Happy New Year to All.
>From the pacific northwest,
love/donna
1/3/99
To Usual Suspects # 15
This is part one of a "Devil's Dictionary" for grassroots
environmentalists containing some uncommon definitions for common
words and phrases and also some laws, constants and rules-of-thumb
discovered over the years. This post, Part one of three, covers the
areas of Public Administration and Watershed Councils & Partnerships.
Ten other subject areas such as science, timber, and economics will be
covered in later posts.
1. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
1st. Law of Property: Land, once stolen fair and square, cannot be
stolen back.
1st. Law of Public Land: The tough guys always get the ground.
Acceptance & Acceptability: When people say that local people will not
support what they do not understand, what they mean is that people
will not accept what they do understand if accepting it costs them
money or proves their whole life has been a tragic mistake. (see
Willful Ignorance)
Accountability: Generally advocated after it is too late to actually
achieve it.
Balance: The process of making tradeoffs between tepidly enforcing
environmental laws and ignoring them altogether. When the Grand Canyon
Dam was proposed, every elected and civic official within 100 miles of
the proposed dam agreed the "balanced approach" was to build it.
Derived not from the Latin "bilanz" - to weigh, but rather from the
Greek "balanoc" - to insert a suppository in the rectum to ease
irritation, as in, "Please bend over so the doctor can insert a
"balanoc" into your equation."
County: American political designation originally developed along with
the township and range system to facilitate real estate speculation.
Environmental Enforcement - Basic Rule of: From St. Augustine, "Give
me chastity and continency - but not yet!"
Environmental Enforcement - Circular Argument of: 1. Environmental
laws are essential to sustain the web of life upon which we all
depend. 2. Alas, if we ever seriously tried to enforce these laws, the
subsequent public outcry would cause their repeal. 3. Therefore, we
must never seriously enforce them. 4. Nevertheless, go back to #1.)
Equation: "We must put people back into the equation!" Mythical
mathematical concept generally used to advocate injecting local job
impacts into Endangered Species listings for the same reason the law's
framers specifically excluded them in the first place. To whit, if we
had to consider whether it was worth eliminating a man's job to
protect some poor creature, nothing non-human could ever be protected
from anything, anytime, anywhere.
Gridlock: Originally referred to third-world traffic congestion
created by pervasive non-enforcement of traffic laws. Today sometimes
used to refer to a legal impasse which prevents clearcutting in many
forests. Gridlock is usually unmistakable evidence that activists have
been successful in thwarting the devious plans of large corporations.
So Gridlock is a badge of honor and a measure of effectiveness.
MacCollism: A type of soothing, pre-authorized speech. At the Clinton
Forest Summit, the distinguished historian Kimbark MacColl was asked
to review the history of the timber industry in the West. Just before
he spoke, MacColl was ordered to delete from his speech, key phrases
like, "Timber cutters came to despoil ...", "...absentee timber owners
simply treated the region as a colony to be exploited." This allowed
President Clinton to speak immediately after MacColl and say of the
timber industry, "I've been impressed with their love of the land."
Property Rights - Basic rule of: If a property owner ever had the
right to urinate on a piece of property, he has a perpetual right to
site a toxic outfall on that same property. Asserting rights over
one's private property is All-American: asserting public interest over
public property is un-American.
Reaching Out: Oft asserted bromide that enlightened public policy
requires we accommodate those adversely impacted by environmental laws
- to the point of selective non-enforcement of those laws. Had
President Eisenhower "reached out" to the citizens of Little Rock,
Arkansas in the 1950's, he might have dispatched community
facilitators instead of armed troops, and probably the schools in the
South would still be segregated. (see Partnering and Win-Win)
Observer: According to conservatives, the only proper relationship of
a citizen to local extractive industry is as an observer.
Scoping: The process by which land management agencies solicit public
input on their proposed plans. In practice, Scoping is often scheduled
too early to be seriously considered or too late to make any
meaningful difference.
