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Global Warning - June 5, 2007 - Printable Version
- It's Time To Get Off Our But
by Robin Buckallew
Just when I think that I’ve heard it all, that nothing could possibly appall me any more, something happens to prove me wrong. Two years ago this week, I wrote a column that started with the following paragraph: “I want you to do something for me before you read this column. First, go into the bathroom or bedroom, and stand in front of your mirror. Look yourself straight in the eyes, and say, three times, "It's all about me, everything revolves around me". If after doing that, you have no problem with that, and find yourself agreeing with it, then leave at once. Go away, get out of here. This column is not for you. If, on the other hand, like most people, you feel even a tinge of discomfort with that idea, then read on. There's still hope for you.” Periodically throughout the semester I have my Environmental Science students read articles written by various authors, and provide summaries; this past spring, this was one of the articles I handed out. Imagine my surprise when one of my students began his summary by informing me that he had performed the exercise, and that he had experienced no discomfort at all. He went on to tell me that he was relieved to find out that he had such good self-esteem! He thought the purpose of this exercise was to help bolster up the self-esteem of people who didn’t realize that they were more important than anyone else. I know he read the whole article, because he went on to discuss other things within it, but apparently the point of the article was lost. He made point to notice that the rest of the world isn’t doing their part, because America is having to put out extra efforts to keep consumption up. I wish I could say his response surprised me, but perhaps I am no longer capable of feeling surprise at the lack of awareness, the lack of shame, and the lack of real compassion (not pity, compassion) for the environmental refugees mentioned in that earlier article. An observation from that earlier article still rings just as true: “The American mind continues to amuse itself by building temples to banality, which have the dubious distinction of serving double duty as mausoleums for ideas.” Two years have passed since that article, two years that included such news flashes as Hurricane Katrina, drowning polar bears, the breaking off of the Larsen-B ice shelf in Antarctica; two years that included the Oscar-winning box office success of An Inconvenient Truth. A friend of mine was telling me about his experience when he first read The End of Nature when it came out in 1989. This is a classic environmental text by the exquisitely gifted Bill McKibben, describing the future we’re looking at if we don’t mend our ways. My friend closed the book, thinking, “Now it’s out there. Now people will know. Now, we’ll get something done.” He pauses for effect, then adds “And then…the 90s.” A little over a year ago, I saw An Inconvenient Truth. A lot of other people saw it, too. I came out of the theater thinking, “Now it’s out there. Now people will know. Now, we’ll get something done.” And then? Everyone started talking about it. Everyone started thinking about it. Today, we’re still talking about it. We’re still thinking about it. As gas prices rise, as consciousness of global warming increases, as the world heats up perceptibly, studies show no significant change in the gas buying habits of Americans. We still motor around happily, alone in our private cars. Every conversation I have with someone about this topic, as soon as the conversation turns to changes we’ve made or are trying to make in our own lives, they will respond with a giant “Yes, but….” The nicest thing that can be said about the American attitude toward solving global environmental problems is that we all have a great big but.
“But I can’t”. “But I haven’t got time.” “But I don’t know how.” “But I don’t know anyone else who is doing it” (this last in spite of the fact that they are at that moment standing there making excuses to someone who ‘is doing it’). What it all boils down to in the end is “But I don’t want to.” Then, begins the litany of finger pointing. IF the government would raise mileage standards. IF the car companies would begin making a car that runs on water. IF the companies would just increase their ethanol production. IF. Perhaps the most telling IF I have seen following this came with the weekly “Man on the Street” question in my local newspaper this week. The question referenced the recent signing of my town to be the newest of the “Cool Cities” (http://www.coolcities.us/)– cities that have signed onto the Mayor’s Agreement on Climate Change, agreeing to take action locally to combat global warming. When asked their opinion about “Cool Cities”, one of the “Man on the Street” responders said he thought it was all right, as long as no one had to reduce the amount of energy they were using! Yes, but...
It is well and truly time to get off our but. It’s time to think about our options, and think about them seriously. As Winston Churchill once said, “The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences…” I listen to the ideas that are being presented by our best minds, by the movers and shakers, and I find myself shaking my head in disbelief and consternation. Everything I hear them say amounts to half-measures. Of course, that’s half a measure better than what they used to propose. Unfortunately, we’ve procrastinated too long to get by with proposing small increases in the miles per gallon that will take place slowly over the next 20 years. We should have begun that 30 years ago…wait a minute, we DID begin that 30 years ago. Then, we stopped. Then, we went into reverse, so that the average car now is getting fewer miles to the gallon than it got in 1985. Looking at the energy programs of all the 2008 presidential candidates, the best proposal is to raise the mileage to 50 mpg by 2017. Ten years down the road, we’ll get to a place we could have already been to if we’d kept on with what we started in the 1970s. Unfortunately, this proposal is from a candidate who doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting the party’s nomination. The leading candidates have all put out much more modest proposals. As usual, too little, too late.
