Today I wear black. I am mourning the loss of conscience and decency in the United States government. (At this rate, I'll be wearing more black than Queen Victoria.) The aforementioned legislative body has recently committed yet another atrocity, this one environmental in nature.
The US Senate recently passed a bill that would allow oil companies to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ANWR is one of the most pristine wildlife habitats remaining on earth. The bill still needs to go through the House of Reps, but that's controlled by the Republicans too. This is how W is spending the "political capitol" he was talking about after the most recent innaguration.
It's probably not much, but it's better than nothing. Check out Senator Barbara Boxer's Pac for Change. From this website you can very easily send emails to the CEOs of 5 major oil companies. The email threatens to boycott any companies that drill in ANWR. Now, if all 5 of the them drill, we're pretty much SOL. But if one or two drill and watch their sales plummet, the message will get across. It will serve as a deterent to the others, who will be watching their sales rise as a result. It takes about 10 seconds and 3 clicks of your mouse to do this.
After you've done that, one more click will let you download hard copies of the letters, with your name and address already at the top, looking very professional and snazzy. Download them, print them, sign them, and pop them in the post. Smile at the mental image of all those big rich boys' desks being buried in protest mail, and then follow though on your word. When you see on the news that ExxonMobil is drilling in ANWR, go buy BP instead. All these people care about is money, and that's all they'll listen to. Tell them loud and clear with your wallets that new drilling is not the solution to global energy problems.
Thank you.
3 comments:
Fact: Polar bears will be extinct within a generation (30 - 50 years) at the present rate of global warming. We are literally cooking them alive. We all know this, it is a scientific fact but no government will do anything about it. After all, they're just bears.
Fact: The Siberian Tiger (and probably its relatives) will be extinct within a generation (30 - 50) years because of intensive logging of the Siberian forests by largely western logging companies. These are primeval wildernesses, the last hardwood reserves on the planet and recognised as being vital to the biomass of the planet passing through the evolutionary bottleneck which it is in. It has taken millions of years to evolve to this state and it will take logging companies TWO DECADES TO DESTROY IT. Tigers are increasingly coming into contact with man and shot, maimed and denied a habit in which to live and hunt are forced to hunt mankind to survive. This would be kind of ironic and funny if it wasn't for the fact that this is then used for an excuse to slaughter them.
Like Calvin, sometimes I am profoundly depressed to be human.
Man's approach to nature has been short term in his history so far. Slash, burn, hunt, kill there will always be another wilderness to plunder. Short term profits over the bigger picture. WAKE UP. There are no wildernesses left. All we have is all we have. Far better, far more moral, far more ethical, far more fucking simple to preserve and use sustainably in perpetuity than to destroy and lose forever. The rainforests, the siberian wilderness, the deep sea...all of these things are worth more alive than dead. Morally, aesthetically, ethically, and most importantly of all for the hard heads, economically, they are worth more alive than dead.
NASA used to use whale oil, highly refined, to lubricate the parts of its space rockets. It was the only thing on the planet which could cope with the extremes of temperature of space. They said that they couldn't use anything else. It had to be whale oil. When asked what they would do when all the whales were extinct they replied: 'I suppose then we'll have to invent something else'
This has to change. Ecological issues should no longer be a political footnote. They should be item number one on the agenda. Above education, healthcare, fighting pointless wars in Iraq whatever. It should be; 'We really are in deep deep shit. We need to do something and we need to do it now.'
Why?
Because if we can't save animals as charismatic as the polar bear or the siberian tiger, the planet doesn't stand a chance.
FACT.
I agree. I have lots more to say on these issues, ie the envinronment in general and ANWR in particular. That's one of the things I'll be working on this week.
I agree. I have lots more to say on these issues, ie the envinronment in general and ANWR in particular. That's one of the things I'll be working on this week.
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