518
The new god is optimism, despite the overwhelming spreadsheets of scientific
bad news. It is not our intent to dispel some level of belief in these sane and passionate attempts to divert species malevolence and ecological illiteracy. We ourselves
have published one such book, Sanctuary: Oases of Innocence, with a very optimistic Foreword by Her Majesty the Queen of Bhutan, wife of the first King, Ashi Dorji
Wangmo Wangchuck.
8
Years later, one of us (mt) did a book with Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich,
Hope On Earth – A Conversation.
9
Among other things, that focused less upon, for
example, Dr. Ehrlich’s early wakeup calls in New Jersey when he realized the extent
to which the spraying of DDT was affecting the ability of caterpillars to feed on
various leaves, and more upon the prospects for ecological amelioration at the societal, legal levels that Dr. Ehrlich’s later work, and that by Rachel Carson and so
many others would have on the global psyche (butterfly and human populations, for
example, being critical watershed sets of comparable data for gauging real and positive change).
10
55.2 Hope Hastened
There was a time when environmentalists were charged with possessing excellence
at cataloging all the problems on earth, but no stomach for actually devising solutions to those dilemmas. That is no longer the case. Since long before Rachel
Carson’s devastating critique of industrialized agriculture with its runaway pesticide
mentality, conservation-minded activists had been highlighting modalities of conflict resolution. As early as 1864, and then in 1885, George Perkins Marsh, a
Vermont diplomat and eventual US minister to the Kingdom of Italy, appointed by
Abraham Lincoln, had recommended scores of viable plans for creating parks, and
staving off the devastation of fragile ecosystems. He was a pragmatist, as illustrated
in such books of his as Man and Nature (1864) and The Earth as Modified by
Human Action (1874).
America, since the early 1970s, has led other nations to recognize and mandate
levels of cleanliness: clean air, water, soils, though President Ronald Reagan tried to
undermine much President Carter had done; and there is no point citing the disastrous 4 years after President Obama, but in the end, we can only hope that sanity
8 By M. C. Tobias and J. G. Morrison, A Dancing Star Foundation Books, Council Oak Books, San
Francisco, CA and Tulsa, OK, 2008.
9 University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 2014, https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/
chicago/H/bo17588109.html
10 See Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science, by Robert L. Park, in the chapter “The Last
Butterfly,” Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, Princeton, New Jersey, 2008, p. 205.
For other works detailing the history of good reasons for at least limited optimism within the widespread environmental movements, see, “The Environmental Justice Movement,” by Renee Skelton
and Vernice Miller, March 17, 2016, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/environmental-justice-movement; and “Victories,” Earthjustice, https://earthjustice.org/our_work/victories, Accessed June 17,
2020.
55 No Equation for It: Numbers with No Attachment
The new god is optimism, despite the overwhelming spreadsheets of scientific
bad news. It is not our intent to dispel some level of belief in these sane and passionate attempts to divert species malevolence and ecological illiteracy. We ourselves
have published one such book, Sanctuary: Oases of Innocence, with a very optimistic Foreword by Her Majesty the Queen of Bhutan, wife of the first King, Ashi Dorji
Wangmo Wangchuck.
8
Years later, one of us (mt) did a book with Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich,
Hope On Earth – A Conversation.
9
Among other things, that focused less upon, for
example, Dr. Ehrlich’s early wakeup calls in New Jersey when he realized the extent
to which the spraying of DDT was affecting the ability of caterpillars to feed on
various leaves, and more upon the prospects for ecological amelioration at the societal, legal levels that Dr. Ehrlich’s later work, and that by Rachel Carson and so
many others would have on the global psyche (butterfly and human populations, for
example, being critical watershed sets of comparable data for gauging real and positive change).
10
55.2 Hope Hastened
There was a time when environmentalists were charged with possessing excellence
at cataloging all the problems on earth, but no stomach for actually devising solutions to those dilemmas. That is no longer the case. Since long before Rachel
Carson’s devastating critique of industrialized agriculture with its runaway pesticide
mentality, conservation-minded activists had been highlighting modalities of conflict resolution. As early as 1864, and then in 1885, George Perkins Marsh, a
Vermont diplomat and eventual US minister to the Kingdom of Italy, appointed by
Abraham Lincoln, had recommended scores of viable plans for creating parks, and
staving off the devastation of fragile ecosystems. He was a pragmatist, as illustrated
in such books of his as Man and Nature (1864) and The Earth as Modified by
Human Action (1874).
America, since the early 1970s, has led other nations to recognize and mandate
levels of cleanliness: clean air, water, soils, though President Ronald Reagan tried to
undermine much President Carter had done; and there is no point citing the disastrous 4 years after President Obama, but in the end, we can only hope that sanity
8 By M. C. Tobias and J. G. Morrison, A Dancing Star Foundation Books, Council Oak Books, San
Francisco, CA and Tulsa, OK, 2008.
9 University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 2014, https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/
chicago/H/bo17588109.html
10 See Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science, by Robert L. Park, in the chapter “The Last
Butterfly,” Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, Princeton, New Jersey, 2008, p. 205.
For other works detailing the history of good reasons for at least limited optimism within the widespread environmental movements, see, “The Environmental Justice Movement,” by Renee Skelton
and Vernice Miller, March 17, 2016, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/environmental-justice-movement; and “Victories,” Earthjustice, https://earthjustice.org/our_work/victories, Accessed June 17,
2020.
55 No Equation for It: Numbers with No Attachment