What happened to the environmental movement?

On the eve of Earth Day 2013, the New Yorker ran a lengthy review of Adam Rome’s new book, “The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-in Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation.” There has been no major environmental legislation in the US since 1990 when President George H.W. Bush signed a bill aimed at reducing acid rain. “Today’s environmental movement is vastly bigger, richer, and better connected than it was in 1970. It’s also vastly less successful. What went wrong?” asks Nicholas Lemann.

According to Rome, the original Earth Day held on April 22, 1970 remains a model of effective political organizing. Senator Gaylord Nelson’s idea of a “teach-in” was more than just sixties jargon, writes Lemann. It defined Earth Day as educational, school-based, widely distributed, locally controlled, and participatory. This is contrasted with Earth Day 1990 which was better funded and more elaborately orchestrated but had fewer lasting effects. Earth Day 1990 was more top-down and attuned to marketing than to organizing.

The more the US environmental movement becomes an established presence in Washington, the less it has been able to win legislative victories, notes Lemann. “It has concentrated on the inside game at the expense of broad-based organizing,” he writes, citing an example from his research for the Scholars Strategy Network. “The forces behind the climate change bill [in the US Congress] directed their money to the inside game in Washington and to messaging, rather than to organizing.”

Earth Day is now celebrated around the world, including Armenia (see poster from 2010 campaign). Yet the lessons from the US environmental movement should be of interest for Armenia’s nascent environmental movement, which organized mass protests against industrial air pollution in the late 1980s. Today’s movement is smaller, visibly younger, and focused around unsustainable mining with some attention to issues such as green spaces, threatened ecosystems, and biodiversity.

Armenia’s environmental movement has not been able to organize at the national level or at the grassroots, so it faces serious challenges ahead in terms of effectiveness and growth. We hope Rome’s account will provide at least some useful advice about organizing a generation of environmental leaders.

A simple, healthy dish from India…

Readers of this blog may know it is named after one of my favorite foods, chickpeas, or Cicer arietinum. This legume is high in protein and it’s one of the earliest cultivated legumes. Remains dated more than 5,000 years old have been found in Anatolia and in Europe.

(Photograph by Jaymi Heimbuch, TreeHugger)

So I try to post about chickpeas whenever the opportunity arises. Today I came across a TreeHugger recipe for chickpeas simmered in masala sauce. Kelly Rossiter explains that this simple Indian recipe takes very little effort and the results are quite tasty.

Jaymi Heimbuch says, “I knew I'd love this dish just by looking at the ingredients--it has so many fantastic spices with simple chickpeas and tomatoes to soak them all up and provide texture--but I had no idea that it would come together so easily.”

Here’s the link if you’d like to give it a try: http://www.treehugger.com/easy-vegetarian-recipes/chickpeas-simmered-masala-sauce.html

Emerging markets + Environmental responsibility = Big financial rewards

Sustainability and environmental responsibility may not be viewed as a priority in developing countries focused on raising citizens out of poverty. “But the developed world does not have a monopoly on visionaries,” according to a new article in Harvard Business Review. Rather, in markets where the pressures of resource depletion are felt most keenly, corporate sustainability has become a source of innovation.

In one example, Egypt’s first organic farm lowered costs, improved yields by 30 percent, and produced higher quality raw cotton. Far from being an expensive indulgence, organic cotton offered a business model that was more sustainable not just environmentally but financially.

A review of more than 1,000 companies by Boston Consulting Group and the World Economic Forum identified more than a dozen champions whose sustainability practices were “effective, innovative, and scalable.” To make their environmental efforts pay off financially, companies followed one of these approaches:

• Taking a long view, investing in methods of sustainable operation that led to dramatically lower costs and higher yields
• A bootstrap approach starting with cost savings from small changes which funded advanced technologies that made production more efficient
• Spreading sustainability efforts to the operations of customers and suppliers

The companies highlighted in Making Sustainability Profitable demonstrate that economic development and environmental sustainability are not mutually exclusive. Instead, visionary enterprises in emerging markets are showing us that environmentally responsible approaches can lead to big financial rewards.

Are you going to join us?

A friend asked, during the post-election rallies in Freedom Square, “Are specific subject people--environmentalists, women’s rights, orphans--ready to join the major movement to deal with democracy issues?”

Raffi Hovannisian with Ambassador John Evans at PFA conference

I was reminded of Raffi Hovannisian’s keynote in DC at the PFA Armenia-Diaspora conference, when he said: “It may be easy to sit in Armenia, to offer policy prescriptions as an NGO, one in the environmental realm, the other one in human rights, the other political party on foreign policy and Turkish-Armenian relations, to gather in Washington and elsewhere, where we have very sharp minds concerned about the future of Armenia, and asking the question: ‘well, how do we realize that potential?’ With each one continuing in his own narrow pathway, her own little project--which is very important, don’t get me wrong, a significant contribution to Armenia and its future--but one which misses the bigger picture; which does not allow for a bridging of the divide and a joint political, societal solution to Armenia’s problems.”

There was more than a passing glance from Raffi in my direction, and my initial reaction was that issues such as environmental protection should not be an afterthought or something we can’t afford to deal with now. How could he make this implication about ATP’s mission, which he presumably supports along with most forward-thinking people? After further reflection, though, I realized he was right. The governance challenge--more commonly referred to as corruption in civil society circles--is the underlying driver of many broader issues such as deforestation. If we are ever going to get ahead of the issue, we will have to join the larger movement to improve governance.

