Subject: Climate Change

Posted by Steve Crowley on 12/5/2009
In Reply To:Climate Change Posted by Kathy Arizmendi on 12/5/2009

Message:

In my own years of involvement with advocacy work, it has become clear to me that the advocates (generally) are there, in theory and supported by law, to represent groups of people or businesses with common interests. But a strange thing happens... very quickly, the identified and intellectually isolated core interest becomes paramount, distinct from what might be the more balanced and holistic perspectives of the real people who are supposedly being represented. By distorting the 'voice of the people' through the lens of the interest group, it becomes more and more difficult to find common ground among the separate interests. This is accentuated by the self-preservation instincts of the advocacy groups, and their funding sources looking for validation, but it begins as an outgrowth of the separation of the advocates from the constituencies they represent. It's been my impression that the true values of those constituencies would exhibit much more understanding and collaborativity than the hard lines of their supposed advocates. What we are unlikely to see is an advocacy group that advocates the common interests rather than the dividing interests.

(I'm referring to a wide spectrum of interest groups here... enviro grups, chambers of commerce, industry advocates, etc.)

Steve Crowley