What
has Earth Day really become now? At this time in man's history we
stand enlightened more than ever of the potential dangers our earth
faces. Humanity has matured, we have identified a history of abuse
unwittingly committed in the name of development. Our history has
such subheadings as the Industrial Revolution, The Space Age, The
Nuclear Age and now the world of wonder with computers and the
internet. We do like subheadings it seems to put an order to things,
even history. Art together with historical photographs depict the
Industrial Age as dirty with chimney stacks spewing out black smoke.
Monkeys in space suits looked cute and The Space Age brought science
fiction into reality, now Jules Verne and Isaac Asimov no longer
taken as kooks but as visionaries.
Together
with the shining space suits came the promise of discovery and hand
in hand The Nuclear Age. Although its images of the horrors of
detonation and human destruction have been put aside, still the
uncertainty lingers around nuclear reactors. Japan has shown us how
vulnerable we are without a despot's finger on the proverbial button.
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and their ilk have taken humanity and
thrown it into the washing machine, and we have indeed shrunk.
Communication now only takes seconds from one corner of the earth to
the other, information stored on computer chips and retrievable
within nanoseconds rather than a room of filing cabinets.
Entertainment in all shapes and forms opening doorways to unstoppable
imagination. Yet at what cost has man's maturity affected our
planet and our environment?
Unlike
our material goods, even our newest technology, our earth cannot be
replaced. Countries that had remained in the dark whilst others
developed now want their share of the promised better life. China
now has the chimneys and it is spewing out the horrors at an
incredible state, so much so that they have the top place in the
world for carbon emissions, beating out the most developed country in
the world, the United States. Japan who suffered the wrath of the
developing nuclear age with unforeseen human devastation decided that
money spent on maintenance for a nuclear power plant was best
utilized elsewhere. The result will remain as part of human history
and the true magnitude of the effects still to be discovered. It is
enough to say that Japan will suffer for many more years and the rest
of us wait for the 'fall out'.
Our
maturity as a race of beings eager to discover, even risk life and
death for that thrill has also lead to an addiction that puts it all
on the line. The fist combustion engine brought with it now only
freedom but also slavery to last dozens of decades, without an end in
sight. Travel is becoming faster, more efficient and comfortable.
To satisfy this insatiable need man drills anywhere for oil, whether
the desert sands or the rolling oceans. Oil has become an enormous
wealth maker for an individual or country. Wealth commands power and
humanity's lust for both is infinite.
As we
have matured we have come to understand that our planet has
limitations and many of our natural resources may be depleted. What
we thought as a never ending blanket of protection that earth was
wrapped in has proven to be fragile, even at risk to breaking down.
Certain gasses that we emit through our daily routines damage our
protective blanket and the result has been clear with polar ice caps
melting, strange climactic shifts in temperatures, even the air that
we took for granted can be dangerous to breathe. Our addiction to
oil and the need to produce more and more of it comes at a price.
Production of oil requires a great deal of energy output and this
huge energy output produces carbon emissions that damage the earth's
ozone layer, creating climate change.
There
are those who attempt to fight this, they do so with knowledge and
research, and many in the environmental field understand the
potential threat before us. The opposition claims that it is all a
hoax, that the earth simply has its own maturing cycle and nothing
more. As one reporter Lorrie Goldstein wrote that there was a time
in New York City when horse drawn carriages were the only means of
transportation and the excrement left by the horses created serious
health risks. The same reporter claimed that with the advent of the
horseless carriage not only New Yorkers but people all over the world
were able to breathe easy. With the massive growth of numbers of the
horseless carriage and our addiction to its convenience, air quality
has diminished to a point where warnings are needed to safeguard the
population against possible health risks, even death. Is this a sign
of development or simply an exchange of one dilemma for even a
greater one?
Planet
Earth is truly resilient and it has weathered and endured many
changes through millions of years. None more challenging than man's
development and maturity. We have taken and continue to take a great
deal from it. Now is the time to come to a realization that we must
give back, that we must protect our Earth. If we do not it may be
possible that it will not be able to sustain us any longer. As each
generation follows another we are responsible for what we leave
behind for the next. That has become more apparent now then ever
before. Drawing lines in the sand between environmentalists and
government is not the solution. Working together has to be the only
productive course to take.
