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permaculture
May 2009 
Pups dog the WAG
Posted on Nov 26th, 2007
by 
Chris
Chris
In my capacity as youth support worker for the Welsh Youth Forum on Sustainable Development, I recently had the privilege of accompanying four young members down to Cardiff for a meeting with representatives of the Welsh Assembly Government (the WAG).
The not so recent elections resulted in a period of instability during which the various parties attempted to from alliances and coalitions to secure an overall majority. As is often the case, the first actions of the new ruling powers was a reorganisation of departments and ministers.
I'm reminded of the quote often attributed to Petronius Arbiter, probably erroneously, "We trained hard but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganisation; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation." Nice quote, even if apocryphal.
Suffice to say that the WAG have now put climate change in with water management along with microgeneration, domestic energy, access to the countryside, fuel poverty and lifestyle; an interesting if rather obscure mix. I can't remember offhand what has happened to sustainable development.
Anyway, the civil servants temporarily attached to climate change explained that they knew very little about it. The members of the Youth Forum, on the other hand, were by contrast positively erudite, speaking with great clarity on the subject. It was encouraging, if a little frightening, to observe the WAG reps making copious notes whenever the Forum members said anything; encouraging in that they clearly took what these intelligent, informed young people had to say very seriously; frightening in that they were responsible to reporting to the minister responsible for action on climate change.
It seems that in matters relating to sustainable development there is a continual cycle of people who know nothing about it starting again from scratch. After a few years when they may be getting up to speed on the subject there's another change round and it all starts again.
The challenge is made even more difficult by the fact that genuinely sustainable solutions, being integral in nature (I mean, requiring an integration of a whole range of subjects- all of them in fact) are unlikely to arise from a government that is divided up along rigid, departmental lines. The challenge is exactly the same in education where the fragmentation of learning makes it extremely difficult to recognise the connections that need to be made. The Education on Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship information, for example, is usually sent to geography teachers who undoubtedly already have full plates. I feel very sorry for them. And us.
No matter, I was inspired, as usual, by the youth, who were not hooded are already well aware that genuine sustainable solutions to the environmental, social and personal challenges we face will require more (a lot more) than just turning the light off when we leave a room or having a shower rather than a bath.
The not so recent elections resulted in a period of instability during which the various parties attempted to from alliances and coalitions to secure an overall majority. As is often the case, the first actions of the new ruling powers was a reorganisation of departments and ministers.
I'm reminded of the quote often attributed to Petronius Arbiter, probably erroneously, "We trained hard but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganisation; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation." Nice quote, even if apocryphal.
Suffice to say that the WAG have now put climate change in with water management along with microgeneration, domestic energy, access to the countryside, fuel poverty and lifestyle; an interesting if rather obscure mix. I can't remember offhand what has happened to sustainable development.
Anyway, the civil servants temporarily attached to climate change explained that they knew very little about it. The members of the Youth Forum, on the other hand, were by contrast positively erudite, speaking with great clarity on the subject. It was encouraging, if a little frightening, to observe the WAG reps making copious notes whenever the Forum members said anything; encouraging in that they clearly took what these intelligent, informed young people had to say very seriously; frightening in that they were responsible to reporting to the minister responsible for action on climate change.
It seems that in matters relating to sustainable development there is a continual cycle of people who know nothing about it starting again from scratch. After a few years when they may be getting up to speed on the subject there's another change round and it all starts again.
The challenge is made even more difficult by the fact that genuinely sustainable solutions, being integral in nature (I mean, requiring an integration of a whole range of subjects- all of them in fact) are unlikely to arise from a government that is divided up along rigid, departmental lines. The challenge is exactly the same in education where the fragmentation of learning makes it extremely difficult to recognise the connections that need to be made. The Education on Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship information, for example, is usually sent to geography teachers who undoubtedly already have full plates. I feel very sorry for them. And us.
No matter, I was inspired, as usual, by the youth, who were not hooded are already well aware that genuine sustainable solutions to the environmental, social and personal challenges we face will require more (a lot more) than just turning the light off when we leave a room or having a shower rather than a bath.
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