Do we know why?

Previously I have written about the processes used by specific companies to simultaneously preform a task, i.e. kill weeds, create profits and cause environmental harm.  I have never suggested these specific companies or industries maliciously cause environmental harm only that it is a secondary by-product of their company’s practices. In most cases they are surely aware of causing environmental harm but do not change their practices.

I recently read a letter to the editor in the August 15th-21st 2009 issue of The Economist magazine. This letter profoundly states the case not for examining the tools used which can cause an inhumane outcome but to attempt to understand why people are so easily manipulated into engaging in processes which eventually result in their or someone else’s harm. 

Here is the most relevant portion of the letter written by Dennis Sandole, Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University in response to an article about genocide in Rwanda. 

“The deepest conundrum is what makes groups of people, defined by religion, class, race or any other attribute, so vulnerable to political manipulation that they can be easily persuaded to commit diabolical acts against other groups.  Until we solve that core problem, would-be manipulators will always find one medium or another, from the printed word to the latest form of e-communication, to demonize and proscribe the hated “other”.

Now to apply this complex, challenging and important question to the subject of environmental harm.  “Groups of People” from the quote would apply to both the manipulators and the manipulated. People not involved in the production or sale of products harmful to the environment are the manipulated. And so people involved in the sale and production of products harmful to the environments would be the manipulators.  

Why is the possible?  According to Dennis Sandole it is not due the extraordinary communication tools available to the manipulators. It is an “attribute” commonly found in the character of each group of people which allows them to either manipulate or be manipulated. 

I would love to hear your answers to this question as I agreed whole heartly with Mr. Sandole. Many regulations are passed and many warning are given but to date most people seem to maintain their current behavior. In the meantime I can do some research to discover what psychologists and sociologists think of the destructive and self-destructive behavior portrayed by the manipulators and the manipulated. 

For now I will and I hope you will more thoroughly remove yourself from either group.  This should begin to undo the destructive actions of all of our behaviors and hopefully lead to a cleaner and thus less harmful environment.