AFON
A Vision for Humanity – by Liam Curson
Welcome to our series of blog posts in the run up to the general election (7th May 2015). Over this month AFON members will share their own Visions for Nature: what they want the natural world to look like by 2050 and how they want to get there. We have created a hashtag on Twitter so why not join the conversation? What’s your #VisionforNature?
When I first heard about this idea, I was a bit reluctant to take part. Despite being passionate about protecting nature, I doubted I could muster the optimism for a realistic, successful vision for the future. But then again, giving up the fight is the one way to ensure you lose it, and after consciously ditching my default position of pessimism, perhaps only briefly, I do think there are reasons to be hopeful. It will take hard work, but with enough talented and dedicated people leading the fight, maybe, just maybe, we’ll win it. But the modern conservationist needs to do things differently. They have to be an activist, a teacher, a scientist, a journalist, a networker, a wildlife expert and a political lobbyist, all rolled into one. Because if we ever want to really change the world, we can’t just treat the symptoms of our failing ecosystems. We have to address their root causes.
This realisation is what founded my initial pessimism, because the problem, to be frank, is us. Humanity is destroying the planet we call home, and increased development all over the world means that, globally, conservation is fighting on so many fronts it can be difficult to keep count. But there are a few big, root causes that keep cropping up.
For starters, we have overpopulation. As the human population swells to ever greater numbers,more and more of our natural resources are used. And yet even this is still not enough, with famines worldwide, and up to 75% of the world living in poverty, depending on how you define it. To support the 7 billion plus people currently on the planet at a standard you and I would call decent and humane, how much must we plunder?
Then there’s climate change. Personally I believe we’re past the threshold where our actions will make very much difference, but I also remain reasonably optimistic about climate change’s impact on all but the most northerly/southerly of species. The northward spread of many insect and bird species into the UK shows that wildlife can adapt to a changing climate quickly, and given suitable habitat to move into, I believe wildlife will adapt. Apart from Polar Bears, which are probably done for.
But then we come to the final hurdle, the one that seems to blight so much of conservation. Human nature. Now, I know a great many wonderful human beings, and many issues stem from ignorance, not malicious intent. But too much of humanity is uninformed by a media that’s skewed towards the powerful, silenced by corrupted leaders or forced into poverty, as the rich continue to get richer and the poor stay poor. This may seem like an issue for those with a different agenda to us conservationists, after all our primary goal is to protect the environment. But it is the wealthiest among us who exploit the natural world to unsustainable levels, promoting short-term profit above everything else. If a chemical may damage pollinators such as Bees, our own government supports its position with a study that was never peer reviewed, and reaches the wrong conclusion in its findings, purely to satisfy corporate interests, for one pertinent example.
Our society values something only as a commodity, could see the most beautiful, bejewelled creature in the world and consign it to the trash can if it’s not enough of a money maker. And the truth is, we’re lucky we’re in the relative haven of the UK. God help any conservationist brave enough to work in China, where damming of rivers destroy both the livelihoods of local villagers and the ecosystems they live in. Or the illegal logging that takes down the Amazon, one tree at a time, while the politicians of Brazil, Peru and others turn a blind eye, as a wad of cash is slipped into their pocket. Or the slaughter of millions of birds for no more reason than an outdated tradition, happening practically on our doorstep. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it actually makes me grateful for what we’ve got here in the UK. Even Farage, Cameron and Osborne suddenly look like eco warriors.
But while these are good grounds for pessimism, I don’t believe the battle is lost just yet, and I certainly won’t give up any time soon. So, here is my Vision For Nature. Though it’s more of a long, bloody fight, to the last tree, bee and bird. If we want nature to be safe, we need a society which can guarantee to preserve it. This will surely never happen with our materialistic, profit-is-all mentality, nor with our biased press misinforming the masses, perhaps not even with the current political paradigm we live in. It will take a dramatic shift to more progressive views and young people all over the globe becoming engaged with their futures. Conservation is just one of a tapestry of issues, threaded together in a struggle against the corrupt and powerful, and we can’t find the solution to one without finding the solution to all. Reduce poverty, and you increase the number of people who can afford to take up a passion for wildlife. Fight for a more transparent democracy, and it will be far harder for dodgy deals like the Badger Cull to be legislated. Conservationists should ally with other activists campaigning for a fairer, safer world for all of us, as so many of the issues we face stem from the same root causes.
This may sound radical, but to me it is plain common sense. Conservation cannot function effectively in this society, so if we are to save that which we hold most dear, it seems natural to join sides with other progressives in shaping a better one. And if this sounds too wacky, too left-field, remember that even the neoliberalism embraced as dogma by our leaders was considered an anti-establishment, far right movement a few decades ago. Paradigm shifts can happen in an instant, and I for one feel there’s change in the air, as our generation grows jaded with the status quo. Conservationists must harbour that momentum, start working with other movements and help transform not just our environment, but our society as a whole.
Conservationists therefore need to take on a whole myriad of jobs. Education and awareness is one of the most important things we can do; there is in my opinion no child who can’t be enthralled by nature if they aren’t educated in the right way. Conservationists should also divest some time in lobbying for changes that may have a more indirect effect on wildlife; for example creating a more democratic system of governance in which the powerful can actually be held to account, or are obliged to act based on evidence, not ideology. Many things that seem totally outside of the sphere of conservation actually have a very direct impact on what we are trying to do. Then, once we have the framework to preserve our wild spaces, and public opinion backing us, it’s just the simple (ha!) matter of actually doing it! Allow corridors of habitat that can be used as populations migrate to more suitable climate, develop more sustainably, protect as much as we possibly can. It is our choice whether we choose to follow this path or not. The sad irony is, if our current behaviour is left unchecked, it seems likely that we will simply lead to our own destruction long before we have any significant impact on the planet. While our insatiable appetites may cause many extinctions before our own, Earth itself would recover. So my Vision for Nature is also a Vision for Humanity, as we simply could not survive without it. And anyway, who in their right mind would want to?