| There are typically two responses to the complex environmental problems of our time: (1) doom and gloom and (2) optimism. There is a lot of doom and gloom in the environmental literature. This literature warns that the future portends danger for humans and their life support systems. But when one tries to be optimistic about the present or the future, one is criticized as being unrealistic. The optimist is thereby considered naive. Similarly, when groups of scientists are showing signs of success in presentations, seminars, and the literature, they are often accused of delusional optimism or even a 'conspiracy of optimism.' In the face of such criticism, the optimists are challenged to be realistic, the belief being that if one is realistic then one will see that the present and the future really are, in fact, full of doom and gloom. Therefore, we have an apparent choice between realistic doom and gloom and unrealistic optimism. Salmon 2100 is a case study of this apparent dichotomy. The study uses quantitative and qualitative methods in a complementary way to investigate the underlying frames of this dichotomy. Radical reframing is then explored as a means to realistic hope. |