And yet, our mission is so important and narrow in focus that it has allowed us to achieve very tangible results: more than 4.2 million trees planted since 1994. At the same time it precludes us from putting tree planting on hold and entering the political stage.

So the question for all of our organizations with a targeted mission becomes, how do we bring the issue of national governance back to our specific mission, niche, or area of expertise? How can we contribute to the issue in a meaningful and substantial way, without taking focus away from our core programs?

But just as important, this is a two-way street. Political figures have to bring these important and narrow issues into their own platforms, since they have a direct impact on the well-being of the families that make up our nation. Aside from the well-used rhetoric designed to enlist popular support at political rallies, what exactly are their plans for environment, women’s rights, and orphans?

Raffi, to his credit, has raised concern with unsustainable mining, and his Heritage Party spearheaded the Teghut declaration at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2012, but it has to go well beyond that for all political figures and civil society actors. Let’s pledge to do our part in the NGO sector, and ask the political leaders about their platforms on our issues.

A close call in Indonesia, not Chelyabinsk...

We caught news coverage last night of the asteroid known as 2012 DA14 that was due to pass Earth near Indonesia at a mere 17,200 miles away today. At half the size of a football field, the asteroid could have flattened London if it struck. Of course the media was showing clips of the disaster film Deep Impact, and we assured Robert it was just a movie and that would not happen when 2012 DA14 passed.

He was so excited that he asked me to pull out the fragments of the Sikhote Alin meteorite that I acquired a few years ago. This well-known 23 ton iron meteorite struck eastern Siberia 66 years ago this week on February 12, 1947. I became intrigued by meteorites after reading about one that tore through the roof of a house in New Jersey in 2007.

Thinking the close-call with a huge asteroid was today’s big story, we were shocked by news of a 10 ton meteorite that struck the town of Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains. Video from dashboard cameras and mobile phones have been posted all over the internet. The sound of the crash is audible in this video, and the shock waves damaged hundreds of buildings and injured 1,000 people.

About those videos. NPR answers the question: Why did so many Russian drivers get such great meteor videos? Apparently Russian drivers constantly run dashboard cameras to capture evidence in the case of accidents involving pedestrians purposely getting hit.

Speaking of scams, let’s see how quickly remnants of the Chelyabinsk meteorite will be offered up for sale. 

Innovate to meet the challenges of conservation...

From the creation of the Boston Common in 1634 to the emergence of landscape-scale conservation initiatives in the 21st century, innovators have risen to address seemingly intractable land, water, and biodiversity conservation challenges.

It will require our best talent, technology, financial tools, and social innovation to tackle today's global conservation challenges, says Jim Levitt, director of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest and a fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

In this talk from TEDx BeaconStreet, "Innovate to Meet the Challenges of Conservation," Jim connects examples from successful conservation initiatives to emerging paradigms for public, private, and global cooperation that point the way for enduring conservation.

Government ignores concerns about Teghut mine…

Armenia Copper Programme, a division of the Vallex Group registered offshore in Liechtenstein, has begun operating a controversial mining project in the village of Teghut. Preliminary work began with the clearing of a portion of the pristine Teghut Forest to create a massive tailing dump for toxic waste left after mineral processing. The company is aggressively removing a mountain in order to reach underground deposits of copper and molybdenum.

Teghut photo by Sara Anjargolian, 2012

Armenia has made mining a key part of its economic development strategy [see page 34] despite environmental, economic, and social concerns. There are more than 400 active mines and 19 tailing dumps in Armenia, a small country the size of Maryland. Scientists have reported health risks in communities around mines scattered throughout Armenia. Human rights and environmental activists have also protested violations of property rights and the loss of rare and endangered ecosystems and biodiversity.

A coalition of 14 organizations including Armenia Tree Project and Armenian Environmental Network sent a letter to the President and Prime Minister, requesting an independent Environmental Impact Assessment for the mine.

“Cases brought in opposition to the operations in Armenian courts have been cursorily and improperly dismissed on strictly procedural bases without proper examination as to the substance of the claims. The Environmental Impact Assessment and public notice requirements are fatally flawed. The irreparable damage already done to Teghut, and the yet greater damage that will be done to the region if mining continues, demand immediate attention,” reads the letter.

The letter requests the EIA in order to comply with domestic and international laws, present an accurate analysis of the environmental impact, address the public health impacts of the Teghut mining operations, take alternative development options into consideration, and restore public faith and trust in government.

The coalition received a response from Edgar Pirumyan, Ministry of Nature Protection Chief of Staff, who said an EIA was completed within the scope of the law.

“We are disappointed with the perfunctory response through the Ministry of Nature Protection whose primary mission is the protection of Armenia’s environment,” notes ATP’s managing director Tom Garabedian. “In a recent visit to California, the Prime Minister expressed his commitment to Armenia’s environment. We hope that there is a willingness of the government to reexamine Teghut and mining in Armenia as a whole.”

The letter was co-signed by Acopian Center for the Environment, Armenian American Health Professionals Organization, Armenian American Medical Association, Armenian American Nurses Association, Armenian American Pharmacists Association, Armenian Bar Association, Armenian International Dental Association, Armenian Medical International Committee, Axis of Justice (Serj Tankian), Civic Forum, haikProject, and World Wide Fund for Nature.