I really enjoyed this column from Leonard Stern in this morning’s Ottawa Citizen.
I always thought that the environment — in this case the development of sustainable communities that are not so car-dependent — shouldn’t be a matter of right or left. I really get going when science gets tossed right or left. Granted, politically-motivated scientists are largely to blame for placing climate change on the political spectrum. However, in theory, the scientifically measurable effects of suburban sprawl shouldn’t hinge on one’s political views. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that these issues are beyond debate. I just have an issue with those who hold that you can’t believe in climate change — for instance — if you are conservative, you can’t doubt climate change if you are liberal. Wait a minute, one has nothing to do with the other except the color of the bandwagon.
It’s like abortion. Does it matter to the humanity of the fetus whether you are right or left? Does the fetus feel more or less pain if you are conservative or liberal? The fetus is alive or it isn’t. It feels pain or it doesn’t. Get your facts straight, then make a case.
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I liked this article a lot. Other countries don’t have the luxury of space to encounter sprawl like we do in Canada and the US. Being from the states, I’m very familiar with the large, often gated, communities that sprawl creates. The pizza guy even has to get ‘buzzed in’, and you certainly won’t have the local ‘bottle lady’ coming around on trash day. There are often strict Home Owner’s Association rules (you can’t have a satellite dish, or a plastic flamingo in the lawn). You can’t walk to the grocery store from one of these hilltop communities, and of course there is no public transit system to offer an alternative (because this would mean higher taxes on your Hummer). This sort of ‘regulated’ home life seems anti-conservative, and the environmental implications are anti-liberal and anti-green party. Sprawl seems to contribute to a culture that undervalues community. The more isolated we are, the less likely we are to care about what our neighbours lives are like (especially those outside the gate). Don’t put your gaudy pink bird in my line of vision, and I won’t ask you about your moral values.
It is an unfortunate consequence of a highly-polarised political culture like that of the US that what one side does, the other is compelled to oppose. The left some time ago became the faction of the environmentally concerned, and this in turn resulted in the right not only becoming opposed to environmental protection, but relishing in causing damage out of pure spite. It’s reached the point where I’ve known some people to deliberatly waste energy just to defy the left.
It works both ways, though. That’s part of why the left puts so much effort into supporting abortion on demand, even though most individuals are very uncomfortable with the idea. They are just unwilling to cede even the tiniest victory to the right.
I’m not familiar with the political situation of Canada, sorry, and my first instinct online is always to talk about the US as that’s where most english-speaking debaters are located. I expect something similar applies in any situation with only two political factions.