1. The green press tells us how awful things are, how dire our environmental circumstances, but you say we can solve it. What leads you to this conclusion?
5. What is the biggest misconception that people have about environmental solutions?
6. Why a novel, when you're dealing with such serious issues?
8. If you could tell the public one thing ...
9. How did you get interested in environmental issues? You don't even have a science degree.
1. The green press tells us how awful things are, how dire our environmental circumstances, but you say we can solve it. What leads you to this conclusion?
The vast number of environmental solutions out there. And, the interrelated nature of many of those solutions. Renewable power sources, sustainable agriculture, voluntary simplicity movements ... One set of solutions often solves many environmental problems simultaneously.
Also, I've studied the timelines of the scientists – the U.S. Photovoltaics Industry, the IPCC who developed the global warming curves, and many more . If we curb our carbon emissions – that means we're actively decreasing our total world carbon emissions – by 2040, IPCC projections show we can slow the planet's warming trends before world-wide catastrophe. But we've got to start new habits now in order to achieve that decrease by 2040.
2. You often say that our environmental solutions are all interrelated. Give us an example of what that means.
Take organics. Organic food – less chemicals – is clearly better for our health. Growing food organically is better for our planet – organic farms have richer soil life in microorganisms; they have more biodiversity, less soil depletion; they support more birds, butterflies, wildlife. And using certain sustainable agricultural practices can actually help with our global warming issues through Soil Sequestration of carbon. Since sustainable agriculture is typically a small-farm practice, we're economically supporting our family farms. By encouraging organic farmers and CSAs (Consumer Supported Agriculture organizations) close to population centers, we can aid in cleaning our air and water supply of chemicals.
Health, soils, biodiversity, wildlife, greenhouse gas issues, economics, cleaner air ... all from one environmental solution: choosing to buy organic.
3. We hear this term Sustainability tossed around in the corporate world and in the news. What is Sustainability anyways?
The corporate world has their own version of it – Sustainable Prosperity – which to me is an oxymoron. The United Nations and international groups have developed several solid definitions, most of which include taking of the planet's resources no faster than the planet can replenish them, so that there are resources for others and for future generations.
My definition goes back to the cycles of the planet – the water cycle, the carbon cycle. Sustainability to me means we're living in a way more interconnected with the cycles of the planet. When we say a new product or new idea is "greener", it can only be "greener" if it's bringing us closer to Sustainability, closer to the cycles of the planet. If it's not, we're just kidding ourselves.
4. You say there are three fairly distinct phases of society's journey to Sustainability: the current Outrageously Unsustainable times, a coming Transition period, and eventually, a Sustainable society. Can you talk more about the three phases, how they differ, and what you think they'll be like?
It's clear that what we're living now – with natural resource depletion, air and water issues, toxins and pollution, abandoned and suppressed segments of the populace – is Outrageously Unsustainable. Our planet cannot continue to support the Western lifestyle. The international organization WWF calculates that by 2050 we'll need two planets to support us.
Future-thinkers dream of a time when humans live Sustainable lifestyles, taking resources from the planet no faster than the planet can restore them. But it will take time to get from here to there.
We're entering a Transition period, a time of habit change, experimentation, evolving practices. We'll change our agriculture, our transportation, our consumption practices, our international relationships. Sweeping transformations.
Our "environment" is everything around us. Australian David Holmgren describes society like a daisy flower, with many petals. What we usually think of as the Environment is just one petal on his diagram: land and nature stewardship. There are many other realms of our environment – the buildings around us, our streets and cities, our relationships with other governments, economic issues, our health issues, our culture, education, spiritual issues.
Our task in the Transition period is to move each of these realms closer to a Sustainable way of human existence on the planet.
5. What is the biggest misconception that people have about environmental solutions?
That we can just switch our buying frenzy over to products which are labeled "greener" by the marketers. One of our biggest environmental issues is the sheer volume Western society consumes. We don't need that much stuff, we're overwhelmed by that much stuff – look at the blossoming of the storage unit industry, now we've got to buy places to put all the stuff.
But the consumerism issue is hush-hush. No one wants to talk about it. It's perceived as anti-American, anti-business.
There are many business opportunities in our society's journey to Sustainability. Moreover, there is a lot of Freedom. We'll rediscover our American values of freedom and self-determination. But then, freedom's a dangerous topic if you're in charge of a major corporation ...
see "Unshopping" by CoOp America
6. Why a novel, when you're dealing with such serious issues?
I realized that people didn't need just one more long non-fiction list about our environment. They needed an illustration. People want to see how it's going to be. How is global warming going to affect me, my children, the way I make my living, the way I get my groceries? How will all these green solutions affect my lifestyle? So I put all the real science into a story of characters, and rolled it forward over a generation. Through Legacy, you get to see how our future could possibly unfold: real solutions, in the midst of one of the biggest cities in the world.
7. Paper or plastic, which bags should we be using? Local food or organic, which is better? You recommend cloth napkins and dishtowels – doesn't that use a lot of water?
Bags: Neither. Reuseable cloth. The old jingle Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-Rebuy is a hierarchy, there’s a priority to it. Reuse is twice as good as recycled, because you use the item more than once! Reduce whenever you can. Reuse whatever you can. Recycle what you can’t reduce and reuse. And when you buy, buy things made from recycled materials.
Local/organic: In the future, the answer will be "both". For the present, either is preferable to conventional agriculture. Organic benefits your health, but choosing local helps with the greenhouse gas issues of transporting an organic pepper from Chile out of season.
Disposables: Reuseable cloth does require water to clean, but what about the water to manufacture that paper napkin? The bleach and dioxins required to make the paper white? The greenhouse gas emissions for transporting them to market, package after package after package as we use them? Not to mention the landfill space for disposing of all of them, and their packaging materials too. A reuseable cloth napkin or dishtowel can serve your family, office mates, fellow church members for years. (Run only full loads in that washer to conserve both power and water.)
Where do you get your toilet paper? Seventh Generation, Trader Joes, and several other brands offer TP made from 100% post consumer paper fibers. It's ridiculous to select brands made from virgin forests for such a purpose!
link to more "What Can I Do" suggestions
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8. If you could tell the public one thing ...
Your money is a vote. Your buying choices are power. You can continue to vote for the least-cost, cheaply-made, disposable goods. Or you can vote for the greenest you can, whenever you buy.
Register your vote – with corporate America, with Madison Avenue. This is the only way they will "get it" and turn the tide of what they produce and offer.
And remember, the decision not to buy – boycotting – is a powerful vote too.
9. How did you get interested in environmental issues? You don't even have a science degree.
Actually, I avoided science classes in school! But I grew up, and had two children. I had heard about global warming and I looked at my babies and worried "what will their lives be like"? I started researching, and learned how many solutions are out there, real workable concepts, being put to use in niches here and there around this country, around the world.
And I started reading the news differently, looking for signs of positive change. There are plenty of them, if you know how to look. Environmental transformation is happening – gradually – all around us.
But if you look at the timeline within Legacy, we're actually ahead of the game. The real life culture is transforming faster than my fictional one. And my fictional one works things out by 2040. I really believe our real life culture will too.
Photo credits: garden of the author, photo by the author.