Justin Rowlatt: The Ethical Man

09 August, 2010

Just what does it take for a modern Western man to assess his ethics and make changes accordingly? What does it even mean to be ethical by today’s standards, you may ask? BBC reporter for Newsnight, Justin Rowlatt, took on the one-year challenge along with his family in 2006, 2007, and again in 2009 throughout the United States. The program featured episodes where Rowlatt’s pregnant wife solved the problem of carrying the family’s groceries in England without using a car to, the legal limitations of urban foraging. Experts such as Professor Tim Jackson from the University of Surrey sat down with Rowlatt and helped him calculate his family’s carbon budget- how much the household is responsible for producing annually. For his family, it was 10 tons- the national UK average is about seven tons. One family vacation flight used one ton of carbon by itself.

Rowlatt has participated in and been the face of a number of serial documentaries, the most recent of which being “Going Green” in April 2009. He also participated in a broadcast for BBC News America, which focused on what obstacles Americans in Michigan, Texas, California, and Washington, D.C. faced in their efforts to meet “green” goals. One of the most common setbacks for participants is perceived costs, or just plain unemployment. In places like Muskegon, Michigan, which faced some of the highest unemployment rates in 2009, a decision to purchase a more efficient washer and dryer makes one family seriously consider their overall household costs, subsequently tweaking their budgets during lean times.

Rowlatt’s “Ethical Man” documentary serves as a testing ground for belief systems, specifically environmental ones, but ultimately has had resounding effects on social, economic, and political tenets as well- and how they influence powerful agendas, hidden or transparent. The show helps to foster necessary debate in an easily digestible format for its viewers, giving important ideas a platform for comment and examination. ““Ethical Man”” makes clear that collective forces influence society, such as the energy grid, which makes it difficult, but not completely ineffectual, to take personal responsibility.

As with his other reporting exploits, Rowlatt uses energetic wit to ask pointed questions of his subjects, whether they are political analysts, business executives, or the general public. The positions of some leading scientists and analysts are that the emphasis on global warming fosters government control and lines the pockets of already wealthy influential companies, such as GE. Of the environmental scientists and ethical columnists, he asks, “what can one person do to influence the greater good?”  The responses vary from active political awareness (voting on progressive policies), to social (simple, direct collective actions and changing one’s own behavior).

“Ethical Man’s” theory of environmentalism in social practice examines the idea that conservation and changing one’s consumption habits will help to preserve finite resources on our planet for generations of humans to come. There may not be enough empirical evidence to justify every claim of the environmental movement, but then again there not enough claims that precautions are hurting, either. The bigger question Mr. Rowlatt’s project poses is how positive and far-reaching can the effects be from a socioeconomic and political standpoint.

One question he asks, rather poignantly, is, “is it more ethical not to buy beans from Kenya [and] support local farmers, or should we [support Kenya’s efforts for economic survival]?” Ultimately, beyond the prescribed green movement, many ethicists point out the continued benefits in the West derived from the misery and unsustainable desperation of Third World nations. There is empirical evidence of this in investigative journalist accounts of mining precious metals for cell phone raw materials in the Congo and covert arms deals between governments and illegal militias to strong-arm locals protesting the fouling of their waterways for oil. The moral and ethical mandate remains to undo the damage we have already caused, whether that means taking every iota of argued science for what it’s worth, or erring on the side of caution by using common sense regarding our consumption habits.

There are many personal dilemmas individuals face on a daily basis. The idea of confronting ethics in a more day-to-day setting, outside of academia, is not new, but is becoming more popular, thanks, in part, to revolutionized globalization of media. Planet Green, a TimeWarner Cable channel in New York City, for instance, produces many reality-style shows that allow ordinary people to look at where their food and clothing comes from, and what the total cost is beyond their ready-made price tag. This new crop of media investigations aims at making citizens more aware of their input into greater systems, such as banking and buying food. If they succeed, of course ratings will go up, but maybe viewers will also start questioning the underlying agendas of every industry, and thus become more actively involved in the goods and services they consume, and the ideas they help to gain traction.

Even if it only serves as a jumping board on the green bandwagon in response to global warming claims, scientific or not, what the “Ethical Man” documentaries manage to highlight is the inherent human nature to survive, and how modern society evolves to incorporate this instinct in consumption. If anything, “Ethical Man” challenges common notions of what are needs, wants, and should-haves, and how every individual can look within and reassess these imperatives in his or her daily life. Mr. Rowlatt is not a leading anthropologist or ethicist, but his investigative efforts help a larger audience tackle serious questions about sustainable lifestyles, all with the guts, glam, and grace of his longsuffering wife!

Asylum Seekers

27 July, 2010

Today, the provocative question for many women seeking safety abroad is tempered by whether their case is strong enough to hold up in federal courts as well as through international mandates. All over the world, women and men endure horrific circumstances where their basic human rights do not exist. Political, religious, and sexual freedom, as well as the ability to pursue gainful employment and live in peace is beyond their reach in parts of Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

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Crude Reality in Nigeria: An International Cry for Help

12 July, 2010

As the world looks toward the Western hemisphere and its swirling despair in the Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria’s delta region blinks back in disbelief at the extent of its underexposure of the same plight. In fact, Nigeria has suffered oil spill disasters of a greater frequency, with magnitudes equal to Exxon-Valdez annually for half a century.

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