Redefining Environmental Problems
What if the key to making people more conscious of the environmental consequences of their actions rests in the wording used when referring to these environmental issues?
This question came to mind during a conversation with a good friend of mine. This friend is particularly passionate about animals but he is adamant that climate change is not a man-made problem. He maintains that change is inevitable and the climate is not exempt from this rule. He pointed out that Earth’s climate will never remain constant and we cannot blame ourselves for the changing climate as it is something that has been happening long before human beings discovered how to burn things and will continue changing long after we have gone extinct. I then asked what he thought of accelerated climate change and he replied that it is a serious problem that could possibly result in the extinction of humankind.
Terms and their definitions are often taken for granted but they are important as we are likely to ‘Google’ new buzz-words that we hear people raving about. What we find when reading up on these words is likely to inform our course of action, how we relate to those terms and how we use them. Most terms related to environmental problems are relatively new and their definitions are sometimes not adequate. They do not adequately communicate certain environmental problems; instead they make them seem like something scientists dreamt up. Depending on how an environmental term is phrased or defined we may choose to act or be content with just rolling our eyes whenever that term is mentioned.
Climate Change
Oxford dictionary definition:
“A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.”
Suggested definition:
“A change in global or regional climate patterns, a particularly accelerated change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.”
The current definition is adequate but needs slight rephrasing for it to communicate that our actions accelerate a naturally occurring process. The term ‘climate change’ also needs rephrasing. Climate change occurs naturally and is a gradual process. This process is accelerated by emissions from burning fossil fuels and it is this accelerated change that is a problem since its effects to life on Earth are not easy to predict. The term climate change should then perhaps be changed to ‘accelerated climate change’.
Sustainable development
Brundtland Report definition:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Suggested definition:
“Development, economic or otherwise, that is within the limits of nature and as close as possible to how nature would have proceeded”
Sustainable development is a term that is widely used, misused and very misinterpreted.
Under its current definition the term is used to sometimes justify over-exploitation of the environment. The suggested definition could result in extensive research into nature’s limits and workings before any development projects commence. A definition of sustainable development should include nature or the environment since all development depends on nature. This definition should also mention nature’s limits to avoid it being interpreted to suit our selfish desires.
Poach
Oxford dictionary definition:
Pronunciation: /pəʊtʃ/
“Illegally hunt or catch (game or fish) on land that is not one’s own or in contravention of official protection.”
Suggested definition:
“Illegally hunt, catch or harvest (game, fish or plants) on land that is not one’s own or in contravention of official protection. This often violates ecological principles and may compromise the integrity of ecosystems”
According to the current definition poaching appears to be a problem only for the owner or custodian of the poached organism. If that definition is extended to include ecosystems then poaching becomes everyone’s problem as ecosystems need to stay healthy for them to continue supporting our lives on Earth. The definition should also include plants to highlight the plight of the many that are threatened with extinction due to illegal harvesting or poaching.
Conservation
Oxford dictionary definition:
Pronunciation: /kɒnsəˈveɪʃ(ə)n/
“Preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment and of wildlife.”
Suggested definition:
“Preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment and of wildlife, the ultimate goal of which being to maintain the integrity of ecosystems that support human life on Earth”
This current definition makes conservation seem somewhat pointless and could even be the reason why conservationists are sometimes called ‘tree-huggers’ as tree hugging does also seem pointless. Extending this definition to include ecosystems communicates a message of conservation being essential to our existence and tree hugging all of a sudden becomes a hip thing to do as opposed to it being a thing hippies do.
Human being
Oxford dictionary definition:
Pronunciation: /hjuːmənˈbiːɪŋ/
“A man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance.”
Suggested definition:
“A man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance. Any superior trait possessed by a human being does not render them superior to other organisms, they are still part of the animal kingdom, they are not the pinnacle of evolution and their ecological value is similar to that of other organisms”
Human being is not a term one expects to find in a blog about redefining environmental terms. Including human being as an environmental term that needs redefining is however justified since we are the cause of most environmental problems. The current definition paints us as being islands in a sea of inferior animals when in actual fact we are tired to all other organisms by complicated ecological relationships. The suggested definition takes us off our high horse and grounds us. It reminds us that we are part of nature and not its rulers.
I am not an expert on environmental matters or the English language but I have found that I grasp something better when it is adequately phrased and defined, and my curiosity compels me to go beyond definitions of the latest buzzwords. If my understanding of environmental problems was solely informed by the common phrases or definitions used to refer to them, then I doubt the possible extinction of species due to poaching would worry me.
-Fortunate M. Phaka
*Disclaimer: This was not written as an attempt to discredit The Oxford Dictionary as a credible dictionary. Oxford Dictionary definitions were used simply because Oxford dictionaries are some of the most trusted and widely used in the world.
The Brundtland Report’s definition of sustainable development was not used to undermine the report’s value. It was used because it is the most widely recognised definition of the term and the report is responsible for putting that term on the lips of many nations.