{"id":11490,"date":"2020-04-27t05:19:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-27t05:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/opinion-environmentalism-is-a-new-fad-in-the-western-world-but-we-can-make-it-last\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07t19:39:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07t19:39:29","slug":"environmentalism-western-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/","title":{"rendered":"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last"},"content":{"rendered":"

this year marks the 50th anniversary of earth day, which was established by a u.s. senator in 1970.<\/a> what did this mean? the modern western world had finally begun to accept the idea that the earth needs to be protected, rather than ravaged.<\/p>\n

the western world in this context refers to the portion of the world usurped by colonizers, like much of europe and north america, which has generally placed economic vitality above all. it\u2019s astounding that it took until 1970, only 50 years ago, for many people in the americas to start acknowledging the importance of the environment. what was happening before then? those not in the western world, and those whose cultures persisted prior to the time when colonization and globalization usurped their lands (often people of color), generally acted as though every day was \u201cearth day.\u201d<\/p>\n

these cultures understand the concept of only taking what is needed from the earth and playing an active role in contributing to their ecosystem\u2019s health. these cultures see the world as common personhood inseparable from the individual, rather than a distinct entity from which resources are to be extracted.<\/p>\n

for example, in their daily routine the kashia band of pomo indians, a native american group of california, have traditionally used native species for foods, sustainably use their local natural resources to create tools like baskets, manage the land through controlled fires, and \u201conly take what is needed.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
(deepti bansal gage\/george washington university)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

another ancient culture that still exists today, which also emphasizes living in-sync with the environment, is that of many hindu people. hinduism has at least 90 holidays each year<\/a> celebrating various aspects of life and nature including changing seasons, certain animal deities, and harvest times demonstrating that some cultures have literally performed a celebration of the earth at least two days a week on average. many hindus today have very modern lifestyles, heavily influenced by the western world, yet still maintain environmentally friendly aspects of their culture like practicing vegetarianism, using herbal remedies, and using zero-waste clay and leaf containers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
a plate made from leaves. (krish <\/em>dulal\/creative commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

in the amazon, studies have shown that 11.8% of amazonian terra firme forests are sustainably-managed anthropogenic forests<\/a> resulting from the in-tune management practices of indigenous people over more than five millennia. these people gained vast knowledge over time on how to cultivate and sustainably manage forests to suit their needs while maintaining essential biodiversity. within the first century of european colonization, the amerindian population was slashed by 90%<\/a> and over time the forests and wilderness felt the effects of their new \u201ccaretakers\u201d who promoted unsustainable economic development. as such, between 1970 and 2014, we saw a 60% decline in the size of vertebrate populations<\/a> worldwide, despite the establishment of earth day.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(deepti bansal gage\/george washington university)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

while earth day was certainly not intended to be a green-washing campaign, it has unsurprisingly turned into one. one day a year, the western world gives tribute to the earth but people fail to take enduring action for the earth\u2019s benefit. the result: false hope that sufficient change is occurring, which leads to continued environmental degradation and catastrophes that affects all of us as people.<\/p>\n

\"\"
per capita consumption based on production plus imports minus exports. (source: wwf living planet report 2018, citing global footprint network. national footprint accounts 2018 edition<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

we now see the detrimental effects of colonization as the starting point for its even more problematic grandchild: unsustainable economic development. one may argue, \u201cthe western world isn\u2019t the one cutting down trees in the amazon and mining in africa,\u201d or \u201clook at how polluted india is.\u201d however, in return we must ask, \u201cwhat caused this destruction or pollution?\u201d the actual root cause of the destruction and pollution is unsustainable economic development caused by consumer demand in the western world, and with our exponentially increasing appetite for disposable goods that are produced in or use raw materials from those countries.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cthe great acceleration\u201d showing the growth in negative earth system trends correlated with increased socio-economic trends (source: wwf living planet report 2018, citing steffen, w., broadgate, w., deutsch, l., gaffney, o. & ludwig, c. the trajectory of the anthropocene: the great acceleration. the anthropocene review 2: 81-98, doi:10.1177\/2053019614564785 (2015).)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

while the effects of unsustainable economic growth are environmentally detrimental, can we learn lessons through our globalized world from native cultures who are more knowledgeable given their millennia of experience in thriving in-sync with the environment? wouldn\u2019t it make most sense to follow their way of life and their relationships with the earth? while the outlook for environmentalism seems dreary, following the teachings of these other cultures is the solution. these are the people who should be consulted in the conservation movement given their millennia of environmental leadership.<\/p>\n

take a moment to think about the top three environmentalists in the media. perhaps people like jane goodall, al gore, rachel carson, david attenborough, or greta thunberg come to mind.<\/p>\n

