///Rational or irrational?///

Friday, August 29, 2003

"The success of environmentalist initiatives hinges not on some highly developed technology or some arcane new science, but on a state of mind which is bound to be influenced as much or more by the power of images, narratives, metaphors, and by appeals to feeling…[than by] appeals to data, statistics, expertise, and formal reasoning."
- Ulrich Beck

This quote really sums it up for me: environmentalism is not really about an objective problem to be understood through rational thought, informed by data. What really counts is how we feel about the environment. Don't confuse the issue with facts! As I have long contended, most environmentalists care about nature with their hearts instead of with their brains. The heart has a lousy track record in the field of public policy. I think nature will be better served if we use our brains.

You might wonder, who is this Ulrich Beck? Some lightweight enviro-extremist wacko? Well, not quite. He's a professor of sociology at University of Munich (Ludwig Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, LMU) and a pretty big wheel in European intellectual circles, particularly the postmodernist ones. You can read more about him in this article. I heard Beck quoted by a Harvard English professor (Lawrence Buell), who referred to Beck as "the Rachel Carson of contemporary sociology," a comparison bizarre enough to merit a separate post.

Environmentalism has become a religion. To quote an opinion piece in the London Times, "Facts are not always the strong point of true believers, and global warming has morphed into an ancient-style religion, demanding sacrifice to the Earth, especially, it would seem, by the poor of the developing world."
Gabriel 11:29 PM