The Campaign and the Environment
Watching last night's Democratic debate between Sens. Obama and Clinton, I was stunned that not one question was asked about the environment. We face a burgeoning environmental crisis, one that threatens the well-being of every human on the planet, and yet most reporters (and probably by extension, most of the public) does not take it seriously as an "issue." (Assuming we get the opportunity,) I think journalists will look back on this omission with the same kind of regret that has been evoked by our lack of challenging questions as the Bush Administration led us into the war in Iraq. But our failure to take the environment seriously— not just global warming, but a long list of interconnected threats including the decline of the oceans, of forests, of biodiversity and the rampant spread of untreated sewage, of plastic garbage, of toxic pollutants— will have even more devastating consequences.
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Belle Yang says:
I'm feeling self-righteous today . . .
It's a distressful state of affairs. Just think of the fuel that they consume to fly or bus from state to state for the primaries.
We hear about global warming almost nightly on the evening news but how many people have truly cut back their driving voluntarily? Have you? I have. I don't move my car if I can help it, but I don't know many who respond purely out of a sense of responsibility and not the price of gas. I've often wanted to write on a huge placard, "Drive Less," and hold it up at a busy corner of our town but I imagine I'll likely become a victim of drive by shooting.
A friend of mine said a generation of energy pigs will have to die and we have to wait for a new green generation to emerge before we see a better world. But there isn't time, is there?!
My neighbor admits to driving 6 hours south to L.A. to get her eyebrows retouched (tatooed)--a fifteen minute procedure--turn around and come home (I am not exaggerating). She drives 2 hours north to do her hair in San Francisco and 1.5 north for her dental appointment when our town is groaning with dentists. And this woman is only 65. She'll probably live to 100 and we will be breathing 35 years more of the noxious fumes she is passing.
I've mentioned global warming to her but her response was, "It sure is scary. I'm glad I'm not going to be around when it gets bad."
I apologize for venting here but I do need an answer to how to approach people like her more subtly.
Perhaps start a website called "Most Wanted Environmental Pigs" and post their pictures above their environmental crime ;) Then in order to be removed from the site, they'll have to do something vitally green which will erase a bit of their carbon footprint.
Belle
P.S.--I wonder if there is a way for someone to make a profit in cleaning up the vortex of plastic bottles and such (a spread as large as the state of Texas) that's now sitting somewhere just beyond Hawaii.
Jacques Leslie says:
climate change and voluntarism
Citizen efforts to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions are useful, but the potential scale of the gains is dwarfed by the size of the problem, and they won't begin to touch the problem if they're not accompanied by huge political shifts at both a national and international level. China, for instance (subject of my current Mother Jones cover story at http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/01/the-last-empire-5.html), burns a billion tons of coal a year, more than virtually all the developed countries combined. Unless we approach environmental issues comprehensively, including all major greenhouse gas contributors starting with the U.S., China, India, the E.U., and Brazil, voluntary efforts will get us nowhere. In addition, many corporate interests are quite happy to allow us to think of the problem as chiefly one of individual responsibility, because doing so diverts the focus from their much larger contributions. We need a political movement that demands clean energy from government and corporations. And the demands must include not just, say, clean vehicles, but an end to destruction of virgin forests around the world, since deforestation now accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world's transportation.
Abraham Mertens says:
I was also amazed by the
I was also amazed by the questions that were not asked. So often the questions that the media focus on are intended to make the candidates give provocative answers but fail to get to serious and important issues.
Abe Mertens
Renjie Wang says:
Yep, that’s us
America is officially consumed by mob mentality.
Every time around election time, I feel that I live in a Mark Twain novel. The cold blooded hatred and hot headed drama all boils to one thing: people WILL ALWAYS do what makes them feel good at this particular moment. On one side, candidates are debating who is more appalled by our current leadership, and on the other side, the topic is “what’s the more effective way to stay in Iraq in the next 100 years.” No one seems to care enough about what rally goes on in our everyday life enough to say even one word more than “I’m going change America”.
Yep, that’s the State of the Union: we will argue till our last breathe about the tiniest difference and complain about not having enough energy to deal with the real issues. Why? Because it makes us feel good at the moment. Please put the presidential election on live TV already, and have Paula Abdul tell them to go home because they have no talent!
Renjie Wang
redroom.com
Belle Yang says:
Jacques, how does one talk to China?
China will say you had your opportunity to pollute as you developed your society. It's now our turn. It would be as fruitful as telling my neighbor to stop driving from Carmel to L.A. for her beauty regimen. So how do you approach China when we haven't solved our own issues?
And who among the candidates, if elected president, would do most for our Earth? I'd hoped Gore would run.
Jacques Leslie says:
modeling sane environmental behavior
That's a good question, Belle. As I said in my piece, the only way the U.S. can have legitimacy in this issue is to begin modeling responsible environmental behavior ourselves. Cut greenhouse gas emissions. Quit allowing the import of products made from wood from illegally cut forests. Stop subsidizing the oil and car industries, and support mass transit. Put money into research on alternative energy sources. Etc. etc.
With China, there is much more we can do, including supporting the transfer of appropriate technology, but we can't do anything with China and other poorer countries unless we address these problems ourselves.