\"\"
creative commons photos (left to right): sfu communications & marketing, jd lasica, us fws, john cairns \u2013 the bodleian libraries, anders hellberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

notice, likely none of the people you thought of are non-western or even people of color. upon pondering the idea further, it may even be difficult to come up with the name of a single famous environmental activist who is not from the western world, despite the amount of land historically conserved by non-western people internationally. while these individuals may not be as well-known as jane goodall, they should be.<\/p>\n

the western world must<\/em> put an enduring spotlight on the people of cultures who have had resounding success in environmental conservation since the birth of humanity, often people of color, and learn from them. otherwise, we risk earth day and environmentalism fizzling out as a green-washing fad, without any concrete action taken and \u2014 even worse \u2014 the destruction of our home planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

environmentalism is a relatively recent concept in the western world, creating challenges when confronting our growing environmental issues. looking to other, non-western cultures and leaders, may help develop enduring solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9680,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4929,4916,4900,4911,4899,4930,4914],"tags":[262,1149,3429,4421,1635,3725,608,718],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-11490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodiversity","category-climate","category-green-living","category-natural-disasters","category-policy","category-science-communication","category-sustainability","tag-conservation","tag-earth-day","tag-environmental-activism","tag-fad","tag-leadership","tag-native","tag-opinion","tag-solutions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nopinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last - planet forward<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last - planet forward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"environmentalism is a relatively recent concept in the western world, creating challenges when confronting our growing environmental issues. looking to other, non-western cultures and leaders, may help develop enduring solutions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"planet forward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-27t05:19:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-07t19:39:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"deepti bansal gage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@planet_forward\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@planet_forward\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"deepti bansal gage\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"deepti bansal gage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05a7df4fc91edff0b49d7c7214ba1061\"},\"headline\":\"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last\",\"datepublished\":\"2020-04-27t05:19:41+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2023-03-07t19:39:29+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/\"},\"wordcount\":994,\"commentcount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"conservation\",\"earth day\",\"environmental activism\",\"fad\",\"leadership\",\"native\",\"opinion\",\"solutions\"],\"articlesection\":[\"biodiversity\",\"climate\",\"克罗地亚vs加拿大让球 \",\"natural disasters\",\"policy\",\"science communication\",\"sustainability\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/\",\"name\":\"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last - planet forward\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website\"},\"datepublished\":\"2020-04-27t05:19:41+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2023-03-07t19:39:29+00:00\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"readaction\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"website\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/\",\"name\":\"planet forward\",\"description\":\"inspiring stories to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 \",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"searchaction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"entrypoint\",\"urltemplate\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"propertyvaluespecification\",\"valuerequired\":true,\"valuename\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\"},{\"@type\":\"organization\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"planet forward\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png\",\"contenturl\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png\",\"width\":1264,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"planet forward\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameas\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/planet_forward\"]},{\"@type\":\"person\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05a7df4fc91edff0b49d7c7214ba1061\",\"name\":\"deepti bansal gage\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-gage_d_bio2_hires-1-default-headshot-second-headshot-14299-96x96.jpg\",\"contenturl\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-gage_d_bio2_hires-1-default-headshot-second-headshot-14299-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"deepti bansal gage\"},\"description\":\"deepti is an environmental associate at beveridge and diamond, p.c. where she serves as the deputy co-chair of the sustainability and esg practice group. deepti's practice focuses on international environmental law, sustainability, product stewardship, green marketing, due diligence and reporting requirements, and the circular economy. deepti has led numerous negotiations for carbon offset procurement from project identification to end purchase and retirement of verified emissions reductions. she has also led negotiations for over a dozen clean energy infrastructure projects across north america. deepti has past experience in the non-profit space working with the nature conservancy and the environmental law institute focusing on the united nations framework convention on climate change (unfccc)\/ the paris agreement. deepti is a planet forward alumnus and traveled with planet forward to the galapagos islands in 2022 as a 2020 storyfest winner and former planet forward senior correspondent. deepti was also featured as a speaker in the 2021 adobe max conference alongside frank senso for her storytelling work with planet forward. deepti uses the skills gained from planet forward to advocate for a more circular economy in her international practice to improve outcomes for the environment, ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate. deepti has been recognized as an emerging leader in the environmental space through the environmental law institute and has served as a speaker for a number of events. deepti earned a j.d. from the george washington university law school and a b.s. in business economics from the kelley school of business at indiana university bloomington as a wells scholar.