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tallgrass - My Blog
tallgrass - My Blog


Earth Day
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Copied from my Facebook notes, in hopes of reaching a few more people!

Four years ago I wrote a very naïve essay arguing that the United States should ratify the Kyoto Protocol. I may have been ignorant about much of the relevant science and politics at the time, but one thing I got right: I predicted that some day the environmental vote would become too vocal, too mainstream, to be ignored.

Now suddenly it's become fashionable to lug a mug, use cloth grocery bags, demand alternative energy, listen to Al Gore, and buy organic. Yet are we achieving anything? Is our planet any greener?

Consider this: The United States still has not ratified Kyoto. Canada has abandoned all attempts to meet its emissions targets under the Protocol. Our carbon dioxide emissions are still increasing. (See for yourself: the IPCC makes the records publicly available at http://unfccc.int/ghg_emissions_data/ghg_data_from_unfccc/ghg_profiles/items/3954.php ). And a whole industry has grown up around the idea of lowering one's ecological footprint. Worried about your GHG emissions? You can buy a hybrid SUV! Feeling guilty about all that plastic waste from the bottled water you buy? You can buy bottles made with 70% less plastic! (I actually saw an advertisement for something like this earlier this week. Rarely have I had a stronger urge to vandalize.)

Remember the 3 R's you learned about in elementary school? Reduce, reuse, recycle—recycling was the easiest, and therefore became the most important. But it's not—what we need to do is reduce. We need to drive less. We need to buy less. We need to get out—outside of our cubicles and dorm rooms, our driver's seats and shopping malls—more.

But we also need a bit more attention to what we're buying. Last Saturday, the respected fisheries biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly from UBC gave a lecture about the world's collapsing fisheries. Someone asked him what he thought of guidelines like the Monterey Bay Aquarium's guide to sustainable seafood (http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp), which advise consumers as to what fish are harvested sustainably. He replied that they were a nice idea, and worth following, but not effective at bringing about large-scale policy changes. He went on to urge the audience to raise hell with our government to demand rational, science-based regulation of fisheries. He is absolutely right to point out the futility of trying to get the majority of consumers to pay more for "organic", "fair trade", "sustainably caught" or whatever—capitalism just seems to be stacked against that sort of action. But in order for our hell-raising to be effective, we do need that moral basis, for lack of a better term—we need to be able to say "Look, I've done all I can at a personal level. I can't make everyone do likewise, but if you regulate the industry correctly, sustainable will become the norm."

To a student, of course, the idea of buying mainly organic and local seems unaffordable. But there are a few ways to get started without racking up even more debt. One is to buy less meat. Another is to kick your coffee habit (whether you lug a mug or not!), or at least cut back on it. And for goodness' sake don't buy bottled water!

While I'm on the topic, here are some other ways to step lightly on the earth that are absolutely free! Turn off your lights when you leave the room. (A few of you know how passionately I feel about this.) Take it easy on the AC this summer, or, heaven forbid, try turning it off. Tell your parents not to bother watering and fertilizing the lawn. Honestly, these are not difficult things to do, and doing them will not make you a hemp-wearing bleeding-heart treehugger.

If you choose to do none of these things, I ask you only to consider this point. In the struggle to get themselves noticed, politicians, activists, and yes, even scientists oversimplify. We act like climate change is the only issue. Far from it. Not only is it one of many problems we've inflicted on the planet, it is interconnected with all of them—overfishing, eutrophication, deforestation, poaching, the list goes on. And these environmental issues are linked to pressing social issues, like poverty, hunger, and war. If you are concerned about one issue, you have a stake in all of them.

Happy Earth Day, wherever you find yourself on this weary planet.

April 22, 2008 | 4:56 PM Comments  0 comments

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