1. While governments and individuals have risen to address specific crises (such as nutrient pollution in the 1960s), strategies to maintain and support overall ecological health have been less successful.
2. The “silo” approach to environmental management (e.g., toxics in one division of one agency, and fisheries health in another division of another agency) has carved “whole” systems into artificial pieces, driving management to treat isolated symptoms instead of root causes and systemic health and resilience.
3. Short-term funding cycles and complex layers of governing authority make bold and long-term action very difficult.
4. The success of agendas by some interests to persuade the public that “government is bad” and arguably that the civil service system itself is bad, has succeeded in starving agencies of resources and talent. Leadership and professional capacity for environmental protection in public agencies has atrophied over the last two decades, and we expect to see record turnover in agency leadership as a generation of “boomer bureaucrats” heads into retirement. The shrinking value of public service, even if only a perception, is robbing the public of institutional memory, mission-driven leadership, and bold strategies.
5. Our public education systems have not succeeded in substantially raising adult literacy on key ecological concepts and principles, and thus our human dependence on healthy, functioning ecosystems is neither well understood nor appreciated. Higher education, with its emphasis on reductionism, has also failed to develop broader expertise in ecological systems thinking, environmental ethics, and the social and cultural aspects of environmental problem solving.
6. Our cultural values and social priorities have placed concern for the environment in the second tier of public issues, and the public still largely views these as issues for experts to solve. Moreover, environmental policies are often viewed in isolation, and not in the context of economic and political security, conflict resolution, health, and overall human-well-being.
7. Many citizens feel as though their capacity to shape government decisions is limited in the face of powerful special interests. While voices for the environment are beginning to reframe and re-shape communications strategies, reversing these attitudes will take time and concerted effort.
As a result of all of these things, short-term gains are not adding up to long-term success. The need to envision strategies that transcend these barriers have never been greater, or more urgent.
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