\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/author\/deepti-bansal\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ yoast seo plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last - planet forward","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/","og_locale":"en_us","og_type":"article","og_title":"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last - planet forward","og_description":"environmentalism is a relatively recent concept in the western world, creating challenges when confronting our growing environmental issues. looking to other, non-western cultures and leaders, may help develop enduring solutions.","og_url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/","og_site_name":"planet forward","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org","article_published_time":"2020-04-27t05:19:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-07t19:39:29+00:00","author":"deepti bansal gage","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@planet_forward","twitter_site":"@planet_forward","twitter_misc":{"written by":"deepti bansal gage","est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"article","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/#article","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/"},"author":{"name":"deepti bansal gage","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05a7df4fc91edff0b49d7c7214ba1061"},"headline":"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last","datepublished":"2020-04-27t05:19:41+00:00","datemodified":"2023-03-07t19:39:29+00:00","mainentityofpage":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/"},"wordcount":994,"commentcount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["conservation","earth day","environmental activism","fad","leadership","native","opinion","solutions"],"articlesection":["biodiversity","climate","克罗地亚vs加拿大让球 ","natural disasters","policy","science communication","sustainability"],"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"commentaction","name":"comment","target":["\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"webpage","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/","name":"opinion | environmentalism is a new fad in the western world, but we can make it last - planet forward","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website"},"datepublished":"2020-04-27t05:19:41+00:00","datemodified":"2023-03-07t19:39:29+00:00","inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"readaction","target":["\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/environmentalism-western-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"website","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#website","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/","name":"planet forward","description":"inspiring stories to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 ","publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization"},"potentialaction":[{"@type":"searchaction","target":{"@type":"entrypoint","urltemplate":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"propertyvaluespecification","valuerequired":true,"valuename":"search_term_string"}}],"inlanguage":"en-us"},{"@type":"organization","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#organization","name":"planet forward","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/","logo":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png","contenturl":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pf_main_primary_rgb-1-1.png","width":1264,"height":660,"caption":"planet forward"},"image":{"@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/planetforward.org","https:\/\/x.com\/planet_forward"]},{"@type":"person","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05a7df4fc91edff0b49d7c7214ba1061","name":"deepti bansal gage","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-gage_d_bio2_hires-1-default-headshot-second-headshot-14299-96x96.jpg","contenturl":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-gage_d_bio2_hires-1-default-headshot-second-headshot-14299-96x96.jpg","caption":"deepti bansal gage"},"description":"deepti is an environmental associate at beveridge and diamond, p.c. where she serves as the deputy co-chair of the sustainability and esg practice group. deepti's practice focuses on international environmental law, sustainability, product stewardship, green marketing, due diligence and reporting requirements, and the circular economy. deepti has led numerous negotiations for carbon offset procurement from project identification to end purchase and retirement of verified emissions reductions. she has also led negotiations for over a dozen clean energy infrastructure projects across north america. deepti has past experience in the non-profit space working with the nature conservancy and the environmental law institute focusing on the united nations framework convention on climate change (unfccc)\/ the paris agreement. deepti is a planet forward alumnus and traveled with planet forward to the galapagos islands in 2022 as a 2020 storyfest winner and former planet forward senior correspondent. deepti was also featured as a speaker in the 2021 adobe max conference alongside frank senso for her storytelling work with planet forward. deepti uses the skills gained from planet forward to advocate for a more circular economy in her international practice to improve outcomes for the environment, ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate. deepti has been recognized as an emerging leader in the environmental space through the environmental law institute and has served as a speaker for a number of events. deepti earned a j.d. from the george washington university law school and a b.s. in business economics from the kelley school of business at indiana university bloomington as a wells scholar.","url":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/author\/deepti-bansal\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11490"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11490"},{"taxonomy":"storyfest_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/storyfest_categories?post=11490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}