By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

The Numbers are Killing Us

"All good is hard. All evil is easy.
Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy.
Stay away from easy."
-- Scott Alexander

"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful."
-- Samuel Johnson

In the struggle to control the environmental devastation that takes place every day, one major obstacle is the incorrect perceptions people have about the severity of the issues. Most people, even scientists and political leaders, are using statistics incorrectly and making global generalities that are compromising our health and the health of the planet.

Media reports, the prime source of information for so many people including our elected representatives, contribute to this serious problem in the way they abuse statistics and stretch the truth. For example, in the recent nationwide elections, headlines appeared in stories throughout the world that said things like “voters approve” one candidate or another or “voters turn down” ballot measures.

Voters in New Jersey line up for the 2000 election. (Photo courtesy New Jersey Congressman Mike Ferguson)

Political candidates know very well that they only need to get the support of 16 percent of the voters in most elections in order to win. Those who are likely to vote are carefully and strategically targeted with issues that are likely to appeal to them. This explains the lackluster campaigns so many of us are perplexed by that seem to cater to only the very rich or sometimes the very poor. Everyone else usually feels left out – because they are.

Oregon Sierra Club anti-engineered food label
(Photo courtesy Oregon Sierra Club)

Oregon’s newspaper, “The Oregonian,” reported the next day on the defeat. They quoted Pat McCormick, a Portland public relations executive who ran the campaign against Measure 27, who said, "Overall the message that resonated most with voters was these labels would be unnecessary, expensive and misleading, There is not much here to say it represents any kind of consumer concern. That was about as emphatic a 'no' people are likely to give."

Genetically engineered corn (Photo courtesy Monsanto)

In Seattle, Washington, where the statewide voter turnout average is about 36 percent, about 51 percent of the voters approved a plan to build a monorail line. So, a little over 18 percent of the city’s residents want the 14 mile, $1.75 billion line that has been described by opponents as going “from nowhere to nowhere.” But they won.

Voter apathy and hopelessness is a boon to politicians who realize they do not have to craft policies that reach all voters – just the small percentage who vote. This situation is insuring that vocal business and industrial interests are heard while the needs of the masses – and our ecosystems – go unheeded.

Numbers are used badly when describing the health of animal populations as well. In the United States, numbers used to determine when it is OK to remove a species from the endangered list are ridiculously low. For example, in 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the gray whale "recovered" and took the species off the Endangered Species List, declaring arrogantly in the June 16, 1994 edition of the Federal Register that the whale "has recovered to near its estimated original population size." Today there are about 21,000 individuals in the wild.

Gray whale (Photo courtesy NOAA)

In Florida a few years ago, the state wildlife agency proudly announced the removal of an alligator species from their endangered list. The way they expressed their joy was to reopen the hunting season for that majestic animal, welcoming the very thing that brought the animal to the brink of extinction in the first place.

Should the reason we restore species and habitats be so that we can destroy them again?

We have so few tools that enable us to deal with our environmental and social dilemmas. We are continually barraged by lists of acres, species, or habitats lost and how many pounds of one pollutant or another we place into the atmosphere.

Many are moved to alter their behaviors after seeing such numbers, but for how long? Sure, such lists may encourage more recycling for a while, but do they have much affect on long-term lifestyle and behavior patterns?

Like the habitual dieter, moving from one fad diet to another, desperate to lose weight, we try recycling or water conservation. But like the dieter, who is doomed to failure unless she or he develops a relationship with the body he or she is trying to alter, we are doomed to failure unless we develop a relationship with the world around us.

I am convinced that it is not possible to care, really care, for someone or something without first developing a relationship with that person or thing. Not seeing ourselves as having a constant, never-ending, dynamic relationship with the natural world around us may be our greatest obstacle.

Don’t allow the headlines and political posturing to amplify your feelings of hopelessness that you are alone in your values. You are not. But we all need to make it our obligation to get people to stand up and vote. Voter complacency will insure that our planet is plundered by those who care little for the future.

Psychologist and environmental scholar Joanna Macy warns us that numbers can be “numb-ers,” blinding and numbing us to the real issues. The truth lies in our hearts and souls, not in a graph, chart, or headline.

RESOURCES

1. Check out the endangered and threatened species lists at: http://endangered.fws.gov/wildlife.asp

2. See an image of our fragile home planet.

3. Join the Media Foundation in Buy Nothing Day on the day after Thanksgiving, normally the biggest shopping day of the year. Learn about it at: http://adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd/

4. Check out the July 27, 2001 issue of "Science" at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol293/issue5530/. Access to articles online is by subscription only, but you can access their web links at: http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/ecology2001.shtml.

5. Keep track of whaling with the help of Greenpeace at http://www.greenpeace.org/~oceans/whaling/index.asp.

6. 4. Learn about the gray whale from the Marine Mammal Center at: http://www.tmmc.org/graywhal.htm.

7. Eliminate voter apathy with the help of the League of Conservation Voters at: http://www.lcv.org/

8. VOTE, whether or not the issues or candidates interest you. Get interested!

{Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle and the author of "Healing Our World", A Journey from the Darkness Into the Light," available at: http://www.xlibris.com/HealingOurWorld.asp or your local bookstore. His new book of photographs and thoughts on interconnectedness, “Of This Earth, Reflections on Connections,” is now available. See a preview at: http://ofthisearth.org. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at: jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his website at: http://www.healingourworld.com}