Earth Day thoughts from Denis Hayes

Adapted from the speech of Earth Day co-founder Denis Hayes at the Coalition for A Livable Future’s Regional Summit last Thursday. I took notes, then wrote them up into cohesive paragraphs. The speech was a half hour or so long, so obviously these are just some of the highlights.

We live in a world where humans have the power to decimate the world, create deserts, wipe out all life forms. Yet environmentalists are portrayed as just another Special Interest group. Americans despise Special Interests.

One of our problems is that so many of our interests as environmentalists are selfless. For example, there is no direct connection between polar bears and personal prosperity here in Portland, Oregon. To attain our goals, we must do a better job of tying them to the self-interests of people. And there lies another challenge: We are not trying to get our air cleaner than our neighbor’s air. We are trying to get clean air over the whole world.

Another problem is in the language people use. In a recent poll, respondents said by 2 to 1 that “Too much is spent on Welfare.” Yet in another question in the same poll, answered by the same people, 10 to 1 agreed with the statement, “Too little is spent helping the poor”. The story is told of the environmentalist who asked a friend’s young daughter what she would like to be if she grows up. We need to shift from selling fear to selling hope. And people don’t care how much you know, until they know you care – about the things they care about.

We cannot afford to fail here in Portland, Oregon. Other cities look to us as the leaders in sustainable development and caring for the environment as well as for people and everything they care about. A healthy environment should be a right, a right for all, unrelated to personal income. Affordable housing isn’t affordable if the resident can’t afford to heat it, or if the type of heat used causes illnesses.

Envision a community where interesting, challenging living-wage jobs are available to all. Imagine a future with clean air, clean water, healthy homes for all, and 100% recycling. We must maintain hope that this future can be achieved. The tough part is to envision the social, political, and environmental framework to achieve it.

Denis told these three jokes in his speech, which I’m adding in the hope of making you smile after those heavier thoughts:

* What’s the difference between a golfer and a skydiver? The golfer goes, “Whack!” “Damn!”. The skydiver goes, “Damn!” “Whack!”

* Al Gore won an Oscar for his movie. So far, the Supreme Court hasn’t reversed the vote.

* “My speech coach told me one should always say, “And in conclusion…” towards the end of a long speech. He said it gives the audience hope.”