It seems like every time I turn around, I find another environmental organization that is on the front lines of the war against something or other. Some are out to address water shortages, some are fighting the fossil fuels industry, and some are advocating for more clean solar energy. They are all great causes. I shake my head though and wonder how come I have never heard of this organization. I am always amazed to find yet another non-profit fighting the “good” fight for climate change. No climate deniers at these organizations.
Today, I went to a recently discovered environmental website and lo and behold, they have a staff of at least a forty people. The staff seems to be divided between what I would call admin type people, lawyers, and some environmental scientists. This particular site seems to be about fifty percent lawyers. It is not unusual to find lots of lawyers on these sites. The cynic in me wonders whether or not they could find a higher paying job in corporate America or at least on the Trump defense team. The numbers of staff at these organizations can range from as few as two staff members to as many as fifty including interns and part-time volunteers. Most of these environmental organizations will have a great looking website with tabs like this:
ABOUT ACTION PROGRAMS NEWSROOM PUBLICATIONS SUPPORT
Go to the ABOUT tab and you will probably find a drop-down menu that looks like this:
- Mission
- Our Story
- Meet the Staff
- Board of Directors
- Publications
- Jobs and Internships
- Contact Us
- Support Us
What am I griping about you may ask? Why my obvious cynicism? The management consultant in me is buzzing with the following questions:
- Why are so many organizations trying to do the same thing?
- Why so many lawyers on the staff at these organizations?
- Great publications and research but how come I never heard of this organization?
- With a sound mission and team and so many other organizations fighting for climate change, how come the best we can do is Biden’s latest bill to fight climate change?
- How come the climate keeps getting worse?
Please allow me to explain or at least defend my critique of these well-meaning groups in terms of the above questions. If you do not agree, great. Send me your reasons and logic and I will post them in my comments section or simply post it yourself. Lets go through each of my questions one at a time.
- Why are so many organizations trying to do the same thing?
In business and industry, we have a law of efficiency that abhors needless redundancy and duplication. This law can lead to greater efficiency through economies of scale but can also lead to lack of innovation and inefficient monopolies. Proponents of this law advocate for competition as a way of preventing these disadvantages. However, when we talk about non-profits, we are dealing with the proverbial “horse of a different color.” In this case, I can see more disadvantages than advantages from having so many organizations attempting to address the same problem. For instance:
- Wasted time spent on fund raising
- Duplication of grants
- Duplication of effort
- Lack of leverage due to small size
- Wasted money spent on equipment, offices, and administrative staff
It would really be interesting for these organizations to publish their financial reports and show a breakdown like many charities do. I would like to know how much money goes directly to program goals versus support and infrastructure.
- Why so many lawyers on the staff at these organizations?
I admit a bias here. We have too many lawyers in this country. In my work with organizations, lawyers were the most inefficient part of the companies that I worked with. They blocked change with nitpicking details that were too often ridiculous and superfluous. They drove up costs with their legal fees and contributed not one red cent to the bottom line. I hated to work for companies that had a large legal staff because I knew they would always try to find reasons “NOT” to do things rather than to change the existing status quo. Lawyers seem to exist on the premise that it is safer to do nothing than to take calculated risks and do something. Any time I see an organization with lots of lawyers, I see lots of overhead costs and a tendency to oppose change.
- Great publications and research but how come I never heard of this organization?
Most of the time, I find my way to these environmental organizations via some article that one of their staff has posted. For instance, the recent article in the Guardian (Landmark US climate bill will do more harm than good, groups say) led me to the following five environmental groups:
- Taproot Earth Vision
- Center for Biological Diversity
- Environmental Justice Coalition
- Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic
- Climate Justice Alliance
I found the article interesting since it supported my belief that the Biden bill made to many concessions to the fossil fuel industry. In the article, spokespersons for each of these five organizations echoed my concerns about the Biden bill. In some respects, they are whistling in the wind as much as I am. Many of my blogs deal with the problems of growth versus development, sustainability, climate change and water shortages. I am a choir of one impacting maybe 100 or so readers of my blogs who are probably already believers in what I am preaching. I too am guilty of not reaching the tornado blown, flood inundated, drought ridden, heat exhausted victims of climate change.
- With a great mission and team and so many organizations fighting for climate change, how come the best we can do is Biden’s latest bill to fight climate change?
Most of these environmental organizations have some great people on their staffs. Dedicated and wise scientists and volunteers who give their time and effort to help others. I mentioned earlier that there are probably no climate deniers at these organizations. What I do not see is the political clout that these organizations need to seriously impact the political process in this country.
Either there are not enough people who support climate change efforts in the world, or these organizations do not have enough political power to reach these people. It is my opinion that fewer organizations working together would accomplish more than many disparate environmental organizations each staffed with a director, assistant director, administration people, HR people and other people not directly impacting the organization mission. Of course, some staff people are needed. The question is how many staff people are needed. Too many organizations working towards the same mission and goals is inefficient. Imagine, if Honda had a separate organization for each of its products. The reason companies become conglomerates is because of scale efficiencies.
