If it is possible to stand back from politics as it is presently practiced in the US today, just for a moment, doesn’t seem absurd for our environment to be tossed around our political arena as if it were the domain of one party and not the other? Think about this without your blood boiling at the sound of ‘environment.’
Doesn’t it seem very odd that the environment is viewed so unsustainably? Today, it’s like two groups fighting over the control of a ship on the high seas and one group just couldn’t care less how much fuel the ship needs to reach land, or whether it’s seaworthy and about to go down? How did our environment, which which we need to survive, become the special interest of one political party and a liability for another?
Haven’t we gone ‘round the bend on our environment?
GOP Victory May Be Defeat For Climate Change Policy The more carbon that gets released into the atmosphere, the higher the average temperature rises. That's a scientific fact. Human activities, such as driving, flying, building and even turning on the lights, are the biggest contributor to the release of carbon. That too, is a fact. And yet the majority of Republicans running for House and Senate seats this year disagree. (October 23, 2010) NPR
Can we unravel this absurdity and remove desiring a healthy environment from its political ramifications? It’s going to be difficult enough for a species disinclined to curb its population and its insatiable desire for the kind standard of living and includes a lot of stuff to right our environment. (Note, a high standard of living doesn’t have to include accumulating a lot of stuff, there are other scenarios.)
This isn’t merely an opinion; it’s a profound problem about our collected ability to confront the most important issue of our times. Many are so blinded by the political pundits, the media they listen to, and everything else associated with the political scene, that we are shooting ourselves in the foot.
How are we going to get around this problem that a major party in our county doesn’t even believe in the science of Climate Change?
Does anyone think Climate Change or pollution or the loss of biodiversity or any environmental issue will just go away by hitching it to a political party they don’t like, then treating it with distain? How would that work? The growing season would change because of Climate Change, but we’d still grow the same food? Our fish populations would decrease because of over-fishing and pollution, but we’d all eat something else? Our air would continue to get polluted from fossil fuels, but we’d just not get sick?
And if, at the end of the day, we do vote for candidates who get themselves into office by denying our environmental problems, how will they work with towns and cities and universities and businesses and other countries that operate in the real world?
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