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Peter Wilcoxen (cont.)
by Khris Dodson
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ENVI
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So, what is the project's focus then?
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WILCOXEN
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The project wasn't really to say that cleaning up Onondaga Lake was a bad idea, but to look abstractly to see what other priorities are out there. We tried to find out what people in the community cared about and what they thought were the major environmental priorities in the region. It turns out the major things people were concerned about were the lake and things related to the lake, like the creek.
Originally, I thought of it as a project that would be about mapping out the big environmental problems in the region and Onondaga County specifically. But, the high priority became mapping how people think about the environment, mapping the mental environmental geography of the people of the county. So, we are looking at: who are the groups, what kinds of plans do they have, what are their agendas, and who is in a position to carry out the plans.
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ENVI
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What do you mean by plans?
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WILCOXEN
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Well, the city has a development plan as do different community groups. It turns out that there are a lot of people who have plans. But the people who have plans are not in a position to carry them out. The community does not suffer from a lack of planning, but many of these plans are not specific enough to be implemented. The terms "planning paralysis" and "analysis paralysis" were mentioned at many meetings we attended.
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ENVI
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What do you hope will be the outcome?
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WILCOXEN
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Some kinds of environmental problems are hard to resolve because somebody is responsible for making a conscious decision, an active choice. It's hard to make everyone happy. These problems are hard to fix. I hope to find out if there are opportunities to fix things, because no one has yet made a conscious decision about them.
For example, computer power sources were never made to be energy efficient. No one ever thought to do so. It wasn't a conscious decision to make them inefficient, but they just never thought about it. But now, with the EPA's Energy Star Program, things like computer power sources are made energy efficient, and the Energy Star program continues to be a success.
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ENVI
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How do you see this project helping the community?
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WILCOXEN
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Well, we could make a map, but, hypothetically, everybody in the community doesn't need a map. Maybe they need an arbitrator — someone to come in and say, "Okay, you guys are going to sit down in a room, and we are going to hammer out one step forward, and nobody can leave until we do."
<< Previous 1 2
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Q & A
Peter Wilcoxen
by Khris Dodson
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Guidebook
Compassion for Compost
by Stephen Shoemaker
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News & Notes
1,200 Caterpillars and a Gallon of Wine
by Meghan Hynes
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