REALITICS Clarified
This Realitics Blog is not associated with another Realitics group which appears to be fixated on the existence of Unidentified Flying Objects. Realitics is a term I created in 2001 to describe a new form of politics. The ultimate definition of Realitics, time and human interests will determine.
posted by Duane Short | 5/03/2006 05:00:00 AM
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To better understand my perceived need for a form of politics I call "Realitics," I recommend one consider the history of the Green Movement.
This chronology is an excellent quick reference to some of the major events that have shaped the present global mindset as it pertains to environmental policy. What is made clear is that the United States of America is not quite the leader it has claimed to be concerning the global effort to bring greater environmental responsibility into the political process.
Elim Papadakis authored Historical Dictionary of the Green Movement in 1998. Papadakis ignores several eastern religions and ancient philosophies that have enduringly embraced principles of harmony with and conservation of nature and its resources. This is not an oversight but a practical approach for addressing the influence of the Green (Environmental) Movement on modern political systems in industrialized and developing nations around the world. His chronology focuses on the Green Movement’s political and social influence in the twentieth century.
I strongly recommend Papadakis for those wishing to better frame a picture of the events leading to today’s state of Green politics. Here, I am offering Papadakis’ chronology of historical events as a backdrop for sharing thought provoking concepts.
CHRONOLOGY
1798 Publication of An Essay on the Principle of Population by Robert Malthus
1849 Establishment of the U.S. Department of the Interior
1863 Enactment of the Alkali Act in Britain represens a novel attempt to curb emissions on a large scale
1864 Publication of Man and Nature by George Perkins Marsh; Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees are assigned by act of U.S. Congress to the state of California for public use, resort, and recreation
1865 Formation of the Commons, Opens Spaces, and Footpaths Preservation Society in Britain
1867 Foundation of the East Riding Association for the Protection of Sea Birds in Britain
1870 Foundation of the Association for the Protection of British Birds
1872 Creation of Yellowstone National Park in the United States; *Robert Angus Smith introduces the concept of acid rain
1879 Creation of the Royal national park in Australia
1881 Foundation of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Britain
1883 Formation of the Natal Game Preservation Society in in south Africa; foundation of the American Ornithologists Union
1885 Creation of Banff National Park in Canada
1886 Foundation of the New York Audubon Society
1889 Foundation of the Society for the Protection of Birds in Britain
1892 John Muir and his associates form the Sierra Club
1894 Creation of the Tongariro National Park in New Zealand
1895 Foundation of the National Trust in Britain
1900 Endorsement of the Convention for the Preservation of Animals, Birds, and Fish in Africa
1903 Formation of the Society for the Preservation of wild Fauna of the Empire of Britain; establishment of the first U.S. wildlife refuge on Pelican Island, near Florida
