The Principle of Subsidiary and the Environment

The recent articles we’ve been reading about the developing world and environmental problems pinpoint the fact that many times there is a clash between the developed countries and developing countries when it comes to the environment, among other things. For instance, in the “Poverty and Globalization” article by Vandana Shiva, she claims that many times we do not think about the impact of globalization on the lives of ordinary people. This is so true, especially in terms of the environment. As much as I agree with this analysis, simple globalization is not the root problem. The true problem is that some believe their cultures are better than others, and therefore, when globalization happens it is a loss of one country’s culture in deference to another’s. Instead of a sharing of cultures, globalization in this form stifles the growth and culture of one country.

In terms of the environment, this sort of mindset can lead to developed countries believing they have better answers for how to conserve the environment than developing countries. The perfect example of this is in today’s reading, Cutting the Vines. The African people had a different view on the forests than the western cultures, which led to conflicts and failures by the WWF. The problems the WWF ran into reveal the importance of acceptance from the local people in environmental projects. When the local people are not invested, the projects will not work as well. Many environmental projects should take into account the principle of subsidiary: solving problems on the most local level possible, and only when that does not work taking it to a higher level. This principle seems to always be ignored when talking about environmental issues. So much of the time people focus on the large-scale projects. But, as we see in this example large-scale projects do not work well. Local people are crucial, not just because they fully understand the problems and may have some solutions, but tactics will not be adopted if the local level is not involved. There involvement can take many different forms.

One idea that was brought up in class was the need for education. Education is important, but what is more important is remembering education, like globalization, is a two-way street. Much of the time education seems to be centered around the developed country imparting information on the developing country, when, for environmental problems especially, having a two-way learning process is necessary. This two-way process will also help with the principle of subsidiary because the people in the developing countries will at least be a part of the conversation, which is a good start. Developing countries have a voice, but much of the time it is drowned out by the louder developed countries. There is not an easy way to solve the problem of listening to the voice of developing countries. This is why I believe large-scale corporations like the WWF should not be coming into these countries at all. They are outsiders and though they try to help, they end up harming things more often than not. Instead of large, centralized corporations, different measures must be taken with developing countries. The principle of subsidiary needs to be the driving factor in issues with the environment. This could look like people in their local towns commit to conserving the environment, in the way that makes sense for that community. As Shiva said in her article, economic globalization has become a war against nature and the poor. We can ensure that this is not the same with environmental globalization if we follow closely the principle of subsidiary and defer to the local people in creating and implementing environmental projects.