Hope against Hope

This Blog is now shifting gears, moving from thoughts and reflections on the EECO 586 course to thoughts and reflections on EECO 509: Psychology of Environmental Education and Communication.  It will be interesting to explore new topics, and revisit some recurring themes through this new lens.

We begin with a topic that while in the readings is focussed on conservation biologists, is a source of discussion that permeates the entire environmental movement.  How do we resolve the tension that exists between the despair that inevitably comes from immersion in the field of conservation, and the hope that is necessary for people to actively seek out solutions and alter behaviours. 

I think I tend to fall on the side of hope, and would agree with most of the arguments put forward by Swaisgood, Sheppard and James (2010); in that despair is perhaps not the best emotion to evoke when attempting to communicate a message.  I recognise the dangers associated with false hope (Patten, Smith-Patten & Brenda, 2011), and the fear that uninformed optimism might lead us back to unsustainable behaviours, but I’m not sure if false hope is worse than no hope at all.  A plan is better than no plan at all, and maybe false hope is better than no hope at all, unless, I suppose that plan is destructive, and that hope leads to a misguided faith in the power of innovation and technology to overcome all our problems.  That being said, in the end what’s the point of doing anything without hope.  I wonder what meaningful advances have come out of feelings of despair?  Maybe a desire to tear down the existing infrastructure that led to feelings of despair, but you would hope that those actions would be followed by a re-building process.  Perhaps I am existing in a state of denial, fueled by an unrealistic belief in the inherent good of humanity.  I think I wrote in an earlier blog that I would classify myself as a Catastrophist, so can you be a hopeful catastrophist?  I hope that the existing system collapses, a paradigm shift occurs, and new sustainable systems emerge out of the chaos.

I think that despair can arise out of a deep attachment to the existing structures that hold our failing systems in place.  Those who despair over the prospect of a collapsed economic system are deeply invested in the values that perpetuate that system, and fail to see the long-term benefits associated with the re-distribution of wealth and the localized economies that might arise out of such a collapse.  Altering our perceptions of time, and re-orienting our desire for stability might lead us away from feelings of despair and invoke hope.  I’m not trying to say that we should just sit back and do nothing, just that it is possible to find hope, however, you might have to expand your search beyond the traditional boundaries of space and time.

The emotions being discussed are not superficial nor are they fleeting, and require approaches that go beyond hopeful language, approaches that are steeped in values will be necessary if a real shift is to occur.  I would imagine that many people are somewhat pre-disposed to either message, or maybe they find themselves somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

Patten, Michael A. & Smith-Patten, Brenda D. (2011). “As If” Philosophy: Conservation Biology's Real Hope. BioScience, 61(6), 425-426.

Swaisgood, Ronald R. & Sheppard, James K. (2010). The Culture of Conservation Biologists: Show me the hope! BioScience, 60(8), 626–630.