1905 Formation of the National Audubon Society in the United States
1906 Enactment of the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act
1907 Establishment of the Inland Waterways Commission in the United States
1908 Conference of Governors on Conservation held at the White House, Washington D.C.
1909 Foundation of the Wildlife Preservation Society in Australia; creation of the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature; formation of the Swedish Society for the Protection of Nature; North American Conservation Congress for the Protection of Nature held in Washington, D.C.; International Congress for the Protection of Nature convened in Paris
1913 Formation of the Consultative Committee for the International Protection of Nature in Switzerland; foundation of the British Ecological Society
1914 Establishment of the Swiss National Park; formation of the Mountain Trails Club in Australia
1919 Foundation of the National Parks and Conservation Association in the United States
1922 Foundation of the International Committee for Bird Protection (later named International Council for Bird Preservation
1926 Foundation of the Council for the Protection of Rural England
1930 Creation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
1933 International Conference for the Protection of Fauna and Flora held in London
1934 Creation of the International Office for the Protection of Nature
1936 Foundation of the National Wildlife Federation in the United States
1942 Completion of the first atomic reactor at the University of Chicago
1945 The United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan
1948 Formation of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (now known as the The World Conservation Union)
1949 Publication of A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold; UN Scientific Conference on the conservation and Utilization of Resources, Lake success, New York
1951 The United States begins testing nuclear weapons
1952 Britain begins testing nuclear weapons
1954 The United States conducts a hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll and radioactive dust falls on the population of the Marshall Islands
1956 Enactment of the clean Air Act in Britain
1957 Creation of the National Council for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons Tests and of the Emergency Committee for Direct Action Against Nuclear War in Britain in response to the conduct of nuclear tests on Christmas Island; publication of an article by J.B. Priestley entitled “Britain and the Nuclear Bombs” in the New Statesman; foundation of the International Atomic Energy Agency
1958 Formation of a committee to launch the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND); the first of a series of marches organized by the CND between Aldermaston and London
1959 Signing of the Antarctic Treaty with a view to using the territory for peaceful purposes only
1960 Formation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
1961 Around 150,000 people assemble in Trafalgar Square at the end of a CND march from Aldermaston to London; foundation of the World Wildlife Fund; Arusha Conference on Nature Conservation in Africa; first compensation payments to victims of mercury poisoning at Minamata, Japan
1962 Publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson; first World Conference on National Parks held in Seattle, Washington
1963 Signing of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
1967 Collision of the oil tanker Torrey Canyon with rocks off the southwestern coast of England leads to oil pollution on the shores of Cornwall and of Brittany; foundation of the Environmental Defense Fund in the United States
1968 African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources signed by 33 African states that were member of the Organization of African Unity; convention of the Biosphere Conference in Paris to discuss the impact of human beings on the environment; creation of the Club of Rome to examine the interrelationships between factors like economic growth, the environment, population, resources, and industrialization; publication of the Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich and of the Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin
1969 David Brower leaves the Sierra Club to form Friends of the Earth; formation of the Don’t Make Wave Committee in Vancouver, Canada, as a precursor to the foundation of Greenpeace; foundation of the Union of Concerned Scientists
1970 Establishment of the Friends of the Earth in London and Paris; first Earth Day attracts 20 million people to protests held around the United States; creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States
1971 Creation of Save the Whales; founding of the Gaucha Association for the Protection of the Natural Environment and the emergence of a green social movement in Brazil; publication of the Closing Circle: Nature, Man and Technology by Barry Commoner; creation of the Greenpeace Foundation following protests against nuclear tests off the coast of Alaska by the U.S. government; establishment of the Department of the Environment, Canada
1972 Publication by The Ecologist magazine of A Blueprint for Survival by Edward goldsmith and his collaborators and of The Limits to Growth by Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III; protests by Greenpeace against nuclear weapons tests by the French government in the Mururoa Atoll; UN Conference on the Human Environment, convened in Stockholm; formation of the UN Environment Programme, the first UN agency with headquarters located in a developing country; signing in Paris of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage; ratification in London of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Waste and Other Matter (London Dumping Convention) foundation of Negative Population Growth; ban on DDT in the United States; citizens of NeuchItel in Switzerland oppose the building of a new highway, contest the communal elections, and win eight of the 41 seats in the local parliament; formation of the United Tasmania Group in response to the destruction of Lake Pedder in Tasmania in order to promote hydroelectric system; foundation of a Citizens’ Initiative umbrella organization, Bundesverband Burgerinitiativen Umweltschultz, in the Federal Republic of Germany; formation of the Values Party in Wellington, New Zealand, the first party to be established at the national level that champions both environmental protection and participatory democracy.