What Are Economies of Scale?
“Economies of scale are cost advantages reaped by companies when production becomes efficient. Companies can achieve economies of scale by increasing production and lowering costs. This happens because costs are spread over a larger number of goods. Costs can be both fixed and variable.” — Investopia
A new flagship UN report on climate change out Monday indicating that harmful emissions from 2010-2019 were at their highest levels in human history, is proof that the world is on a “fast track” to disaster, António Guterres has warned. Reacting to the latest findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN Secretary-General insisted that unless governments everywhere reassess their energy policies, the world will be uninhabitable.
- How come the climate keeps getting worse?
Keep doing the same thing and expect different results and you are crazy. The results on climate change are all going in the wrong direction. Things are getting worse every day. Many scientists say that we are already past the point of no return. In a recent article by another environmental organization Circle of Blue, the author wrote that Arizona will probably be a wasteland with no water and deserted cities by 2060.
“The state enters an era of relentless decline. By 2060, according to several published projections, extreme heat and water scarcity could make Phoenix one of the continent’s most uninhabitable places.” “Arizona’s Future Water Shock” by Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue – March 28, 2022
This concerns me greatly, since twelve years ago Karen and I bought a home in Arizona City. We live half way between Tucson and Phoenix right in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. We were assured by realtors that there was enough water for one hundred years when we bought our home. A year later, we realized that realtors are the biggest liars in America. This excludes politicians whom everyone knows cannot help but be liars.
Getting back on focus, if you were running an organization and everything you were doing was leading to declining sales, declining profits, declining demand for your products or declining success on your major indicators, would you still keep doing the same thing?
We have had twenty or more years of declining climate. Isn’t it about time for these environmental organizations to change strategies? Perhaps instead of writing articles, hiring lawyers etc., they should be hiring more marketing and PR people to reach out to the larger public. Hubert Humphrey once said that “If you give the people the right information, they will make the right decisions.” We have an SEC Commission which publishes stock reports on an hourly basis. We have a Consumer Affairs Office which provides us with monthly updates on consumer spending and inflation. We have a Commerce Department and Labor Department which issue regular updates on labor, monetary policies, gross domestic product, and many other economic indicators. All of these reports help to insure that people have information about the economy. But when it comes to the environment, where are the national indicators? Where are the:
- Weekly updates on temperature changes by state?
- Weekly updates on water supplies by state?
- Weekly updates on ozone levels, methane levels, carbon dioxide levels?
- Weekly updates on aquifer levels?
Maybe if more people had as many facts about the environment as they have about the economy, they could make better decisions. Maybe, there would be less climate deniers and more people voting for officials willing to change how we deal with the environment. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But one thing is certain, if we keep doing what we are doing, we will leave a barren unsustainable world for future generations.
This excerpt is from an article that is worth reading if you are concerned about the environment. I will put the url after the excerpt:
“There are so many crises occurring simultaneously that we cannot be misled when it comes to the solution. We must not return to ‘normal’ as advocated by governments and corporations: ‘normal’ is part of the problem. It is time to demand strategic changes that represent more radical responses and create conditions for other changes in the future. Major decarbonisation can help us today. However, it will not be easy to demand structural reforms without working-class mobilisation. Here, we see the important role of social movements in Latin America in demanding the impossible, especially when any other perspective could push us even further into the abyss.”
This excerpt if from: https://thetricontinental.org/notebook-3-green-new-deal
underlying or foundation problem to explain many senseless acts of…
The secular path is the path of the world. It is the path that says you need to have more of the things of the world to put in your basket. Getting more of the world’s stuff is heralded as the secret to filling your basket and achieving success and happiness. Some of the things people try to get more of include: Food, drugs, alcohol, fame, fortune, money, medals, accomplishments, status, power, knowledge, youth, health and titles. While some of these things might be useful in your other baskets, in this basket they simply do not work. The spiritual basket is immune to the things of the world. It is a truism that all of the great prophets and philosophers and thinkers have extolled. Sadly, it is a path that is promoted by too much of the world because it is driven by greed and financial profits. Buy that new truck and you will be happy. Buy that giant house and you will be happy. Read the latest diet book and you will be happy. How many times do people have to go down this path before they will realize that it only takes them in the wrong direction?
The great spiritual leaders like Mohammed, Jesus, Buddha and Baháʼu’lláh all had followers and tried to teach their followers by various means. It seems that the goal of enlightenment, samadhi or nirvana was achieved by each of the great leaders and even by some of their followers. Unfortunately for humanity and for most organized religions, these gurus and religious teachers all missed one important truth. “You cannot teach enlightenment.” Enlightenment can only be learned by example. We learn from our parents by the example they set for us. We learn by observing how they treat other people. We learn by what they do rather than what they say. The followers of the great prophets and gurus were learning their spirituality from what their teachers were doing and now what they were saying.