So, besides half measures, what else is being proposed? Mostly soothing and baffling expedients, I’m afraid. I hear a lot of talk about fluorescent light bulbs. I will admit there is nothing wrong with using fluorescent bulbs. I rather like using them myself. What bothers me is that often it seems to dominate the conversation. In a country that burns so much fossil fuel for quick trips to Quik-Mart, most groups seem amazingly incapable of holding a serious forum on global warming without fluorescent bulbs dominating at least 2/3 of the agenda. Even this, though, seems too much for most people. Even with fluorescent bulbs, our big but is showing. “Yes, but…” – you can fill in the blank for yourself. It’s possible you already have. Environmental groups all over the country are scrambling to give consumers an option that doesn’t amount to any significant sacrifice, and still all I hear is “Yes, but…” Most commonly, people object that the bulbs don’t give off enough light. From my observations, it appears most people want to be bathed in light comparable to that which is used in interrogation chambers to break down prisoners and force them to confess. Anything less, and they are deprived of some basic necessity of life without which the human race as we know it would fail to exist. Besides, it’s their RIGHT – Constitutional? God-given? Don’t ask me – I’ve read both the Constitution and the Bible, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen that right mentioned in either one. “Let there be light” didn’t go on to add “As long as it isn’t fluorescent”.
The one thing that I’m not hearing from the candidates, the punditry, the Congress, the President, or even many of the environmental groups is the most obvious thing we should be talking about. In the end, when all the rhetoric and all the propaganda dry up, when all the candidates dust off their moldy ideas and head for the mike, the one thing that is missing from almost all debate is the simple, obvious, indisputable fact that Americans drive way too much. You rarely hear proposals to encourage car pooling, public transit, walkable bikeable cities, or any other common sense, seat-of-the-pants, substantially significant proposal to encourage the simple conservation of energy. It’s the 900-pound gorilla in the living room that nobody mentions. It’s like crazy Uncle Boris locked up in the cellar – everybody knows he’s there, but nobody mentions it. The concept of conservation dangles teasingly on the fringes of our consciousness, but no one actually mentions it. No politician will suggest that Americans actually change their driving habits. Americans haven’t really been asked to sacrifice anything since World War II ended. We feel a sense of entitlement to our cars. Nothing generates more outrage, or more “Yes, but….” behavior, than the mere suggestion that simply driving fewer miles would make a big difference in fossil fuel consumption (and save money, to boot). Even when activities are close enough for walking, most people drive. For instance, my students often find it necessary to drive between their classes. This was bad enough at the university where I recently was teaching. There, classes might be three or four city blocks apart (definitely walking distance). Here, I am teaching at a much smaller institution, where most of the buildings are within less than a block of each other. In spite of that, I still regularly encounter students who can’t seem to get from one class to another without their car.
Chances are that last paragraph started you thinking. For most of you, the first thought that came to mind began with “Yes, but…” You might be able to see that it isn’t particularly necessary for the college students I described to drive between classes. You might be able to see that it isn’t necessary for people to walk to events that are within a few city blocks of home. “Yes, but…” you’re muttering to yourself. “That isn’t me”, you’re saying. “I only drive because I live too far from work.” “I only drive when it’s ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY”. “There isn’t one single mile that I drive that I could manage to cut down”. “Yes, but…but….but…” Time to get off your but. Be creative. It wasn’t excuses that brought Homo sapiens down out of the trees and out onto the savannah. It wasn’t excuses that allowed Homo sapiens to learn to harness fire, build boats, shape tools, and eventually embark upon a long journey that took us around the world, and back again. It wasn’t excuses that kept us alive when times were tough, through famines and pestilence, through droughts and floods. It wasn’t excuses that created agriculture, tamed the horse, and domesticated the cow. It wasn’t excuses that allowed us to breed a new type of wolf that would live with us, lie at our hearth, and fetch our slippers. Excuses prevent action. What we need now is action. I’ve gotten off my but. Have you gotten off yours?
If you feel that it takes a village to make a difference, think again. I’d like to tell you a little tale about some friends of mine. Two people who had a vision. In a small Midwestern city dependent on coal and gas (much like all other Midwestern cities), they dreamed of a windmill. They resisted the planned expansion of coal-powered electricity. They went out and found two or three other people who were smart, energetic, and hard-working. They knocked on doors, they distributed flyers, they held meetings. Now, thanks to the indefatigable efforts of these two special people, this town has wind powered electricity available. Yes, we’re still getting the power plant – some habits are too hard to persuade people to break them overnight. But the wind option is out there, and people continue to sign up. Recently, the utility company had to go find a supplier for more wind, because of the increased demand. When I came to this town, I hated leaving behind my wind powered home, but thanks to them, I am able to power my home with wind in my new location, as well. When I joined this group, they were back in action, determined to turn our city into a “Cool City”. With dogged determination, they broke through all the barriers, faced up to the reluctant members of the City Council, and last week, the resolution passed City Council unanimously. This was a group that consistently has five or fewer individuals at any given meeting.
In closing, I will share with you an exercise I do with my students every semester. Every semester, one big “but…” is “but just one person can’t make any difference”. I send them home with a list of individuals who didn’t say “yes, but…”, and ask them to think about how the world would be different if these people had said “I can’t make a difference”. Included on this list are Rosa Parks, a poor black woman who jump-started the Civil Rights movement; Jackie Robinson, who desegregated baseball; Clara Barton, who started the Red Cross in a period when women had few rights; Nelson Mandela, who helped to end the stranglehold of apartheid on South Africa; Rachel Carson, who wrote a book that led to the banning of DDT; and, of course, Mahatma Gandhi – need I say more? “Anything you do may seem insignificant. It is very important that you do it. You must be change you want to see in the world.” – Gandhi.
Watch this column in the near future for detailed suggestions about more things you can personally do to make a difference. Also coming: a rating of the entire slate of 2008 presidential hopefuls and their energy proposals. And when I say all, I mean ALL – including those candidates the mainstream media find it convenient to ignore.
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