A recent poll found that fully one quarter of us believe that the environmental improvements that we have made since the first Earthday have been inadequate. We still have tens of thousands of people dying prematurely from environmental contamination such as fly ash from coal burning, photochemical smog and clouds of toxic dust and fumes from foundries, asphalt and even fumes from commercial products and their packaging. The first tier of environmental protection revolved around the lowest hanging fruit as it were. If we could put another layer of filtration, or perhaps something as minor as a finer screen on the point sources that abounded a few decades ago, we could claim that we were doing all that we could to clean up our mess. In fact, the most hazardous contaminants often are small enough that our immune systems are unable to detect them and therefore, unable to clear them from our bodies. Some poisonous compounds are integrated into our bodies in such a way as to cause their damage over the long term, some actually skipping a generation before causing harm to our children.
The long list of people who said that they wanted a cleaner environment has been dwarfed by the billions of dollars that have been spent by those who wish to continue polluting for the profit that it means to them. How this can be justified as a "responsibility to stockholders", I may never know, but even today, I saw a commercial that was touting fracking as "less polluting" than other methods of energy production. Conoco Phillips, the company that implied, through this morning's commercial, that our children would have jobs if we continue to extract oil at higher and higher cost, wasting vast amounts of energy to pump high pressure steam far below the surface to extract the last residues of natural gas from rock that has locked it away for millennea, completely neglected to posit that there are other, less damaging ways to meet our needs through conservation, efficiency improvements and rethinking our dependence on fossil fuel. I know that it is their business to bring to the market oil and natural gas, but they should not be allowed to use public airwaves to lie to millions of people for the purpose of fattening their wallets. Those who have had the freedom to risk the lives of others for profit will not relinquish that right without a fight. Just as the child who is used to getting their way, the corporations and businesses that have been spoiled in this way will throw tantrums each and every time that they are urged to clean up their act. These corporate giants do not care who they hurt, they have proven that by their actions.
The economic terrorism that corporate business leaders employ in each and every case, is treason. Their commitment to inaction, and willingness to pay fines rather than do the right thing show that they are happy to operate outside existing law because they can. There has never been a study proving that effective environmental regulation leads to reduction of jobs, wages, profits or economic activity. In fact, when government regulations have reduced environmental hazards, it has increased jobs, created even higher profits (through waste reduction), created more higher skill jobs and bolstered economic activity. Then, why the morass between what we know is necessary and what industry is willing to do? The common knowledge that most parents come to find is operating on an international level with corporations, virtually worldwide. The more you bend and sacrifice to "get along" with a tyrant, the more often and more violently they will protest conventions of civility. Spoiled brat is a term that has come to be known because we all have seen them. It is completely possible to stop bad behavior, but yet, many parents think that by giving in, "peace" will be arrived at sooner and at lower "cost". What stops this tragic cycle is when a parent, or in this case the government, (which is, after all, the people) stops ameliorating the spoiled brat and makes them tow the line with regard to socially acceptable behavior, developing awareness of the rights of others and in the most tragic cases, developing the listening skills required to understand the needs of others, rather than only attending to their own.
The din that has erupted from the general public has been toned down, padded if you will, through the inaction of decades, leniency on the part of regulators, an extremely well-funded opposition to real and meaningful change and the contempt that polluting industries continue to have for our right to clean soil, air and water. I continue to encourage my readers to check out the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). This is a national network that requires polluters to self report their emissions and document them with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). This tool allows the average citizen to type in their zip code or location and find out who is pumping what into the air around where they live. It was an eye opener for me and I assume others will be equally interested in who the corporate outlaws are in their neighborhoods. We humans often have to carry an inter-generational legacy that we are ashamed of. In the case of how we treat our environment, we have the power to set things right for the generations that follow, but it will require taking measures that have not been used yet. We can no longer afford to sit idly by, waiting for the world to change. We need to turn our voices and wallets to the task of changing the world from the grass roots up. If the government refuses to protect us from foes who are killing off the population from within, then we have to step outside the realm of their influence and change things without their help.
