link to ponder<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All,
\nThis is a mission statement from the NRDC.I just thought maybe we could move forward a bit and see if we are going to come up with one. Or am I just whistlin\u2019 Dixie? Here is the link. It may be a good framework for something that I thought we were doing and not just talking about. \u201cMy opinion\u201d,
\n<\/span><\/span>Frank <\/span>http:\/\/www.nrdc.org\/about\/mission.asp<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Frank Vraniak\u2019s Motto: I accept myself as a kook and a dreamer. Are there more of us than there are of you?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From: phil henshaw Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2006 1:38 AM To: \u2018overpopulation@googlegroups.com\u2019 Subject: RE: Another good link to ponder All, One reason I see to criticize a great organization like NRDC (I\u2019m a long standing member too) is that\u00a0one of their effects is to divert the effort to heal the planet away from dealing with … Continue reading Where doing good is the harm we\u2019re fighting<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synapse9.com\/signals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}