“Template: (a) A pattern or gage such as a thin metal plate with a cut pattern, used as a guide in making something accurately; (b) The piece of stone or timber used to distribute weight or pressure evenly”.
At a time when increasing natural disasters – from torrential rains and flooding to droughts and devastating forest fires – command increasing public attention, the issue of climate change is forcing its way onto the public agenda. Pope Francis’ recent Encyclical “Laudate Si” and the 2015 Global Climate Conference in Paris both advanced alternatives to humanity’s past habits of overconsumption and disregard of the problems they bring.
In The Template: a Parable of the Environment, a new approach is suggested. It proposes a model for changing human behavior through a global rating system for products or processes based on their environmental benefit or risk: the higher the rating, the better the product. The Template essentially promotes a system where conservation becomes the new model for human behavior in place of the unbridled consumption of the past.
Involving collaboration between nations, similar to that evidenced by the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, the Template model recognizes that to effectively address environmental problems we must approach our planet from a new and global perspective. This perspective may be likened to that of the astronauts first viewing the Earth from the moon in 1969 and seeing our planet as “Spaceship Earth”: a robust yet fragile habitat on which we all depend and towards which everyone must bear responsibility for not just ourselves, but for future generations.
Infused with humanitarian as well as a religious overtones of responsibility towards our environment, The Template also advances a faith-based concept of good stewardship of the Earth with which each of us has been entrusted.
In short, The Template is intended to stimulate dialogue and actions for conserving “Mother Earth”. These actions, in turn, may better assure we reverse past patterns of wasting our blessing, into those of preserving them for those who come after us.
Growing up in a family that went on annual camping trips to some of America’s great natural areas, I developed a sense early on of wonder and respect for the majesty of our natural world. Much later, as I had the opportunity to serve in an elected office for 28 years, including 20 as mayor of my hometown of Rock Island, Illinois, I gained an understanding of how human behavior can be shaped and altered by public policy and of how some human behaviors now imperil the natural world on which we all depend.
Reinforced by such disturbing warnings as Al Gore’s eloquent “An Inconvenient Truth” and similar works, I started a path of increased environmental activism beginning in 2005. In Rock Island, we initiated an Advanced Technology and Sustainability Consortium to promote environmental awareness and practices; promoted use of hydropower as a primary source of municipal energy; and worked with other Mayors to promote more energy responsible practices both locally and globally.
The Template: A Parable of the Environment emerged from reflections on what changes in human behavior could bring us better in line with what will be needed to preserve our natural resources and a livable environment for future generations. The four Template standards – concerning necessity, conservation, recycling, and sustainability – represent primary pillars of any plan to conserve our natural world in balance with human needs. By using a rating system similar to those we are familiar with for everything from restaurants to energy star certification of appliances, the Template proposes a similar rating system to build social and economic incentives towards more environmentally sustainable behavior.
It has been argued “that you can’t legislate morality”. However, experience teaches that although this may be true, you can legislate conditions that shape experience, which in turn defines what we perceive to be right or wrong.
In the same sense, what the Template proposes will help shape behaviors through less compulsory methods by social or financial incentives. That what the Template seeks to accomplish through its four part test of: (1) Is it necessary? (2) Does it conserve?; (3) Does it minimize waste? (4) Is it sustainable?
By applying these tests to new products or processes, we begin bending the arc away from excessive consumption and work towards a sustainable future in which conservation describes our actions.
Thanks so much for taking the time to check out my blog. Here, I’ll continue to update you with thoughts on my book, “The Template”, as well as offer commentary on topics related to climate change and green technologies.
While I will be keeping my post rather short today, I’d like to pose a question: How do we incentivize humans to change their behavior towards more environmentally responsible actions? I believe an environmental rating system for products or processes such as that suggested in “The Template” provides a viable mechanism for changing human behavior.
Let me know your thoughts on this idea in the comment section below.
More to come next week!