Environmentalists should be friends

Reporting by The New York Times about a recent battle between two neighbors in Sunnyvale, Calif., shows that some environmentalists aren’t friends. However, this doesn’t have to be the case.

One couple planted eight redwood trees that cast shadows on their neighbor’s rooftop solar panels. The owner of the panels brought the couple to court, prosecuting under the Solar Shade Act.

Judge Kurt Kumli of the Santa Clara County Superior Court ruled that no more than 10 percent of the panels could be cast in shade and ordered that the trees be pruned.

Who was right in this case? Were either of the parties’ actions justified? One neighbor drove a Prius and the other drove an electric car. It is not as though one was more environmentally friendly than the other.

Their desire to create sustainable solutions is worthy of considerable praise, but the way these people behaved deserves condemnation. They had the nerve to think that their environmentally sustainable practice somehow took precedence over their neighbor’s.

But both sides failed to realize that they are working toward the same goal and that by working together they could accomplish a great deal more.

This trend is seen around the globe. Take the biofuel controversy, for example.

Brazil is experiencing massive deforestation in order to create arable land to grow sugarcane for biofuel. Furthermore, farmland previously used for food production is also being converted to use for biofuel.

Biofuels will help break society’s dependence on fossil fuels, a major contributor to global warming. However, like the Sunnyvale neighbors, the advocates of biofuel are completely disregarding other environmental issues.

Environmentalists need to consider the secondary and tertiary results associated with the pursuit of environmental sustainability, especially when they hinder other environmentalists’ goals.

The owners of the redwoods should give consideration before planting 60-foot trees, casting a neighbor in shade, but at the same time, the owners of the solar panels should understand that trees serve an important ecological function.

Furthermore, advocates of biofuel need to understand that the aspiration for an alternative fuel source has led to the loss of rainforests and escalating food costs due to the loss of food-producing land.

This is why some environmentalists aren’t friends. They ignore a key facet of friendship: mutual understanding.

Environmentalists need to communicate and listen to one another. This builds mutual understanding.

Instead, some environmentalists take each other to court and continue chopping down the rainforest to grow biofuel. They insist that their way is the “right way” and other environmental issues can be disregarded.

Through friendship, environmentalists can create mutually acceptable practices, which will be agreeable to all and won’t hinder anyone’s goals.

Collaboration among environmentalists will help guarantee a sustainable future, which is something we can all agree on.