Karen grew up with two sets of grandparents. On one side the Misselts were Norwegian and on her dad’s side the grandparents were Swedish. Karen was baptized at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Frederic, Wisconsin where we now reside. Karen went to public schools and was an average student. She dreamed of becoming a nurse. However, her guidance counselor had different ideas. She advised Karen that she would never make it as a nurse because her math scores were too low. Karen showed what I have since realized was a streak of determination or stubbornness (if you will) to get what she wants. She ignored the counselor’s advice, went to nursing school at the University of Minnesota and a few years ago retired with fifty plus years of nursing experience.
Karen and I were married in 1989 but started dating in 1983. Both of us were coming off of recent divorces. We were on again and off again as I did not want to make any commitment. After six years of dating, Karen finally said that she was tired of this off again and on-again business and either it was permanently on or permanently off. I yielded to her logic, and we were married by my good friend Bill Cox at a Methodist Church in Taylor Falls, Minnesota. The marriage of a good Lutheran and a quixotic Atheist.
From the start, we had a rather rocky relationship. I was often temperamental. Easy to anger and resort to verbal and emotional abuse. I lost count of how many times I said that I was going to leave, and that divorce was the only answer. Karen would ask me not to yell at her and I would say I was not yelling. It seemed to me that any slight rise in my tone of voice was yelling to Karen. Our discussions often made matters worse. However, Karen never gave up on our relationship. We went to counselling together to save it. We have been to three Marriage Encounter weekends to improve various aspects of our lives. Sometimes the improvements are more obvious than other times. I still tend to be the pessimist and see the half-empty glass and Karen is the optimist who keeps assuring me that the glass is half-full and getting fuller.
Karen was a single mom who raised four children after her first husband left. She tried to be mom and dad to these kids. She cooked, cleaned, sewed, and went to work each day and came home at night to help them with their homework or whatever they needed. She took them on camping trips and vacations. By the time we were married, three of her children had left the nest and we had one child left to raise. Karen’s relationship with her children was never smooth. Some of the kids seemed to blame her for their dad leaving. I was the evil stepparent and I never fit in. Her youngest daughter after many years of Karen and I together once asked me when their real father was coming back.
Karen is one of the most caring, honest, ethical, and thoughtful persons in the world. She is patient, kind and compassionate with everyone that she deals with. Not just me, and not just people she knows or people in our “tribe.” Karen is always willing to go out of her way to help others in need. Karen has a wonderful talent for crafts and music and uses these to give back to the world.
Karen wanted to study music when she was younger. Her parents had a piano in their house and Karen learned to play it. However, she realized that she did not have the talent to be a professional musician and so she took it up as a hobby. She started singing in a church choir when she was eight years old and still sings in a choir. A piano is a rather cumbersome instrument to carry around, so Karen discovered the Mountain Dulcimer about fifteen years ago and learned to play it. She takes it with us when we travel, and she plays with a group in Arizona called the Tucson Dulcimer Ensemble. They practice weekly and play at nursing homes, churches, and special events. About five years ago, she purchased a Ukulele and started learning to play it. She now plays with a group in Centuria, Wisconsin and they also do free gigs for nursing homes, county fairs and churches.
fools, greedy people, and bullies. I find it hard to turn the other cheek. I lack compassion, kindness and patience for racists, white supremacists, KKK, Neo-Nazi and many other groups. Through it all, Karen stands by me. I complain that she is too nice. Minnesota Nice bothers me because I see it as wimpy and avoidance behavior. Karen says it is caring and compassion. I wonder what Jesus would say. Regardless, I know I live a better happier life because I have one very special person that I admire, and love more than I can ever say. She may look like an average old lady, but she is not average to me. No average person could live with me for more than a week.
The ukulele is a four-stringed instrument that has its origins in Portugal but was adapted by Hawaiians in the 19th Century. Its size can vary, with the larger instruments producing deeper tones. Elvis Presley played a ukulele and so did Tiny Tim. The ukulele became most popular in Hawaii but more recently with a player named Jake Shimabukuro its popularity has skyrocketed. Karen and I have been to two of Jake’s concerts and it is beyond amazing what he can play and do on his ukulele. He has done for the ukulele what the movie “O Brother, Where Are Thou” did for old time music. He has created a renaissance for the ukulele with millions of people all over the world now taking up the instrument.
They play a variety of ukes from soprano to tenor to concert to bass ukuleles. In addition to playing, they also sing. They are quite innovative and creative in their adaptations of the various pieces of music that they play. They often invite ticket holders to bring their ukuleles to the concert and play along with them. You can find out more about this group at their site 