1973 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) initiates a steep increase in the price of oil, which leads Western countries to consider rapid expansion in the construction of nuclear power plants; the declaration by the electricity industry that it would build a nuclear power station near the village of Brokdorf in Schleswig-Holstein, Federal Republic of Germany, signals the beginning of a dispute that was crucial in the development of Antinuclear Protests in Europe; the emergence of the Chipko Andalan protest movement involving mainly women in Indian villages; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Flora and Fauna; formation of Ecologie et Survie, which went on to contest elections to the National Assembly in Alsace, France; foundation of the party called People in Britain, which later became the Green party; publication of Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher; enactment of Endangered Species Act in the United States; foundation of The Cousteau Society
1974 Rene´Dumont, as the representative of environmental groups, contests the French presidential elections on an environmental platform; death of Karen Silkwood, a worker at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant, Oklahoma, in mysterious circumstances; foundation of the Environmental Policy Institute in the United States; F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina present the argument that the release of CFCs into the atmosphere destroys the ozone layer
1975 Mass protests against the proposals to construct a nuclear power station at Kaiseraugst, Switzerland; publication of the Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey; foundation of the Worldwatch Institute
1976 Mass protests against proposals to develop nuclear power stations at Brokdorf, and at Wyhl, Federal Republic of Germany; formation of the Swedish Miljoverbund
1977 Mass protests against proposals to develop nuclear power installations at Grohnde, kalkar, and Brokdorf in the Feseral Republic of Germany and at Creys-Malville in France; publication of Soft Energy paths: Towards a Durable Peace by Amory Lovins; formation of the Groupement pour la Protection de l’Environnement in Switzerland; foundation of Sea Shepard Conservation Society; emergence of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya; discover of contamination by chemicals of Love Canal in Niagra Falls, New York; Amoco Cadiz oil spill off the French coast
1978 U.S. ban on the use of CFCs in nearly all aerosals; formation of the Grune Partei Zurich in Switzeland; mass protests against the nuclear power reporcessing plant at Gorleben, Federal Republic of Germany; foundation of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth in Malaysia)
1979 In protests against government policies on nuclear energy around 100,000 people assemble in hanover and around 150,000 in bonn, Federal Republic of Germany, and discussions are held in Offenbach over the possibility of establishing a new political organization; in Switzerland, election of the first green parliamentarian to a national legislature; a green list (political party) in Bremen is successful in gaining the first seats ever won by a green party in a state parliament in Germany; green parties or lists participate in the first elections to the European Parliament ; accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution is signed by 33 countries including Britain , Germany, and the United States; in Luxembourg green groups form an umbrella organization, the Alternative Leescht: Wiert Ich, to compete at elections; formation of the Citizens’ Committee in the United States; around 75,000 people gather in Washington D.C., to take part in a demonstration against nuclear power; publication of Gaia: A New Look at life on Earth by James Lovelock; beginning of the campaign against the construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania; signing in Bonn of the Convention of the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals
1980 Formation of Die Grunen in the Federal Republic of Germany, of Ecolo in Belgium, and of the Citizens Party in the United States; around 80,000 people participate in an Antinuclear Protest rally at Trafalgar Square in London; Canada and the United States sign a Memorandum of Intent Concerning Transboundary Air Pollution; publication of the Global 2000 Report to the president by the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; publication and widespread dissemination of the World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource for Sustainable Development; creation of the Earth First! radical environmental group in the United States
1981 Brice Lalonde contests the French presidential elections on a green platform; formation of the Swedish Green Party, Miljopartiet de Grona, and of the Ecology Party of Ireland
1982 In Belgium Agalev detaches itself from Anders gaan leven and formally becomes a political party; formation of the Vereinte Grune Osterreichs in Austria; signing of the UN convention of the Law of the Sea
1983 Die Grunen in Germany gains 28 seats in the federal parliament; formation of Dei Greng alternativ in Luxemborg, De Grønne in denmark, Comhaontas Glas in Ireland, and De Groenne in the Netherlands; formation, following a resolution by the UN General Assembly, of the World Commision on Environment and Development