Dollars seem to be the only language that corporations understand. When you get wind of who the sources of toxic compounds in your community are, use your voice to educate others about the real and despicable actions of those bad neighbors. If there were a pedophile living next door to a local single mother of two, who worked dawn to dusk every day to keep her family off welfare, you would let her know, right? The same holds true for the devilish money-grubbers who seek to make their profits by sacrificing our health and our welfare. We need to let others know, through social media, heart-felt discussions with our loved-ones and even with people we don't know that well. This behavior is wrong and must not be tolerated. With the spoiled child, a mere look might be enough to stop their bad behavior. Corporations only have eyes for cash, so as their profits fall and eventually dry up, the vast pools of money that they have used to convince us that we cannot get along without their bad behavior will dry up as well. This Earthday, make it your business to know who is operating in your community, recognize the spreaders of poison for what they are. There was a time when we were not even treated as well as slaves. Those who profit from our pain and the premature loss of our loved ones need to bow out. We are the only ones with the power to change what we spend our dollars on. Do not treat your decisions lightly, every dollar spent or invested supports a cascading series of events that allows each and every thing we use to be made and come to us. This goes for energy, products, foods and even our sources of entertainment. Learn as much as you can about this complex world and act according to your conscience, this will improve the environment more than government regulations. It will help more than you can measure, perhaps more than you can imagine. It may help just enough to save your life, the life of someone you love, or maybe even the life of a stranger. We are well past the point of cleaning up trash and telling one another that this is enough, or all we can hope for. Now is the time to remove the bad actors, stand up for our right to clean soil, air and water, and to invest our own time in making lifestyles that keep our hard-earned dollars out of the hands of rogues and scallywags.
The long list of people who said that they wanted a cleaner environment has been dwarfed by the billions of dollars that have been spent by those who wish to continue polluting for the profit that it means to them. How this can be justified as a "responsibility to stockholders", I may never know, but even today, I saw a commercial that was touting fracking as "less polluting" than other methods of energy production. Conoco Phillips, the company that implied, through this morning's commercial, that our children would have jobs if we continue to extract oil at higher and higher cost, wasting vast amounts of energy to pump high pressure steam far below the surface to extract the last residues of natural gas from rock that has locked it away for millennea, completely neglected to posit that there are other, less damaging ways to meet our needs through conservation, efficiency improvements and rethinking our dependence on fossil fuel. I know that it is their business to bring to the market oil and natural gas, but they should not be allowed to use public airwaves to lie to millions of people for the purpose of fattening their wallets. Those who have had the freedom to risk the lives of others for profit will not relinquish that right without a fight. Just as the child who is used to getting their way, the corporations and businesses that have been spoiled in this way will throw tantrums each and every time that they are urged to clean up their act. These corporate giants do not care who they hurt, they have proven that by their actions.
The economic terrorism that corporate business leaders employ in each and every case, is treason. Their commitment to inaction, and willingness to pay fines rather than do the right thing show that they are happy to operate outside existing law because they can. There has never been a study proving that effective environmental regulation leads to reduction of jobs, wages, profits or economic activity. In fact, when government regulations have reduced environmental hazards, it has increased jobs, created even higher profits (through waste reduction), created more higher skill jobs and bolstered economic activity. Then, why the morass between what we know is necessary and what industry is willing to do? The common knowledge that most parents come to find is operating on an international level with corporations, virtually worldwide. The more you bend and sacrifice to "get along" with a tyrant, the more often and more violently they will protest conventions of civility. Spoiled brat is a term that has come to be known because we all have seen them. It is completely possible to stop bad behavior, but yet, many parents think that by giving in, "peace" will be arrived at sooner and at lower "cost". What stops this tragic cycle is when a parent, or in this case the government, (which is, after all, the people) stops ameliorating the spoiled brat and makes them tow the line with regard to socially acceptable behavior, developing awareness of the rights of others and in the most tragic cases, developing the listening skills required to understand the needs of others, rather than only attending to their own.
