In Who Rules the Earth? by Paul F. Steinberg (2015), the author argues that the way to make real and lasting environmental change, is by changing the social rules that govern us. Social rules, in this sense, are institutions.
Today the public tends to hold the ideology that power is unassailable, but this, as it turns out, is just a boundary that we have placed on ourselves, not a reality. Steinberg (2015) argues that over the years, power has disguised itself as an invisible social rule for us to follow, but in fact, the possession of power by any group or person is relative and temporary. To tackle the wicked problem of climate change, we must think outside the box and adjust the basic principles that societies lives by (Steinberg 2015). The solutions that have previously been implemented as a fix for climate change, still in turn played into this misread power system and have indeed inhibited us from successful solutions. Steinberg advocates that “We need solutions whose power and scope match the severity and pace of the problems unfolding before us. We need new rules” (Steinberg 2015, 13). This kind of problem solving is a perfect example of the real progressive ideology we are in dire need of.
Effectively changing the social rules we live by consciously and unconsciously, requires that we start acting at institutional levels instead of individual ones. The author examines the power-sharing agreement a man named José Delfín Duarte in San Isidro, Costa Rica holds with the government, over the distribution of his neighborhood water resources. Steinberg (2015) then connects Duarte’s actions to a woman’s named Claudia Olazábal, who works at the European Commission to change the policies around controlling invasive species to protect threatened ecosystems. He reflects that although these two individuals are working with institutions in various ways, they are both “reshaping the fabric of society, cutting and reattaching the threads of the elaborate rule making structures that make it possible to things like provide potable water to a rural community or protect endangered species across the European continent” (Steinberg 2015, 162). It is important to note that changing social rules can be done many different ways, and all are important and effective. Steinberg’s (2015) solution calls for breaking down current rules and while this process is a bit unruly, it much imitates the problem itself.
The argument that Who Rules the Earth? (2015) holds is one that I tend to agree with. It only makes sense that a complicated and layered issue such as climate change needs a unruly and somewhat obvious solution like altering our social rules. This book has inspired me to work towards making my own social change, starting with educating the malleable minds of our youth to think like scholars such as Paul F. Steinberg. If generations grow up being told “you can do everything” instead of “you can do anything but …” it would foster individuals who inherently overpower power and work with institutions instead of those who have to work to change their mindsets. In my opinion, alternative education applies the real change that Steinberg (2015) advocates for but in a much simpler way.
The question now “is not whether change is possible. Change is ubiquitous. The question, rather, is who is participating in the process” (Steinberg 2015, 59).
References
Steinberg, Paul F. 2015. Who Rules The Earth. New York City: Oxford University Press.