Documentary Reflection
February 7, 2022 By: Yimeng Chen
I affirm IPBES’s observation that the loss of species diversity has continued to accelerate in recent years. The unprecedented and rapid decline in biodiversity is causing the extinction of noble organisms globally. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) considers the current measures against species extinction by the international community as insufficient.[1] I share the idea that the world needs significant transformative actions to initiate environmental protection changes. Transformative actions will involve a drastic change from non-renewable to renewable energy sources to protect and restore nature. Besides, it is essential to overcome opposition from lobby groups with vested interests that do not promote environmental conservation for the public good. Activities such as unplanned urbanization, pollution, and erosion cause environmental degradation, compromising with health, economics, food security, and livelihoods. However, it is not too late to make a difference in the environment- we can start now from local levels and aim at achieving global environmental restoration, stewardship, conservation, and sustainability. Transformative environmental change will also require a global reorganization of the social, economic, and technological paradigms that constitute environmental sustainability.
The Role of Civil Disobedience in Environmentalism
Janet Keeping states that civil disobedience violates legal regulations to achieve a desired goal.[2] However, the lawbreakers believe that their action is morally right and will serve public interests by drawing justifiable attention to the injustice in question. For instance, protesters can storm a meeting organized to discuss oil production and raise their claims on the harms caused by non-renewable energy sources. Although the civil disobedience movement has no legal right to be at the given venue, their views are justifiable because the public has to be aware of the effects of continued oil production. Therefore, civil disobedience is beneficial since it promotes conscientious, non-violent, and public-driven interests when breaking the law to change existing laws and policies.
- IPBES, “Media Release: Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’,” IPBES Secretariat, last modified June 8, 2020, https://ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment.
- Janet Keeping, “Civil Disobedience, Environmental Protest and the Rule of Law to Life, last modified February 28, 2013, https://www.lawnow.org/civil-disobedience-rule-of-law/