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Happy Earth Day?

 

happy earth dayBy Tom Peterson

A Ben Sargent cartoon

In 1977 when I was a student I thought highly of Austin American Statesman editorial cartoonist Ben Sargent and felt it would be cool to own an original. So I called and he invited me to the paper to pick out one for a small price. At his desk Sargent handed me a folder full of his work. I thought, pick one that will be hold up over time.

With that measure, you can see that I chose well; 38 years later oil and gas and auto lobbies still call the shots.

Why are we so far behind on developing renewable energy? Why are we about the only wealthy nation not crisscrossed with high-speed rail? With the overwhelming scientific consensus, why do we still suffer highly-paid fools who pretend climate change isn’t real? With the many serious issues facing us, why does Congress obsess over a pipeline that will take dirty Canadian shale oil to the Texas Gulf Coast to sell for export? (Hint: Koch brothers, for example, plan to spend almost $900 million on the 2016 campaign and appear to own a million acres of Canada’s tar sands.)

Our elected officials are committed to making our world safe not for democracy—think of recent shameful whittling of voting rights—but for fracking!

happy earth day 2Now as in 1977 the folks we keep electing—to manage our affairs, safeguard the nation’s interests and make sure life is somewhat fair—seem largely obligated not to the citizens but to the lobbyists who bear them gifts. Yes, the auto and fossil fuel lobbies, but also every big-buck enterprise: banks, big pharma, agribusiness, the prison-industrial complex, and so on. So in the Sargent cartoon, think of a parade of limos bringing candy to little boy Congress. Think of the infant consumer as pretty much left alone, criminally abandoned. Then you’ll be pretty close to the truth.

Elephant in the room

About a year ago, I ran across something on Reddit. The question was: What is humanity’s biggest ‘elephant in the room’ right now? The following quotes were sprinkled among the responses:

Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth on a planet with finite resources is either a madman or an economist. — David Attenborough

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. — Edward Abbey

I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You’re a plague and we are the cure. — Agent Smith, The Matrix

Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught. Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten. —Cree Indian Prophecy

I would add this cheerful quote from environmentalist David Brower: “There is no business to be done on a dead planet.”

Where’s the hope?

By the way, I drive a car. I fill it with gas and take unnecessary trips. And I don’t know how I’d make it without air conditioning. (I’d prefer all that to be run by renewable energy.)

Oh, and my dad was a Texas oilman, a geologist who spent his decades looking for (and occasionally finding) new fields. If one word summed up his career it is integrity. I miss him dearly. He was not driven by profit. Most people who work in the car and energy industries are good people. We need their help, their solutions. Some of the best revolutions are inside jobs!

It’s Earth Day, spring, when we think about new beginnings. Around here the azaleas and dogwoods are in their full glory. So where’s the hope?

Certainly, technological advances are on the side of renewable energy, with solar and wind more competitive, about at parity, with fossil fuel. But I don’t believe technology by itself will ever save us.

I obviously have uncanny prophetic powers. They helped me choose a cartoon that predicted lobbyists would still have sway 38 years into the future! So here’s a new prediction: the tribe of people who give a damn about our home, Earth, will keep growing. We will work harder and smarter to counter the prevailing powers. We will assure that our great grandchildren will inherit a planet that’s alive and healthy.

And those great grandchildren will still have to contend with cursed lobbyists.

Bonus Happy Earth Day Videos!

Jon Stewart will be missed. But we still have his archive and this video segment is a real gem. It sheds light on the government’s effort toward an “energy independent future.”

And here’s a fun segment from John Oliver on balanced reporting about climate change.

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