Yesterday I put together a more-or-less tongue-in-cheek survey to ask people whether I should make a big deal out of the outrageous sustainability news stories I'd read recently. I say "tongue-in-cheek" because the choices in the one-question survey were a bit "loaded".
In any event, most people (91%) said I should go ahead and lay it on thick. I decided not to do that. Oh, I read a few paragraphs from the article I'd saved from the Times Online; but I think I made the point about being concerned with the group's direction without hammering them over the head with it.
I apologize in advance for this being a little bit rambling, but it's a compilation of what I've been thinking about sustainability for the last month, since the previous meeting.
That meeting was startling. The presentation given by the gentleman who has all the legislative connections in Washington and the state was fascinating. Also very full in scope; it ranged over a lot of topics. There were a number of points where I was itching to say something but it wasn't my place. I was very thankful that he allowed questions to be asked.
One of the things that was mentioned was his experiences in India, and he tied that in with a quote from the fellow that wrote "The Population Bomb", Paul Ehrlich. And I remember being very, not "upset" -- that's not the right word -- but surprised that a quote from someone who has had such a poor record of successful predictions would be used in the context of a presentation on sustainability and "green" initiatives, definitions of different types of functions and projects and programs that are being started all over the world.
What it keyed me into was the fact that sustainability has a very large umbrella; all over the world if you consider places like London, England in general, the city of Madison, many other places in Europe...they are steaming ahead with sustainability initiatives full force. In particular -- and I've watched the news stories -- and this is way over and above what this committee could aspire to be; however, the sustainability initiative does encompass a lot of things; and this story from the Times Online from the 1st of February is an indicator, and it continues to make me unsettled about sustainability in general.
The headline says "'2 children should be the limit', says Green Guru". Maybe some of you have seen that story:
Couples who have more than two children are being irresponsible by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government's green advisor has warned.
Jonathan Porritt, who chairs the government's Sustainable Development Commission...
... there's the sustainability angle ...
says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming.
So, sustainability, global warming, and population control all in one sentence.
He says political leaders and green campaigners should stop dodging the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population.
It goes on and compares the birth of each child to burning 2-1/2 acres of old-growth oak woodland over their lifetimes.
As I said, this committee is nowhere near that in scope or in ambition, but this committe will eventually have some political clout. Chairman Ahles is the one who is most aware of the political ramifications because a number of times I've heard him mention during Council meetings that it would be well to pay attention to sustainability issues when we talk about things that the city undertakes. So, that is a step in that direction.
At what point does this committee become more "bona fide"; meaning that it has the force, say, of the Public Services and Safety Committee it becomes a commission of its own? Is there an evolutionary path here? I'm very curious about that. At the present it is very low-impact, very much neighborhood oriented it seems to me, and small. However when you have presentations by that fellow last [month]...I'm sorry I don't remember his name... [At this point, Chairman Ahles told me the name: Tom Meyer - Ed.] "...thank you. He was a fascinating guy. You have presentations like that – that is setting the stage, all right? From this smorgasbord of things that "sustainability" means, what does this committee get involved in?
I don't have much more to say than that. Thank you for letting me speak.
Alderman Marge Bates spoke up and emphasized that the group was still getting on its feet.