What I do in my day job

Every time I think about quitting my environmental work, as I was last week and as I wrote then, something comes up that keeps me at it, reminds me why I do it and what gifts I bring to it.

If you are interested, here is a sample of what I do. The assignment: articulate the heretofore nebulous “future generations” aspect of the organization’s work in two pages or less, for prospective funders.

Note. I am really tired of persuasive writing. I always sit down to do something like this and think I can’t do it. Carolyn, my friend and boss, calls me and gives me her brain dump on the topic. I usually make a false start in the writing. And then I start again, maybe the next day, and it just rolls out in an hour or so. It is a very strange and specific talent.

Who will speak for future generations?

The Science and Environmental Health Network seeks [a pile of cash] over the next year to catalyze a movement for the rights of future generations to a healthy planet.

We who are alive today are rightly alarmed about the damage being inflicted on our environment and our own health. But the cumulative effects of activities that are changing the climate, depleting water and other resources, crushing the bedrock under our communities, and much more portend a bleaker habitat for future humans. Our current legal and regulatory regimes largely ignore or work against the interests of future generations, through practices such as discounting and cost-benefit analysis. Our current culture encourages present-day consumption and provides few outlets even to express commitment to future generations.

We cannot afford only to protect our own interests. We must learn how to speak for future generations. We believe the time is right for a movement for the rights of future generations to a healthy planet—on the order of the civil rights movement and the women’s movement. It must be powerful and pervasive enough to shift consciousness both in institutions and in the culture at large. It must be practical enough to result in concrete changes in law and policy.

Nothing about movements is predictable, but SEHN would like to do four things in the coming 12 months with the goal of catalyzing a movement for the rights of future generations. Whatever the outcome, the time is right for these initiatives:

Define and advance needed changes in the law. SEHN has done extensive groundwork in the past five years with Harvard and Vermont law schools on legal initiatives that would embed the rights of future generations in the law. We have issued white papers, written articles, drafted legislation and constitutional amendments, and outlined new institutions such as guardians or ombudsmen for future generations. These ideas are ready to be fleshed out and applied and we are beginning to do this. The Oregon Bar Association has asked SEHN to consult on such a project for the state. Like much of our work on the precautionary principle, the state, tribal, and sometimes local level is fertile territory for such experiments.

Convene conversations with proponents of the rights of nature. There is an extensive, diverse, international legal and advocacy movement for the rights of nature. We believe that a movement for the rights of future (human) generations could have much in common with this movement. At the same time, our legal work on rights of future generations is perhaps more advanced in terms of specific applications. We could learn much from each other and perhaps create synergy in advocacy and legal circles. Nature rights advocates have responded enthusiastically to this idea. We are convening the first such conversation in late 2011 and expect to follow up with others.

Make the public case. This year Executive Director Carolyn Raffensperger was invited to help an indigenous community draw up “principles of perpetual care” for the abandoned Giant gold mine in Northwest Territories, Canada. What she learned in the course of this consultation shocked even the engineers and government officials in charge of “remediating” the site when she pointed it out to them: The arsenic remaining on the site must be contained forever. The poison is permanent—not unlike the numerous sites around the world contaminated with radioactivity. Clearly, neither the public nor governments—let alone corporations—are prepared to deal with such legacies. Are we prepared to stop creating them? The public, at all levels, needs to be reminded of the consequences of our actions. The more visionary case for institutions and actions that protect future generations must also be made. Public speaking, media conversations, and consultations are an important part of this work.

Convene women to launch a movement. To date, women’s voices have been rarely heard on issues like climate change, but many women are passionately committed to the future of humanity. The wisdom and energy of women could galvanize this new movement. Carolyn Raffensperger has been in conversation with a number of prominent, visionary women—artists, writers, and activists--about convening a gathering of women to launch a movement for the rights of future generations. The response has been enthusiastic. An event is being planned in 2012, in a threatened or devastated place, that will involve art, music, story, statements, and direct action. A core organizing group includes several young women from the newly launched Peaceful Uprising group as well as other women’s activist groups. An elder circle will include luminaries such as Joanna Macy and Terry Tempest Williams. Affinity groups are being formed—artists, writers, singers, dreamers, and others.  

There you have it. That’s the kind of thing I do in my day job. I will get to go to that women's gathering. I guess it's really kind of cool.