At 12:15 PM 3/2/96 -0600, Prudence Merton wrote:
>I am job hunting now and realized
>that my criteria for work did not consciously include socially and
>environmental responsibility on the part of a potential employer. I saw that
>my research on how an environmental ethic is fostered better start with myself.
>
I tend towards a structuralist approach to this - I think our need to be
employed in order to survive distorts or conflicts with many ethical
positions we would otherwise try to live by.
> How did your environmental ethic come into being?
I think it started from my mother. She used to teach us not to pick wild
flowers unless we could see at least 12 others near them. We lived in the
country and my parents encouraged simple activities in nature. My mother is
a great bird watcher and also used to try to identify all the flowers around
us even tiny ones.
> Was there some type of " transformational experience?"
No
> How do you manifest this ethic in your life? both personally,
>professionally, publicly and privately?
I use the municipal recycling scheme and am frustrated that it is not more
comprehensive. I have to admit I have got a bit slack on re-using
supermarket bags. Must get myself back into the habit . . .
I do not use pest and weedkillers but wish I had easier access to credible
information about what is harmful and what is not. I have been lucky that as
a widow I have had sufficient income not to have to be employed so I can
spend time pulling weeds by hand but even then I have difficulty accepting
the level of control I have on the appearance of my section. Introduced
weeds grow rampantly in this climate and often are a threat to native flora
- it is not easy knowing what the most environmentally sound behaviour is.
I do not own a car, which in this country is most unusual. I do get a friend
to take me places sometimes but I walk, cycle and bus unless I hit an
impossible time or luggage restraint. Again this is much easier for me since
I have control over my own time.
I was a founder member of our Green Party but I left because they formed an
Alliance with a group of Parties whose economic policies seemed unrealistic
to me. Green is not a homogeneous political perspective.
> Where have your experienced "stumbling blocks" in your efforts to
>live according to your own personal ethic? and what have you done about that?
>
I've probably covered the answers to this. I think the structures we have to
live in make compromises necessary - that means as long as we accept a
reponsibility to try to change the structures I think we have to forgive
ourselves some personal lapses. However, in a democracy, people's ideas must
be changed before the structures can be changed and the example of our lives
is a potent way of helping to change ideas so it is important to do the best
we can.
Helen Marsh
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Albany Campus, Massey University, New Zealand
Browns Bay, Auckland North Shore, New Zealand
