The Pragmatist

The older I get the more aware I am of the pragmatic streak in me. I call it logic and common sense and it is in on these two virtues that I will hang my life's proverbial hat!!

Pragmatism to me means accepting what’s real and making the best of it. Pragmatism is figuring out how to fulfill our values and mission in the real world rather than spending our energy complaining that things should be different. As former US President Theodore Roosevelt once said "do what you can where you are with what you have". Pragmatism means that we look at our own behaviors and ideas and ask ourselves—Do they work? Are they getting us to where we want to go? Pragmatism and flexibility go hand in hand, because the world keeps changing around us.

For instance if I apply my pragmatism to the carbon tax debate in Australia then my view is that ok as humans we probably do impact the environment in some way and given this likelihood then we therefore by extension must address our collective behavior in this regard. But this must be balanced against the reality that (a) we must test the science of climate change in a robust manner (isn't science all about testing a hypothesis?) and (b) that the world must approach the issue on a collective basis (let's face it any reduction that Australian achieves will mean nothing if the worlds biggest emitters do not reduce theirs). I believe that these two elements are paramount in any movement to address this issue.