1984 Inaugural meeting of the World Commission on the Envirnment and Development; accidental release of poison gas from the Union Carbide pesticide lant in Bhopal, India; congress of European green parties at Liege in Belgium advoctes a “Europe of the regions”; founding of Les Verts in France; green parties acquire 12 seats in the European Parliament and call themselves the Green-Alternative European Link; publication of Fighting for Hope by Petra Kelly and of Seeing Green: The Politics of Ecology Explained by Jonathan Porritt; formation of the Thirty Percent Club to tackle long-range transboundary air pollution; formation of the Committees of Correspondence in the United States
1985 Scientists at the Villach Conference draw attention to the increase in the average temperature across the world over the past century (the greenhouse effect); endorsement of the Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer in Vienna; release of pesticides into the Rhine River following a fire in a Basel chemical storage facility destroys living things on a vast scale; death of a member of Greenpeace following the bombing by the French intelligence service of the Rainbow Warrior while it was moored at Aukland harbor in New Zealand; Die Grunen becomes of a coalition government with the Social Democratic party in Hesse between 1985 and 1987; Rudolf Bahro quits Die Grunen over the issue of animal rights; the British Ecology party becomes the Green Party
1986 A federation of green groups form a national Swiss Green party ( Grune Partei der Schweiz), and in Italy green groups form a Federation of Green Lists, Federazione delle Liste Verdi; explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev in the Soviet Union
1987 Die Grunen gains 42 seats in elections to the federal parliament; in election to the national parliament green groups in Italy receive around on million votes (2.5 percent) and gain 13 seats in the lower hause and two in the senate; Agalev gains 7.3 percent of the vote and six seats in the lower house in Flanders; signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; publication of Our Common Future by the World Commission on the Environment and Development
1988 Miljopartiet de Grona becomes the first new party in 70 years to gain representation in the Swedish parliament; Antoine Waechter contests the French presidiential elections on behalf of environmental groups; several candidates of the Green party in Brazil gain seats in municipal elections in large cities; formation by the intellectuals, scientists, and artists of the Ruse Committee in Bulgaria; scientists and policymakers at the Toronto Conference call for a 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2000; murder of the Brazilian environmental activist Chico Mendes
1989 Award to the victims of Bhopal of $470 million in compensation; formation of Brontosaurus in Czechoslovakia and later, of a Green Party; Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska; green independent candidates gain 17 percent of the vote in Tasmania, gain 5 out of 36 seats in the state parliament and form an accord with a government led by the Australian Labor Party; green parties achieve their best-ever results in elections to the European Parliament, gaining 32 seats; dissolution of the Green-Alternative European Link and formation of the Green Group in the European Parliament; the Green Association is formed in Finland, though this subsequently divided into two separate strands, Vihreat (the Greens) and Vihrea Liitoo (the Green Association); formation of the Independent Union Ekoglasnost in Bulgaria; formation of the Ecologists-Alternatives Party and of the Federation of Ecological Organizations in Greece; publication of Blueprint for a Green Economy by David Pearce and his collaborators; ban on ivory trade by the Convention on International Trade in endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
1990 Die Grunen fails to gain seats in the federal parliament, though a new group from East Germany, Bundnis 90, does gain eight seats; formation of Groen Links (Green Left) in the Netherlands and of the Green Party in Prague, Czechoslavakia; formation of Generation Ecologie under the leadership of Brice Lalonde as a competing party to Les Verts in France; signatories to the Montreal Protocol meet in London (London Conference of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol), and 80 countries now agree to phasing out, by year 2000, of CFCs and other chemicals that contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer
1991 Die Grunen becomes member of a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party (as senior partner) in Hesse; green groups in Italy win 16 seats in the lower house and four in the Senate; formation of the Green Party USA; signing of an Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic treaty ( the Madrid Protocol) by 39 nations agreeing to a moratorium on mining in Anarctica; severe pollution of the gulf region in the wake of the Gulf War due largely to oil well fires and oil spillage
1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro laeds to signing of the Framework Convention on Climate change by 153 nations and by the European Union; most nations attending the conference also support the Convention on biological Diversity, the Declaration on Environment and Development, and the enactment of Forest Principles; formation of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development; signing of the Basel Convention by 20 countries in order to prevent the illegal dumping or transportation of waste; 93 nations that signed the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer agree to meet their targets by 1996 rather than 2000, the date set in the original agreement; Petra Kelly and Gerd Bastian are found dead in their home
