A group called EcoSector is proposing the creation of a U.S. Department of Ecosystems that, according to organizers, would represent a huge increase in our commitment to the environment and the green economy.
Lest you forget, the EPA is not a department, it is a lowly agency. Agencies are not afforded the same authority (nor respect) as cabinet-level departments. Creating a department with a clear mission helps create the kind of organizational cohesion necessary for effective governance on such a large scale.
There already exists a high level of bipartisan support for the creation a cabinet-level Department focused on the environment. Most of the political support for this restructuring consists in the form of bumping up the Environmental Protection Agency to cabinet-level status, as Republican and former EPA chief Christine Todd-Whitman has argued.
A Department of Ecosystems would essentially be the “EPD”, just with a different name and frame. According to the group’s founder, Mark Winstein, “Ultimately, our goal is to expand the frame of reference through which our society views its relationship to the world from one of separation to one of coexistence and mutual benefit.”
According to campaign organizers, the creation of a Department of Ecosystems would:
* Promote and symbolize society’s recognition of the importance of ecosystems to peoples’ lives and health, and our role in assuring their vitality.
* Increase and solidify access to the President for our nation’s top environmental official.
* Improve intra- and inter-governmental relations.
* Enhance international relations.
Basically, EcoSector supports elevating the EPA head to the Cabinet level, but proposes quite poignantly I might add, that the new entity be named Department of Ecosystems rather than Department of Environmental Protection because:
“[T]he context of the words ‘environmental protection’ suggests that humans are separate from the environment and need to protect it. Group organizers argue on the other hand, saying that the paradigm of ‘ecosystems’ recognizes that people, along with all creatures, are part of the ecosystems that make up our planet, and thereby inter-related to all creatures.”
I like it.
If you’re interested in supporting or learning more about a U.S. Department of Ecosystems check out the EcoSector campaign.
Image: World Resources Institute Staff via flickr Under a Creative Commons License
About Timothy B. Hurst
