“It is essential to release humanity from the false fixations of yesterday, which seem now to bind it to a rationale of action leading only to extinction.”
I had two childhood heroes during my formative years, both shaping my personality and drive to make a difference. First, my grandfather taught me the farmer’s ethic to do no harm to Earth, a primary tenet of the precautionary principle. Second, Neil Armstrong, the astronaut, taught me that if a human can walk on the moon, anything is possible when you set your goals toward achieving your dreams.
As a teenager, my grandfather was my hero. He was a family farmer in Northwest Ohio. He cared for the land he farmed through rotation of crops, protecting the soil from depletion. As we worked the land and reaped what we sowed, he taught me that plants will grow when cared for and nurtured. He taught me that nature’s growth depends on each generation’s care of nature’s development and our care for Earth as our collective home.
My dad grew up on the farm, tending to its care. Then he moved to the city to raise his family. I am part of the first generation in our family history to live solely in the city—away from nature except for the squirrels and acorns in the neighborhood. Although my living world has been full of concrete and fences, I visited my grandfather on weekends, seeking a refuge from the city’s concrete jungle.
Through these visits to the farm, I learned to value Earth and the natural means of recycling and composting its “discards.” The motto “Waste Not, Want Not” as the frugal lifestyle of past generations, modeled after nature, came to life. This respect for nature’s recycling and composting cycles grew significantly in meaning to me, physically through nature and as a model for human lifestyles.
I began this blog with a quote from R. Buckminster Fuller regarding past decisions that have led us toward extinction. This fate he warns of becomes a reality only if we stay the course of our past choices and lifestyles.
The Precautionary Principle
Another critical concept is Do No Harm, embodied in the precautionary principle.
As embraced by the United Nations in 1992, the precautionary principle declares that “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”
The UN statement also declares that “in order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States [Nations] according to their capabilities.”
The concept of the precautionary principle dates back centuries. It is expressed well in the Hippocratic Oath—from the classical Greek to our modern American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics that doctors and nurses take as they enter their careers. The physician must first “do no harm” in treating a patient when the risks of treatment may be uncertain. Likewise, the precautionary principle applies to climate change, providing the framework for public safety and public health.
Do No Harm – Action Values
In the application of the precautionary principle, I propose five specific action values regarding plastics in our environment:
• Prevention of Harm: taking preventive action in the face of uncertainty (e.g., avoidance of CO2 releases into the environment). This prevention is best achieved through the reduction and avoidance of the use of plastics.
• Burden of Proof: shifting the burden of proof of harm to the advocates of an activity (e.g., production of fossil fuel products); the burden of proof that it is a safe product should be shifted to the producer. The consumer should not be placed with the burden of proving harm.
• Innovation of Alternatives: exploring a wide range of alternatives to harmful actions through innovation, such as creating new replacement products through governmental grants and business innovation centers.
• Intentionality: exploring—with a whole intent—to create a new world where humans live in closer harmony with the environment.
• Inclusion: include all affected by the decision-making processes, including the disenfranchised poor and those whose health is affected by the fossil-fuel and plastic-making industries.
By applying the precautionary principle within these five proactive values, we can advance the protection of humans, the environment, and the climate.
The precautionary principle must be applied here as a framework for public safety and public health. It encourages the pairing of the protection of human health and the environment’s safety, where the risks may be difficult to identify or determine with certainty. What we do know is that plastics are extensively harmful to human health and the environment.
Applying the Do No Harm precautionary principle would require following the pathway toward eliminating plastics in our lives. The precautionary principle should not be viewed as an adverse action but rather as a proactive, positive step forward in human relations. It creates a more holistic decision-making process that can create buy-in from citizens who have been harmed.
Excerpts from Chapter 1, Untangling Plastics: The Missing Link to Mitigating Climate Change
Bob Gedert