The preservation and revival of British wildlife is an element of conservatism that has been forgotten. In contrast, so-called conservatives have concerned themselves more with corporate profits than the heartlands of our nations.
The free market and the subsequent Industrial Revolution have been the cause of many major successes for humanity. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, the world’s first middle class began to develop, steam engines were developed, and cities began to expand at unprecedented rates. Libertarians are quick to look at this material improvement and conclude that an eternal industrial revolution would make us happier. They assume this means we're on the right path. But they couldn’t be more oblivious.
In a 2018 YouGov survey on young people, technology and happiness, 27% of young people, despite the material prosperity of our age, felt that their life had no meaning. The destruction of our environment is almost certainly instrumental in this. Numerous studies, including a 2011 study in the journal Urban Geography, found that people living in rural areas, among the natural world, are notably happier than those living in urban areas. The researchers noted that although this trend was consistent across the United States, the reverse was true in many other parts of the world. The explanation for this is simple; the citizens of the developed world have come to the realisation that their forefathers, although poorer, were much happier.
So, what role should government play in protecting our natural landscape? Government policy in this area is less a matter of creating new policy, but rather slowing down current plans. One clear example in which they could honour this commitment would be to end plans to build a high speed railway to connect London to cities in the Midlands and the North of England: HS2.
HS2 was sold to the people under the guise of economic advancement for the North, when in fact, it simply gives corporations the right to tear of the face of the country and increase northern dependence on London. Does the North need a revival of its own industry or does it need an easier route to business in London? Does our environment need reform or is the unique physical landscape of our island something precious, something worth preserving? Even if we look at HS2 economically , it makes little sense. The current coronavirus pandemic is indicating that there are many jobs that don't require people to be in a specific location. Perhaps our politicians should take note of this and end defences of HS2 based on "transportation to work" reasons. Our government should not spend a projected £88.7 billion on a project that will add little to the economy, while hurting our environment.
Across the Atlantic, the US Republicans have undergone a sad degradation. Once the party of traditionalism; now the party of reckless libertarianism. One sign of this is the change of GOP leaders from environmental preservation to, at least an indifference to, environmental exploitation. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the cultural right's most revered political figures, was a noted conservationist; he established numerous national parks and forests to protect America's natural resources. Ronald Reagan, while Governor of California, spoke of “the absolute necessity of waging all-out war against the debauching of the environment.” On the contrary, modern Republicans seem to be indifferent to environmental decay. No major GOP candidates ever talk of climate change or resource management, at least not nationally prominent ones. This has led to the false idea that environmental protection is not an important conservative value.
But why should conservation be heralded amongst other conservative values, such as family and nation?
Conservatism, foremost, is a desire to preserve a culture. Everyone from Edmund Burke right through to Margaret Thatcher knew this, and therefore, they all spoke that we should be masters of the environment, but with regard to our descendants. In the past few decades we have seen a distortion of conservatism, one that gives rise to the idea that being right-wing is about cutting taxes and rolling back regulation. Conservatives must realise that their ideology is explicitly about the preservation a culture, and that a country's landscape is an essential part of all cultural identities.
The free market and the subsequent Industrial Revolution have been the cause of many major successes for humanity. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, the world’s first middle class began to develop, steam engines were developed, and cities began to expand at unprecedented rates. Libertarians are quick to look at this material improvement and conclude that an eternal industrial revolution would make us happier. They assume this means we're on the right path. But they couldn’t be more oblivious.
In a 2018 YouGov survey on young people, technology and happiness, 27% of young people, despite the material prosperity of our age, felt that their life had no meaning. The destruction of our environment is almost certainly instrumental in this. Numerous studies, including a 2011 study in the journal Urban Geography, found that people living in rural areas, among the natural world, are notably happier than those living in urban areas. The researchers noted that although this trend was consistent across the United States, the reverse was true in many other parts of the world. The explanation for this is simple; the citizens of the developed world have come to the realisation that their forefathers, although poorer, were much happier.
So, what role should government play in protecting our natural landscape? Government policy in this area is less a matter of creating new policy, but rather slowing down current plans. One clear example in which they could honour this commitment would be to end plans to build a high speed railway to connect London to cities in the Midlands and the North of England: HS2.
HS2 was sold to the people under the guise of economic advancement for the North, when in fact, it simply gives corporations the right to tear of the face of the country and increase northern dependence on London. Does the North need a revival of its own industry or does it need an easier route to business in London? Does our environment need reform or is the unique physical landscape of our island something precious, something worth preserving? Even if we look at HS2 economically , it makes little sense. The current coronavirus pandemic is indicating that there are many jobs that don't require people to be in a specific location. Perhaps our politicians should take note of this and end defences of HS2 based on "transportation to work" reasons. Our government should not spend a projected £88.7 billion on a project that will add little to the economy, while hurting our environment.
Across the Atlantic, the US Republicans have undergone a sad degradation. Once the party of traditionalism; now the party of reckless libertarianism. One sign of this is the change of GOP leaders from environmental preservation to, at least an indifference to, environmental exploitation. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the cultural right's most revered political figures, was a noted conservationist; he established numerous national parks and forests to protect America's natural resources. Ronald Reagan, while Governor of California, spoke of “the absolute necessity of waging all-out war against the debauching of the environment.” On the contrary, modern Republicans seem to be indifferent to environmental decay. No major GOP candidates ever talk of climate change or resource management, at least not nationally prominent ones. This has led to the false idea that environmental protection is not an important conservative value.
But why should conservation be heralded amongst other conservative values, such as family and nation?
Conservatism, foremost, is a desire to preserve a culture. Everyone from Edmund Burke right through to Margaret Thatcher knew this, and therefore, they all spoke that we should be masters of the environment, but with regard to our descendants. In the past few decades we have seen a distortion of conservatism, one that gives rise to the idea that being right-wing is about cutting taxes and rolling back regulation. Conservatives must realise that their ideology is explicitly about the preservation a culture, and that a country's landscape is an essential part of all cultural identities.
Comments
Post a Comment