A few weeks ago, I was speaking to a group of students at Western Washington University (Go Vikings!) about what we all can do to protect our environment and climate. In the face of daunting challenges, it’s easy to give in to despair. I suggested that a key requirement was to maintain delusional optimism. Nothing impossible has ever been achieved, I told them, without a healthy measure of delusional optimism.
Home
If you Google the phrase “delusional optimism”, you mostly get articles that discuss whether a belief is optimism or whether it is delusion. Either, but not both.
In an online conversation, a commenter suggested that rational optimism is better – so you don’t try things that are clearly unrealistic.
That sounds reasonable on the face of it, but my concern is that applying the “rational” filter will limit what you even consider trying to accomplish.
Here’s a local example. Three years ago, people here in Whatcom County became concerned about plans for a massive proposed coal export terminal at Cherry Point, and started organizing. One of the earliest such groups was Protect Whatcom, whose mission was to encourage people to participate in the related Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), so the plan would receive the careful review that it needed.
Inevitable?
If that’s not delusional optimism, I don’t know what is. There’s not just the matter of fighting entrenched fossil fuel interests, but also of getting thousands of people to be part of an arcane permitting process. Without any funding.
Yet somehow it started happening. Protect Whatcom and other groups published information and hosted forums. People like me found that information and decided to be part of it too. Thousands of people showed up at public hearings.
Not So Fast!
And now we find ourselves, over ten thousand individually written EIS public comments later, a
county council election sweep by candidates who are widely expected to carefully look at terminal impacts, and the permit application being subject to very aggressive scrutiny by the public and by the permitting agencies.
So here’s my suggested standard. Applying delusional optimism could be good idea if the following things are true:
- You don’t create a risk of personal injury for yourself or others
- You are going to learn something worthwhile and make new friends
- The journey might matter as much as the overt outcome
In that case, it might even be the most rational choice.
Images copyright Paul K Anderson.
Cross Posted at: The Great Symmetry
Our Future - Worth Saving
Any time you think that you don't have a choice, you actually do.
Any time you think you have to do something that's wrong, you don't.
Not Here
Not Today
Not Any More
We shall not participate in our own destruction.
Events:
'Finding Your Voice to Speak for the Environment' – Thursday November 14th, 6-8pm. Viking Union, Third Floor, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA. Contact: AS.earth@WWU.edu.
Community Meeting About Fraser Surrey Docks proposed coal export terminal - Monday, November 18th, 7-9pm. Tsawwassen United Church, 693 53rd St, Delta, BC Canada. Contact: communitiesandcoal@gmail.com
The Great Symmetry is my recently completed science fiction novel. Sallying forth to the realm of the publishers is something that clearly requires applying delusional optimism. Hopefully advocating for the environment has provided good practice in that.
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