Community power needed

Guest Commentary

Another water crisis is making national headlines. This time ground zero is in the mid-west. More than 400,000 people in and around Toledo, Ohio cannot drink water from their taps due to high levels of the dangerous toxin microcystin in the public drinking supply.

The cause of this disaster is particularly concerning, however, as it is not the result of a tanker spill or any other large-scale industrial disaster, but rather a tried and failed approach to environmental management – top-down decree.

As reported by Think Progress, exposure to polluted water of this nature can cause “abnormal liver function, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, numbness, and dizziness.”

In the short term, our current institutions will work with residents to try to ameliorate the crisis, but what about the long term? How can we work to ensure these 400,000 are not left without potable water again? There will be a lot of dialogue and debate over how to move forward and protect the public good. All too often, however, we look for simple, top-down direction to alleviate and mitigate environmental concerns.

This is understandable. The simple solution and the “decide, announce, defend” mentality is an easy way out. The problem is, no matter how simple an ecological concept, the natural system behind it is incredibly complex. Simple solutions cannot mitigate complex systems – but evolving, dynamic systems can continually shift policy to meet public and environmental health demands.

To solve the problems created by top-down decision making, we must become dynamic. Decentralized policy making allows us to manage for change, rather than against change.

Human interactions are complex, ecosystems are complex and there is beauty in complexity. To move forward we must empower the collective, amplify the voice of the individual and continue to build the decentralized society.

--Grant Mincy is a fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society.