Colleagues, The debate over pessimism/optimism in pedagogy is always a hard one.
To save people’s inboxes, I will take responses to this, both positive and negative, off-list and compile them and return them to the list. J Ron ----------- At the risk of annoying some (and perhaps many) on the list, I am prompted to engage in a bit of “gallows humor <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gallows%20humor> ” here. Feel free to laugh at me, even if not at my little diatribe here. So, here goes: a) I think we should be cautious when determining which things “rest on interpretation” and which do not. The president of my country (the US) believes everything about the world rests on interpretation – he calls his interpretations the truth and mine false news. I consider that a problem. b) I believe that the facts, regardless of interpretation, are that “the planet is screwed, humans did it (especially white American males), and any rational response to this involves giving up all hope.” [Important interpretive note: I am a congenital pessimist – when someone asks if my glass is half full or half empty, I always ask “wait, how come I didn’t get a glass?”] c) That said, my “life force” could care less about the facts and demands that I recognize the facts but act AS IF they weren’t true. In my view, both Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi were clearly ignoring important parts of reality in their belief that they could, respectively, improve race relations in America and get the British colonialists out of India. What made them great humans, in my view, is that they listened to their “life force” in the face of facts that clearly showed that they had no chance of achieving the social changes they were seeking. Their unwillingness to let the low probability of success determine their behavior was the key to their success. d) Finally, most of our students do not believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy (sorry for the Christian/Eurocentric examples). Having had their hopes on those fronts crushed by their parents, its really rather a small step for us as teachers to tell our students “Sorry to disappoint, but there really is no hope for the planet.” The students will appreciate the honesty! This is all said only somewhat in jest – surely we should try to lift our students up by telling them good news and I commend Beth and others for doing so (in real life, *I* also try to ensure my students know about the “positive environmental trends” in the world). On the other hand, we should always be straight with them about what we, imperfectly, believe to be the truth. My truth is that I wake up every day knowing, deep in my heart, that there is NO hope for the Earth WHILE ALSO making every effort I can to contribute in a small way to help make that fact less true tomorrow than it was yesterday. Friends who are psychologists say that the clinical diagnosis for this is “crazy as a loon.” What is wonderful about the GEPED community, is that we are all helping educate our students in our own way. Given that mine is almost assuredly wrong, I am very happy that others are working on this too and probably getting it more right than me. Statistical probabilities suggest that someone, and perhaps many, among our great group of dedicated scholars is getting it right! For the sake of the planet, I sure hope so. Cheers! Ron From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Wapner Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2019 5:28 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; 'GEP-Ed List' <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [gep-ed] Good environmental trends Hi Beth, Perhaps the challenge of finding such a list rests on interpretation. Many thinkers see good news everywhere, especially with environmental trends. Folks like Bjorn Lomborg, Johan Norberg, Ronald Bailey, Deirdre McCloskey, and Anders Bolling are always presenting ‘facts’ that demonstrate environmental improvement. Their work is controversial but persuasive to many. It is part of a broader orientation that tends to be optimistic about humanity’s fate, seeing ‘progress’ everywhere. I would put people like Steven Pinker, Hans Rosling, and the infamous Juliann Simon in this category. The New York Times Book Review recently had a piece on Pinker and Rosling https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/02/07/pinker-rosling-progress-accentuate-positive/. Aside from thinkers, there are a number of outfits that present ‘good’ environmental news, such as https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/category/news/environment/, although I am unsure if they track broad trends. All the best, Paul Paul Wapner Professor, Global Environmental Politics School of International Service American University <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] -- From: Gepers < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> on behalf of " <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]" < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> Reply-To: " <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]" < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> Date: Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 3:14 PM To: Beth DeSombre < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]>, Gepers < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> Subject: RE: [gep-ed] Good environmental trends Hi Beth, I have seen, at some point in the past ten years, some sort of good news list. I cannot remember the source though I suspect it came over the Canadian Association of Geographers discussion list (you could post a query here: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . However, like one of your suggestions (better access to clean water), I remember finding at the time that the list only hailed purely anthropocentric improvements. As far as the state of the non-human world is concerned, I have the overwhelming sense that things are, across the board, going from bad to worse. I’d be happy to be proven wrong and look forward to your sharing your findings. Cheers, Bill From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of Beth DeSombre Sent: April 6, 2019 11:31 AM To: GEP-Ed List <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: [gep-ed] Good environmental trends Hi folks: This seems like a no brainer, but I'm having a surprisingly difficult time gathering a list of positive environmental trends (worldwide and over history). Things that have -- because of human intervention -- unquestionably improved, with some specific details to hang on them. Things like improved access to clean water, better air quality (of various types) in many parts of the world, etc. I'd like to not reinvent the wheel -- I could easily come up with a list of things I think are better now environmentally than 50 (or 25) years ago and go fetch the details of each, but I'm certain that one or more sources has already outlined them, with specifics attached. Can someone point me towards such lists/overviews/compilations? (Happy to share suggestions with the group afterwards). Thanks, Beth -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__groups.google.com_d_optout&d=DwMFaQ&c=U0G0XJAMhEk_X0GAGzCL7Q&r=BOzhaYdtrFx6b4S5xQEOnb05jR0rDHGlFyLMspvfa48&m=4WAElHRedlbXlxltWAHLZWS2iW0rH7h_NbEDzZYWf-A&s=IX0wyV-Ki-AxccsE91l2fc_ZnHCezrPrIyptx2uY9_Q&e=> . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__groups.google.com_d_optout&d=DwMFaQ&c=U0G0XJAMhEk_X0GAGzCL7Q&r=BOzhaYdtrFx6b4S5xQEOnb05jR0rDHGlFyLMspvfa48&m=4WAElHRedlbXlxltWAHLZWS2iW0rH7h_NbEDzZYWf-A&s=IX0wyV-Ki-AxccsE91l2fc_ZnHCezrPrIyptx2uY9_Q&e=> . -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]. For more options, visit <https://groups.google.com/d/optout> https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