1993 European Federation of Green Parties agrees on a set of guiding principles at a conference held in Masala, Finland; the Green Party in the United Kingdom fields 566 candidates in local elections, who gain, on average, 5.7 percent of the vote; membership of the Sierra Club numbers over 550,000; signing of the north American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation; signing of an agreement to safegaurd the Black Sea by six European nations; World Bank permits public inspection of any authorizations linked to environmental assessment of intended projects
1994 Die Grunen, in coalition with Bundnis 90, gains 7.3 percent of the vote and 49 seats in the federal parliament and displaces the Liberal Free Democrats as the third largest party; in elections to the European Parliament the number of seas won by green parties drops to 22; Die Grunen Alternative in Austria secures 7 percent of the vote in national elections and 13 seats; Miljopartiet obtains 5 percent of the vote and 18 seats in the Swedish Parliament; green candidated poll over a milion votes in local elections in the United States; the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany is amended to include a specific commitment to environmental protection; UN Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt; declaration by the International Whaling Commission of Anarctica as a permanent sanctuary for whales
1995 In sweden Miljopartiet de Grona gains four seats in elections to the European Parliament; Virhrea Liitoo secures 6.5 percent of the vote and nine seats in the Finnish Parliament; Agalev secures 4.4 percent of the vote in national elections; Die Grunen Alternative obtains 4.8 percent of the vote in the Austrian national elections and 6.8 percent in elections to the European Parliament; die Grunen becomes member of coalition governments with the Social Democratic Party in hesse and in North Rhine Westphalia; first conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany; membership of the World Wildlife fund numbers well over five million; plan by the World Bank and internationall consevation groups to protect marine biologicall diversity in 155 Marine Protection Areas; ratification by over 100 countries of UN global fishing Pact to curb the decrease in fish reserves
1996 Formation of the austrailian Greens and election of Bob Brown to the Senate in federal elections; green independent candidates gain 11 percent of the vote and four seats in Tasmania; Vihrea Liitoo attracts 7.6 percent of the vote and gains a seat in the European Parliament; first presidential convention of the U.S. Green Party; second Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Geneva
1997 Les Verts in France gains seven seats in elections to the National Assembly; membership of the European federation of Green parties consists of 28 political organizations from 24 countries, and seven other political associations comprise a group of applicants to join the federation; UN Convention on Climate Change held in Kyoto sets new targets for green house emissions
END Chronology
Papadakis credits Robert Malthus’ 1798 publication of An Essay on the Principle of Population as one of the earliest attempts to create a political consciousness of human population and its relationship to natural resources and, in effect, the political governance of environmental matters.
Scientific assurance of perpetual environmental integrity must be the litmus test for the viability of all political decisions. The first question asked and satisfactorily answered, in the affirmative, during legislative debate is: “is it good for the global environment or does this piece of legislation have no detrimental impact on the environment, now and forever?” All legislation must, as far as science can determine, pass this test before being introduced into any form of governmental legislation, whether that form be democratic or otherwise.
Contemporary wisdom is promoting a global economy. This state of affairs demands special emphasis that all legislation consider global environmental effects. Good environmental policy in a specific location may be bad for another or many other locations. This reality must be accepted by all.
It is, of course, the collective hope of environmentally minded individuals and organizations that, in the not-so-distant future, effective teaching of scientific thought processes will filter through educational systems and ultimately into general mainstream consciousness. Until that future arrives and there is no cause for concern that society may retrogress into a greedy, power hungry and negligent mindset we must assume the responsibility to develop a rather rigid sphere of governance that is capable of addressing local and global environmental issues with great speed and efficiency.
Clearly, we cannot model such a form of governance after democratic rule. Whatever system and framework is ultimately developed, Realitics must honor as its final word, a form of consensus among highly respected, independent scientists representing their appropriate discipline(s) and whose conclusions are derived and defended, solely, on well-established scientific data that clearly supports any given course of legislative action. It cannot be emphasized enough that speculation, popular opinion, economics, and politics have absolutely no absolute place in Realitics decision-making processes. Because environmental integrity is the most fundamental physical need of humanity, pure and unbiased scientific thought must be demanded as the process of developing sideboards for all physical political issues commences.
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