Willful Ignorance: A reflexive and instinctive reaction by "higher
monitoring authorities" to scientific data that proves their past
practices created environmental problems. Succinctly captured by
Horace who said, "To all that which thou provest me thus, I refuse to
give credence, and hate."
Win-Win (From the old English word "winnan" - to fight): A negotiating
strategy urged upon environmentalists by their opponents, who seldom
practice it themselves, to ensure activists "lose-lose" and are
grateful for it.
Utopian Localism: A pervasive myth that rural officials know best
about what "really works" on the local level. Realistically, if we
ever ceased Federal enforcement of environmental laws, our public
resources would be extracted or privatized in short order with local
officials as cheerleaders because the environmental values of most
local officials run a continuum from indifference to outright
hostility.
2. WATERSHED COUNCILS AND PARTNERSHIPS,
1st. Law of Economic Development: Rural economic development always
involves extending free water and sewer lines to a partners'
previously undevelopable land. (see Utopian Plumbing "Pipes for
Partners" )
1st. Law of Local Knowledge: "Locals know best" because by living
close to environmental problems they obtain the unique insight that
the local area's clean water, shrimp, old growth trees, turtles,
elephants or whatever is without limit and therefore really can never
be used up.
1st. Law of Not Ramming Things Down People's Throats: Distant,
imperial bureaucracies should respect the customs and culture of rural
folks. Basically this is a creative reworking of John Calhoun's (c.
1850 - South Carolina) Theory of Nullification which directly led to
the Civil War. If communities engage in practices destructive to the
local environment long enough they become "grand fathered in" to do so
into perpetuity.
Activism - Gresham's Law of: Gresham observed that when you introduce
debased coins they always drive out good coinage. For activists, his
law predicts that if you introduce "consensus based" environmental
activism into a community, it will always drive out the existing
"advocacy based" environmental activism. As the former becomes
established, the latter is extinguished.
Advocacy - Rule of: Self-imposed problem apparently unique to the
science of Biology, which discourages as unethical the advocacy of any
research that suggests people might alter their behavior to help other
species survive. If medicine adopted the Rule of Advocacy, physicians
at accidents might be constrained to counting dead people.
Appropriate Agenda Items: "Non-controversial" issues acceptable for a
Watershed Council's consideration, i.e. "To coordinate Federal and
State funded resources to lobby Federal scientists and agencies not to
list species on the verge of extinction where the law and science
clearly compels it." Conversely, for a Watershed Council to discuss
the possibility of asking a timber company to defer clear cutting a
sheer slope in a critical fish bearing watershed would probably be
considered highly inappropriate. (see Blocking)
Blocking: The basic right of any member of a consensus-based Watershed
Council to forbid placing on the agenda any of the matters which led
to the creation of the Council in the first place. Ordinarily invoked
for controversial or divisive issues which might establish that some
council member, relative or boss ought to be indicted as an ecological
war criminal.
Consensus Decision Making: Generally promoted by the strong and
verbally skillful to create an appearance of democratic process while
oppressing the weak. [Note: generally OK for families, tribes or
religious orders with endless time and shared values.]
Consensus Decision Making - History of, England: Since the first
meetings of the English Shires "under the spreading oaks" in 500 A.D.
said by all parliamentarians to be the poorest deliberative procedure
because 1. Intimidation is inevitable. 2. Leaders can easily suppress
the views of minorities. 3. Conflicts of interest cannot be challenged
and thus will be concealed. 4. Invariably motions are passed which
conflict with higher authority.
Consensus Decision Making - History of, Greece: Decision-making
procedure in use prior to 136-109 B.C. Abandoned due to widespread
intimidation and coercion. Replaced by principles of voting, ballots,
representation and parliamentary procedure.
Cross Purposes: As in "State and Federal agencies too often work at
cross purposes." This comment usually indicates there is some poor
fool over at Fish and Wildlife who won't fudge the data and ignore
violations and so is considered "working at cross purposes" with the
other agencies that do so.
