COLUMN: Environmentalism about good habits
If there ever were a political issue that I think we could all agree on, it would be environmentalism. How any political ideology could support environmental abuse is beyond my comprehension. A stable climate, clean air and water and a sustainable industry for our children should take higher priority over corporate greed and the short-term opulence of the few.
An environmentally friendly and sustainable economy can also be a thriving one. We literally can have our cake and eat it, too. It is not cost effective to poison or deplete a system of its resources; it’s more than mere irresponsibility – it’s bad business.
One of the few beauties of capitalism is how resilient it is to change. That’s human ingenuity at its best. Impose well-paced, reasonable restrictions on emissions and pollutants and over the next few years, business and industry will recover. The only difference is a higher air and water standard. It’s not that hard. Those of you who saw “An Inconvenient Truth” last week know that if automobile emissions are any indicator, then we are severely lagging behind many countries, including China. China is outdoing America?
As the country leading the contributing greenhouse gasses, we should have been the first nation to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, not one of the few countries refusing to.
Today, the situation is, unsurprisingly, little different than it was back then. Environmentalism is portrayed as “alarmist” radicalism, which is bad for the economy, and global warming is viewed as inevitable, negligible or mythical. As far as alarmists and extremism is concerned, I’ve met many green people in my life and I have yet to meet an eco-terrorist or radical who valued the life of an animal more than that of a human.
It’s not about hugging trees, growing your hair out, organic chai or saving some spotted owl from clear cutting (all good stuff I might add), it’s about preserving our biosphere and our future. Surprised? Expected some darker agenda? Well, let me assure you that at no time have we ever been, nor will we ever be, in the words of George H. W. Bush, “up to our neck in owls and out of work for every American.” You could elect the Jolly Green Giant; it doesn’t matter how green your candidate is, he’s not donating the planet to the animals. It just isn’t going to happen. So really, who does that make the alarmist?
When it comes to disrupting our environment, we are toying with a dynamic, all-encompassing system that we know so very little about. What we do know is that climate change is a reality, that ecological instability and an addiction for polluting non-renewable resources cannot possibly have long-term positive benefits.
Only 46 percent of Utahns believe that global warming is real. Forty-six percent, can you believe that? And the information and data is unmistakably clear. Gone are the days mankind could utilize and even abuse his environment without any sweeping ecological repercussions. Climate change has this special way of playing with and throwing off systems we never knew existed and causing wide changes in precipitation and temperature. You aren’t turning the thermostat up a degree; you are turning it up several in the polar regions by melting the caps and drenching some countries while parching others.
Utahns love their open spaces, their national and state parks. But how precious are these areas when they do so little for them? When discussion of a recycling program in Cache Valley resurfaced this summer, some people just went crazy. You’d think we were saving owls again. Recycling is a small step – one in the right direction – but something that has been long, long overdue.
Class dismissed.
Matthew Blackham is a junior majoring in sociology. Comments can be sent to matblackham@cc.usu.edu.