By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Center for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis
Most people, at one time or another, act stupidly. There are many terms used to describe stupid behavior: stupidity, dumbness, silliness, obtuseness, imbecility, foolishness, folly, and idiocy, to name a few (Kets de Vries, Manfred, 2023). Stupidity has no limits (2021), and there are as many types of stupidity as there are dimensions of the human brain: social, cultural, economic, ecological, moral, ethical, environmental, among others. Yet many people react angrily or violently if told they are stupid.
Among the ever-present vices in human societies is human stupidity. Professor Pitkin conducted a survey of stupidity among the great, among nations and races, presenting such a massive array of stupidity that one is convinced that it is everywhere, warranting even an indictment of Pitkin himself for emphasizing it so much. One need not search far to understand why human beings are stupid; it is simply because they are human beings (JAMA, 1932).
The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines stupidity as behavior that shows lack of thought or good behavior, or the state of being slow to learn and not clever or intelligent. In 1976, Professor Cipolla published a 60-page essay describing the fundamental laws of a force he perceived as the greatest existential threat to humanity: stupidity. Cipolla divided humanity into four categories—Intelligent, Bandit, Helpless, and Stupid—based on a win/lose concept. He argued that everyone inevitably underestimates the number of stupid people around, as superficial factors like status, education, and wealth conceal stupidity.
Cipolla also emphasized that stupidity is independent of any characteristic; every group—whether based on gender, nationality, education, or income—has a constant percentage of stupid people. University professors, Presidents, Popes, and military commanders can be stupid. A stupid person causes losses to others without gaining anything themselves and may even suffer losses, making stupidity more dangerous than banditry. Non-stupid people consistently underestimate the destructive power of the stupid, often associating with them at great cost. Declining societies are characterized not by having more stupid people but by having a proliferation of bandits and a weakened non-stupid population. Ultimately, there is no defense against stupidity other than for the non-stupid to work harder to compensate for the actions of the stupid. Drawing parallels with environmental mismanagement, Cipolla’s warnings about the dangers of stupidity ring profoundly true.
Environmental Stupidity
The discussion of human stupidity serves as a preamble to my topic: “Environmental Stupidity Spiralling Upwards in Uganda Despite Decades of Institutionalised Natural Resources Conservation.” Environmental stupidity can be defined as the lack of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and insight necessary to manage and conserve the environment wisely and effectively.
Often, the kind of education propagated in a society determines whether people possess these necessary attributes. In the past, traditional indigenous societies in Uganda maintained a close relationship with nature, governed by holistic education that treated humanity and nature as integral parts of one system. Modern education, by contrast, teaches that we are apart from, rather than part of, the environment. This is the first institutionalized form of environmental stupidity, encouraging societies to view the environment as something to be exploited rather than as the foundation for all human activities.
Another layer of environmental stupidity is the prevailing attitude, reinforced by modern education, that equates the environment solely with the physical (ecological-biological) aspects, ignoring its socio-economic, socio-cultural, and temporal dimensions. Environmental stupidity manifests in environmentally unconscious laws and policies, ecological decay, social and cultural degradation, spiritual emptiness, and the abuse of time in project planning and execution.
Despite the introduction of environmental training programs at Ugandan universities and the establishment of governmental and non-governmental environmental institutions, environmental stupidity has continued to spiral upwards. This has fostered an environment of growing environmental immorality, ignorance, corruption, and bankruptcy, particularly among societal elites and corporate entities, all of which have contributed to the degradation of the environment and quality of life.
Policy-makers, governors, and leaders have demonstrated environmental stupidity through widespread deforestation, replacing natural forests with sugarcane and oil palm monocultures under the pretext of economic development. This same environmental stupidity explains the culture of land grabbing, the destruction of traditional agroecological systems, and the failure to manage waste and pollution, leading to rivers, swamps, lakes, and soils being poisoned.
Curricular designs that separate humanity from nature, projecting the environment merely as a resource for exploitation, are another product of environmental stupidity. At both local and national levels, projects and programs continue to stress and constrain the environment rather than add value to its quality, emphasizing integration into a money economy at the expense of the environmental economy. The environmental economy stresses the interplay between economic activity and the environment, aiming for sustainability and focusing on how environmental issues affect economies and how policies can mitigate these effects. The environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) seeks to protect the environment and manage natural resources, emphasizing development over mere economic growth.
Over the past 40 years, governance in Uganda has been guided by a development philosophy that prioritizes infrastructure first, environment and nature second, and people last. This philosophy fails to recognize that environmental integrity depends on the unity of people and nature.
Therefore, instead of focusing solely on institutionalizing environmental management and conservation, we must enact policies and laws specifically aimed at combating environmental stupidity from the bottom to the top of society.
For God and My Country.