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Earth Day reminds us how local our ecological concerns are By
Will Bettmann Over this past weekend, my wife and I visitied some of her family in South Jordan. They told us that a subsidiary of Wal-Mart was planning to open a supermarket and gas station on a vacant lot in their residential neighborhood. When most of the houses in the neighborhood were built, the lot was not zoned for commercial development, but sometime after the houses were sold, the lot was re-zoned. (Go figure) Many of the residents (my wife's family included) are unhappy about the possible presence of a Wal-Mart supermarket in their back yard, and they have been actively engaged in trying to prevent that from happening. Which leads me to my main point. I think that as human beings, we are wired to think about things in a very local and short-term way. If something bad is going to happen in our neighborhood, we will fight it. The entire state of Utah will get a good look at this idea as the nuclear waste site on the Goshute Reservation comes closer and closer to being made a reality. The biggest problem facing us right now, I think, is that we are not yet feeling the local results of our collective actions. We may be vaguely aware that there a number of large, negative global trends, such as global warming or increasing air pollution, but it is not enough for most of us to quit driving, or fight for a cleaner environment on any number of fronts. There are some people on the planet who probably have a clearer idea that we are in trouble: fishermen who have watched their catches plummet due to overfishing, and pollution; farmers who are crippled by drought, possibly caused by shifting global weather patterns. But again, it is not enough for most of us to make big changes, although, in theory, most of us want the world to be an OK place for our children and grandchildren. And here is where theory and practice bump into each other and the shoving begins. We will probably not change until we feel that there are big, big problems right in our own neighborhood, and by that time I believe it will be too late. During the last ice age, when the state of Wisconsin was under thousands of feet of ice, the global temperature was 3 degrees colder on average. Right now, the most accurate models are predicting that by the end of this century, the global temperature will be 6 to 12 degrees warmer on average. What does that mean for the planet? Nobody knows for certain, but I would say that beach-front property is not going to be a good investment. President Bush is the prime example of the gulf between theory and reality. In theory, I believe he really does want a cleaner environment. In a speech today, quoted in an article in The New York Times, he said "We have a duty in our country to make sure our land is preserved, our air is clean, our water is pure, our parks are accessible and open and well preserved. And that's why I'm here, to trumpet this duty and to thank those who assume their duty." But in reality, his policies have been dictated by the huge oil and energy companies which are his largest contributors. The Kyoto Protocol (on global warming) may not be perfect, but it is good enough for most of the rest of the world to sign. When the world's one remaining superpower refuses to support it, what does that say about our commitment to the health of the planet? And exactly how is the idea of land preservation, clean air, and clean water (his words, not mine) compatible with one of the cornerstones of proposed Bush's energy policy - drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? If that is preservation, I would hate to see what degradation looks like. Unfortunately for all of us, rhetoric will not keep the oceans from rising or a child from having an asthma attack. The only thing that will help is action. And, given the state of politics in this country, I think that action will come only when enough people demand it because they are concerned about their own health or even survival. We may have to do things that we don't want to do, like raise gas taxes until we can develop a less-polluting source of energy; or learn to consume less and waste less. I hope that day comes soon because in the meantime we are destroying too much.
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