The din that has erupted from the general public has been toned down, padded if you will, through the inaction of decades, leniency on the part of regulators, an extremely well-funded opposition to real and meaningful change and the contempt that polluting industries continue to have for our right to clean soil, air and water. I continue to encourage my readers to check out the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). This is a national network that requires polluters to self report their emissions and document them with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). This tool allows the average citizen to type in their zip code or location and find out who is pumping what into the air around where they live. It was an eye opener for me and I assume others will be equally interested in who the corporate outlaws are in their neighborhoods. We humans often have to carry an inter-generational legacy that we are ashamed of. In the case of how we treat our environment, we have the power to set things right for the generations that follow, but it will require taking measures that have not been used yet. We can no longer afford to sit idly by, waiting for the world to change. We need to turn our voices and wallets to the task of changing the world from the grass roots up. If the government refuses to protect us from foes who are killing off the population from within, then we have to step outside the realm of their influence and change things without their help.
Dollars seem to be the only language that corporations understand. When you get wind of who the sources of toxic compounds in your community are, use your voice to educate others about the real and despicable actions of those bad neighbors. If there were a pedophile living next door to a local single mother of two, who worked dawn to dusk every day to keep her family off welfare, you would let her know, right? The same holds true for the devilish money-grubbers who seek to make their profits by sacrificing our health and our welfare. We need to let others know, through social media, heart-felt discussions with our loved-ones and even with people we don't know that well. This behavior is wrong and must not be tolerated. With the spoiled child, a mere look might be enough to stop their bad behavior. Corporations only have eyes for cash, so as their profits fall and eventually dry up, the vast pools of money that they have used to convince us that we cannot get along without their bad behavior will dry up as well. This Earthday, make it your business to know who is operating in your community, recognize the spreaders of poison for what they are. There was a time when we were not even treated as well as slaves. Those who profit from our pain and the premature loss of our loved ones need to bow out. We are the only ones with the power to change what we spend our dollars on. Do not treat your decisions lightly, every dollar spent or invested supports a cascading series of events that allows each and every thing we use to be made and come to us. This goes for energy, products, foods and even our sources of entertainment. Learn as much as you can about this complex world and act according to your conscience, this will improve the environment more than government regulations. It will help more than you can measure, perhaps more than you can imagine. It may help just enough to save your life, the life of someone you love, or maybe even the life of a stranger. We are well past the point of cleaning up trash and telling one another that this is enough, or all we can hope for. Now is the time to remove the bad actors, stand up for our right to clean soil, air and water, and to invest our own time in making lifestyles that keep our hard-earned dollars out of the hands of rogues and scallywags.
1 comment:
I find it odd as well that two diametrically opposed thoughts seem to exist in corporate circles today. Not only will they fight tooth and nail for their "right" to pollute, then when told "No!" they fight through the courts kicking and screaming about jobs versus the environment. They are eventually cajopled into having to meet watered down regulations and they occasionally are encouraged to do the right thing, but then, as soon as they do, they will spend wildly, on advertizements to show us what a great neighbors they are, claiming the changes they instituted were voluntary. I have personally worked on dozens of initiatives and regulatory processes. Government will never be able to legislate morality. Every single regulation put into place is a mediated settlement between "no regulation" advocates and those who are concerned about human health.
What science deems necessary always yields to the corporate mandates for profit. Those are the only dollars the companies believe in. Doing nothing costs the least and they feel as if their companies are already lean. It is embarrassing for corporate leaders to be shown that efficiency and conservation can both protect human health and create even larger profit, but that is what has been done. Now, we are entering into a period that will see skyrocketing rates for less and less energy, because as we conserve, the producers of the energy market will have to squeeze us ever harder to make their obscene profits. Selling less for more is the only math they know.
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