|
God bless America and the environment
My kids
spotted a rainbow over the mangroves the other morning on the drive to
Key West. They were so excited they called me on their mother's cell
phone to sing "God Bless America."
Children
naturally see the link between patriotism and the environment,
especially here in the Keys during the build up to the Fourth of July
holiday.
Whether you're
a kayaker, a fisherman or a diver, this weekend is a good time to
reflect on whether our country is doing enough protect the Keys and the
global environment for our children.
For what it's
worth, I think we're in serious danger of letting them down.
What
differentiates the United States from other nations throughout history
is not the beauty of our land and waters. The children of East Germany
and the Soviet Union certainly saw some magnificent rainbows during the
Cold War.
What should
set our country apart is our forward-looking attitude on the environment
and a host of issues, an outlook backed by democratic accountability.
That's what made us the most influential country in the world in the
last half of the 20th Century.
Unfortunately,
we in the Keys are witnessing what happens when the United States cedes
its environmental leadership.
Dive operators
are seeing the results of global warming everyday in the form of dying
corals. Backcountry fishing guides live in fear of the next "black
water" algae bloom, possibly sparked by the release of fertilizer-rich
water into the Everglades under what has become a national restoration
sham.
Meanwhile,
mercury emitted by power plants is accumulating in the flesh of our
sport fish. The same federal government that has eased standards on
those plants must now warn pregnant women not to eat more than 6 ounces
of tuna a week.
To rationalize
these environmental transgressions, you have to accept the contorted
argument that we eventually will reduce pollution by allowing more of
it. It's fashionable in Washington D.C. to talk about the power of
market forces to clean up the planet. American industry will regulate
itself, the delusion goes. You've seen the ads: "We live here too."
This is, of
course, naïve. It's also a waste of corporate ingenuity. I want American
companies working on solutions to spam, building power-grids that don't
fail, developing cars that get 70 miles to the gallon and outboard
motors that are quiet and lightweight. I don't want them trading
pollution allocations and brainstorming ways around environmental laws.
Our national
environmental policies have become the equivalent of a slowly exploding
dirty bomb, and at the moment, not many voters are getting it.
The George
Washington University recently asked voters to name the "No. 1 problem"
the next president should deal with. The top two answers were terrorism
and the economy, tied at 16 percent. "The environment scored an
asterisk," said Chris Arterton, Dean of GW's Graduate School of
Political Management.
There's
nothing wrong with those numbers so far. Even I would not list the
environment before terrorism as the most critical issue facing the
country. Here's the surprise: when voters were asked to pick the next
most important issue, only 5 percent chose the environment.
It seems that
for many people, the environment is a local issue rather than a national
issue, Arterton explained.
The silver
lining in the polls is that even a small percent of environmental
patriots could make the difference in the presidential election,
especially here in closely divided Florida. I plan to remember that
rainbow.
biannotta@aol.com
|
