If someone turned around in the middle of the street and proclaimed “I can predict the future!” it wouldn’t be too strange to see the majority of people desperately avoiding eye-contact, and moving along. It’s also pretty fair to say that even when we watch the weekly weather forecast, there’s a growing cloud of doubt at the backs of our minds. But if, say, somebody had designed a format of questions which will help you achieve an evaluation that considers both cause and effect for one given project, and from the findings gives a report which reveals its prediction – do we listen?
Science may be the greatest form of rhetoric our generation has ever known; but are we really listening? It’s hard to say. Everyday a broadsheet will print new findings which support the need for renewable energy and the threats posed by climate change. But more often than not, the destruction of the earth is no longer a gripping subject, and the page is turned.
Could we need a more practical solution to slot in the tool-belt of everyday life? It’s possible. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) will have most of us switching off as fast as we can switch on the TV. But, ignoring its drab name, there is a certain tangible quality to EIA-thinking.
EIA is an exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin strategy tool designed for decision makers to see straight to the centre of their current concerns. It considers the possible impact – be it positive or negative – that a project may have on its, or other, environments. Considering natural, social and economic variables, the assessment aids decision makers by helping them decide whether to proceed with a given project, after outlining its total forecasted environmental impact.
Doesn’t that sound like something we need as a general public and as individuals: the capability of foresight based on our actions before they happen. It sounds like such a simple request, but imagine if the Government released a leaflet detailing the ways in which we could categorically assess our own individual projects of being a civilian – and the effects that may, or may not, have on the environment.
Despite the thought of it sounding a little too close to a George Orwell novel, the practical side of it is something all of us should consider at some point.
Throughout Europe the E.U. has set out a mixture of guidelines and mandatory procedures to help assess environmental impact. Granted these have been put in place to mitigate damages caused to the environment by European industry; but some of the key sections in an EIA, such as; description of the project; a list of considered alternatives; description of the significant effects on the environment; and mitigation, all exist to help users see clearly the impact their actions will have on the environment.
Now, of course, this example is based only on conjecture, or, at best, a woolly paradigm. But in a modern age confounded by headlines, threats, and pre-packaged solutions, perhaps a EIA-thought is something socially refreshing that we could really do with taking a look at. Just consider some of the actions and services we take for granted right now – food, transport, electricity – an EIA might reveal a way in which we could simply do a little more by wasting a little less.
