Throughout my interviews in both Ecuador and Chile, when asked what we can do to improve the conservation of rivers about 99% of people tell me that we need better environmental education. I totally agree. I remember asking one young school aged girl in Ecuador if throwing plastic and digging out gravel pits in the rivers harms the rivers and her responding that no, these human actions have no negative effect. In both countries people have told me that there is little to no environmental education and environmental government agencies in both countries are trying to create a more systematic approach to improve environmental education.
One major hurtle I see to the implementation of these kinds of educational programs is culture. Culture based on past traditions, resource extraction, land use etc. I have even seen how environmentalism has become a cultural block. In Chile I have been learning a lot about Mini-hydropower (projects that produce less than 20 MW). These projects are a kind of diversion dam that have far less impact on the river, produce both local and national energy, are far easier to remove in the future if need be, and are much better at maximizing profit and minimizing impact. One major frustration of people in this industry is that as soon as an environmentalists, kayaker, etc hears the word “hydropower” they immediately fight it without even understanding the differences between these projects and Mega-hydropower projects.
There are other hurtles including lack of funding, flighty governmental support, governmental and educational corruption, lack of teachers, etc. But even if we were able to significantly improve environmental education in these two countries, would that be enough? I am not so sure.
I spoke with Mike Smith, an educator with OSI, who brings students to Chile each year as part of an environmental studies and kayaking focused college gap semester program. He told me that he always brings students here to Chile because so many of the river and environmental issues here are very similar to the issues back home in Maine, USA. On the topic of environmental education he told me that he does not believe that education alone with really fix these issues, that there also needs to be a sense of intrinsic motivation, a reason for people to ACT on their knowledge.
He made a hilarious, and fitting, analogy to Crossfit. He said that Crossfit really became an international craze based off three basic principles: the people who started it created 1. a basic structure within which people 2. autonomously chose to participate and it because a craze because 3. culture breeds culture. So maybe there are some important lessons that the environmental movement can take from the crossfit craze!
River conservation at this point seems like this nebulous and stress producing topic that isn’t really open to everyone. When I ask people what river conservation means I get answers that range from “not really sure” to “don’t throw trash into rivers” to “protecting our freshwater resources” to “something the government does.” Most people know we are impacting our water resources and have a vague sense that we might someday use up these resources, but don’t really know what to do about it. In addition, caring and acting about river conservation seems to be relegated just to the select few who are politically liberal or work in conservation jobs. How can we follow the Crossfit model and make a simple structure that welcomes everyone to participate in river conservation?
Environmentalism for everyone!?
One of the other major differences I see between river conservation and Crossfit is that Crossfit provides direct benefits to those who participate. If you work out a bunch you will see the results: bigger muscles and more fit. If you participate in river conservation the benefits can sometimes be harder to immediately see: healthier ecosystems that provide better resources, conservation of resources, etc. In response to this we have seen governments and environmental groups try to provide monetary values for ecosystem services, carbon credits, etc but these do not provide intrinsic incentives to most people. I think we need to continue to use our creative juices to provide immediate benefits or help people see the longer-term benefits of river conservation.
In addition, maybe this is an area where we can try to also build/rely on the concept that culture breeds culture! In this sense, we can hope that every instance in which you flex your environmental or river conservation muscles or have a conversation with someone about your environmental workout will inspire someone else to do the same.
