Environmental politics and governance structures

¶ … Cassandra

Believing Cassandra: An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist's World is a book about the environment, its blunderings, and the sustainability of our world. This is a book for people trying to understand our intricate world and how it is failing and succeeding. I found the approach this book takes to the environment to be entertaining and worthwhile, for not just the information it provides, but the fresh perspective it offers on environmental issues. The author restores the reader's optimism in the world and explains how we can do even better for our future. The people who have predicted the end of the world, AtKisson says, "have been proven wrong, and have served to relegate all environmentally concerned comments to the fate of Cassandra's mutterings: They are ignored. And so they should be." (p. 12) He says, the earth is not a lost cause. And that's why he's written the book.

According to AtKisson, "the definition of sustainability is neither vague nor abstract; it is very specific and is tied to measurable criteria describing how resources are used and distributed. Some of what currently gets called 'sustainable development' is no such thing, but that does not mean the concept should be dismissed, any more than the concept of democracy should be dismissed when it is misappropriated by a dictatorship. Sustainability, like democracy, is an ideal toward which we strive, a journey more than a destination." (p. 200) This quote probably summarizes the whole theme and opinion of the author and his book. The author not only explains what we should dismiss and what we should investigate about our environment, but encourages us to face every concept and problem with honesty and optimism.

The book spends much of its time explaining this concept of sustainability and putting it into terms the average environmentalist can understand. "Sustainability' is dying of misuse, and dryness, and reduction to a buzzword. It is dying because it is attached to too may initiatives that pretend to be "sustainability" when they are demonstrably not. . . . Let us collectively abandon our use of the words sustainability and sustainable development, as they were used in the 20th Century. Let us therefore declare sustainability dead -- and immediately proceed to revive it. . . ." (p. 189) AtKisson clearly states the urgency with which we need to develop sustainable cultures, basing this need on the swiftly deteriorating condition of the earth's ecology, and the calamitous consequences that are sure to follow. Abandon all that we have heard, he insists, and develop new improved ideas on the same issues.

What makes this book a better read than a dry textbook are the clever analogies the author uses to illustrate his points, such as comparing sustainability to democracy. "Democracy was a new idea at one time, and it was scoffed at by many people. It took centuries to develop and become a workable reality, and it is still far from perfect." (p. 47) We are like passengers in an airplane in the clouds, says Atkisson, headed directly into the side of a mountain. Some of the passengers have caught a glimpse of the tragedy lying ahead, but their warnings fall on deaf ears. I really related to this analogy because it put the environment in terms that clearly illustrate what's happening around us. It also reminds us that we are all in the same position. I am on that plane with everyone else. The optimism the author presents exposes readers, the "Cassandras," including myself, to the idea that we can begin to plan a route to a positive future for our species and planet if we act together.

The author says these "Cassandras" who say the climate is changing, the ecosystems are disappearing, the human enterprise is unsustainable and heading for disaster, are the ones creating the disasters, they are the ones cursing us all because of the gift of prophecy. But Atkisson argues "that while some of the predictions of the controversial reports are wrong, the fundamental analysis is sound, with abundant evidence to prove it." (p. 33) However, at the end of the book, Atkisson acknowledges that "[exponential] growth is not inherently a bad thing; it all depends on what is growing." (p. 212) Clearly, Atkisson takes the time to look at both sides of the arguments. He understands the reasons behind the "Cassandras" but suggest a different way of looking at things.

The author provides essential tools for understanding our environment today. These fundamentals are the better part of the book because the information is presented in a way that even the average reader understands the challenges facing civilization. He also provides detailed explanations of the systemic nature of civilization's current problems, and how social diffusion theory takes innovations from the margins of society to the mainstream. The book does a fine job of bringing things down to a level where people actually see that they CAN act to make things better for the environment.

However, he does get a little too political at times in his analysis of things. He attributes U.S. vice-president Al Gore with personal responsibility for failing civilization, by "[shying] away from his own gift of prophecy." (p. 149) Atkisson assumes that Gore has failed as a politician for not using his position of power to improve the environment. While I don't know enough to agree or disagree with this statement, I do know that we could very easily place the blame on a lot of politicians for the state of the environment. It doesn't seem fair to place it on the shoulders of just one. Some of the author's political statements did detract somewhat from the book's content; however I do think he needed it to support his points.

The hunger the author has for our planet is what keeps the book moving at a pace that makes it easy to read. Atkisson acknowledges that he has a "restless idealistic hunger... And that irrepressible desire to change the world." (p. 4) The reader is easily aware of this hunger and I found it to be even a little contagious as I became more and more interested in hearing his opinion on the various subjects.

This book provides an unusual balance of information and keeps you wondering about the next page all of the time. On one hand, it's a clear, sober composition of the warnings being issued at the turn of last century. On the other hand, it's a positive argument that explains why just none of these warnings will come true. This book is also a detailed history of the author's life. He talks about what happens to a person who dedicates himself to proving Cassandra wrong -- he is this example. He details a bus trip in Malaysia on a rainy night with no windshield wipers and no lights, a meeting with Al Gore, work with Macedonian environmentalists, singing, and even mentions a few farm animals.