Local Involvement: A call for people to be "creatively empowered" to
more fully participate in matters that directly affect them,
especially those concerning the use of public property. Taken to its
logical conclusion, communities adjacent to the Statue of Liberty
could decide to melt it down to create good paying jobs for local
scrap metal yards.
Neo-liberalism: The six key premises of modern public decision-making.
1. All problems can be negotiated by people of good will. 2. Social
conflicts are imaginary constructs. 3. Examining systemic malfeasance
is unprofitable and inordinately time-consuming because no problem's
root source is ever corruption. 4. Those with the most financial
conflict with any issue should be deeply involved with the
administration of any law regarding it. 5. Problems always arise from
"mistakes." 6. "Bad actors" never have names or faces because guilt is
everywhere and nowhere.
Nudnik (Nudzh, Nudge): A Yiddish word meaning one who continually
pesters and annoys others. When effective environmental activists
begin to actively participate in "roundtables", partnerships, local
economic development schemes and other "win-win" processes, over time
they are are gradually and inevitably reduced to Nudniks.
Oregon Plan: Creative "partnering" between State and Federal agencies
and local landowners to create a complex fig-leaf to cover the fact
that the State lacks the will to enforce the Endangered Species Laws.
If one wishes to establish nationwide restoration schemes based on the
the principle that "Crooks Know Best", it is extremely helpful to get
a liberal Western Democratic Governor to pilot one for you.
Partnering: Innovative method used to establish compromising and
conflict-of-interest-prone relationships between law enforcers and
violators. A creative public policy tool generally used to slip
serious environmental enforcement ahead in time hopefully into the
indefinite future.
Reconciliation - Saul Alinsky's Opinion of: "Reconciliation means just
one thing: when one side gets power, the other side gets reconciled to
it."
Roundtable: Unique administrative forums whose purpose is to convince
local activists they have a de facto authority to give away public
assets or suspend environmental laws. If policemen were "roundtabled",
they might be persuaded that since they routinely issue tickets for
speeding violations, they also have the power to exempt some of their
neighbors from motor vehicle laws.
Stakeholder (Steakholder): This emerging theory of public
administration holds that if you lease government land, you obtain
proprietary relationships over it. However this is strictly a one-way
relationship. A rancher might loudly assert a "Stakeholder"
relationship to public land he leases to graze cattle, but if a tenant
in a house on the ranchers land claimed the minutest "Stakeholder"
relationship to the ranchers rental property, the rancher would
probably shoot him.
Talk and Log Group: Formal ongoing consultative process that meets
while some trees are being logged, to assess the best ways to
permanently protect them. Generally disbands after the trees become
logs.
Timber Dependent Communities: A local community so complicit with the
benefits of logging that reduced logging levels cannot be considered,
imagined or discussed.
Utopian Plumbing: Since the "outputs" of local economic development
partnerships are always underground pipes of 6" or larger diameter to
service the "partner's" land, they are best viewed as Utopian Plumbing
Schemes or "Pipes for Partners." (see 1st. Law of Economic
Development)
Watershed Council: A novel political construct which allows a local
community to substitute children's innocuous high school science
experiments for the enforcement of Federal Environmental Laws.
Sometimes used to expedite placing law enforcement authorities and
resources into the hands of environmental criminals. Also used to
camouflage public agencies' and officials' lobbying with public funds
in contravention of statutes forbidding such practices. (see Oregon
Plan)
Note from Donna:
This post came in today from the ever rockin' WSU engineering prof.
Chuck Pezchezki, (of course he's 32 and tenured, what's your excuse?).
Thank the forces his wife Kelly just gave birth to their first child... he's
much more in tune. 'Gotta have fun, while you're kickin,' Chuck says.
This was written by Jim Britell a friend of Chuck's.
Jim Britell P.O. Box 1349 Port Orford, Or 97465
Archive of his writing is at:
http://www.britell.com