Quite
seriously we have no real or viable alternative to oil. If we were
to appease the hard core environmentalists and cease all production
our civilization would simply grind to a halt. That is reality and
no one can escape it at this time. People themselves need to want to
change and if we can't find a way to lead them to that desire then we
only face the potential of disaster. When electric vehicles began
production and found a place in auto dealership showrooms many hailed
it as the dawn of a new era, an environmental win. Reality came
crashing down and one vehicle has been dropped from production in
North America from poor sales. The sales volume of the few others
left is not too promising either.
The
business of environment has become just that, big business and
selling the earth for its 'own good' has become a gimmick. Whether
it is Earth Day, Earth Hour or Water Day the general public care
little. To the public all of this is no less commercial than
Christmas or the Easter Bunny. How can we find a doorway that can
bring those who can make a difference into the same space, to
understand colour-coded recycling bins is not really enough to make a
difference. This is not an easy dilemma to overcome as a recent
study in the US showed that more of our young feel helpless in being
able to make a change for the future. At the same time simply look
at the parking areas of high schools and count the number of cars
driven by students. A more alarming question is, who really wants to
make a change?
Environmentalists
push the same rhetoric which in itself is loosing the general
public's attention. Those in this field who have media access and
attention are run like any business, even though their status is of a
non-profit nature. Raising money whether through campaigns aimed at
the public, government grants or grants from charitable foundations,
one motivation remains equal to all, the need for more money. Too
many of these big environmental groups have forgotten the reason why
they began this work. Their voices are now used to attempt to
influence politics and at times to simply become an obstacle to
development without logic or a willingness to compromise. Lately we
have seen an escalation in what can only push the public further away
from listening to environmental concerns than ever before.
Canada
is standing in a potential position of becoming a real world power
with its tar sands. No longer simply the best friend to the world,
who was trusted as a peacekeeper or as an adviser. Now we have the
third largest reserve of oil that brings with it immense wealth and
power. As Canada looks at developing and selling its tar sands oil,
the world prepares for potentially increasing disaster, CLIMATE
CHANGE. It is an issue that must concern all whether here on the
North American continent or across the world in China. Developing
Alberta's tar sands oil will undoubtedly bring immense wealth, but it
will also push our earth further into a precarious position. The tar
sands require a massive output of energy to be developed, that in
turn releases huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. All of us
now fully understand that the fall out of Japan's horrendous nuclear
accident will have repercussions around the globe. Whatever we do in
Canada's development of the tar sands will be felt the world over as
a corresponding affect on climate change, there is no escape of that
fact.
Still
the tar sands will be developed, there is no question about it. Our
insatiable need for oil has no end. China is claiming the right to
develop its economy as did the West in the past. The United States'
addiction to oil is evident in each and every corner of the nation.
Families can't survive without two cars now, even with gas prices
rising to record levels, food budgets are more likely to be trimmed
to permit the four wheels to keep on rolling. Canada is not far
behind with those kinds of attitudes, I simply look at my 70 plus
year old neighbour across the road. He gets into his red truck four
times a day, every day, to simply ride to the convenience store to
buy his peeling lottery tickets.
Sadly
there is a realty that none of us can escape, regardless of whether
we call ourselves environmentalists or not, our addiction to oil is
completely consuming. Whether it is the oil fields of the Middle
East or South America, whether it is the offshore drilling of our
oceans, or the potentially disastrous development of Alberta's tar
sands, we need oil. There is no real or viable alternative, and
without the oil the world would simply grind to a halt, and my
neighbour across the road would miss out on his little peeling
lottery tickets.
So do
we accept all the current rhetoric about the horrors of the tar sands
and face the inevitable end? That is what many of the big
environmentalists are pushing, even the 'father' of climate change
Ian Hansen said the development of the tar sands would mean “game
over” for climate change. The
answer is simply no, this is not true. Yes the tar sands are a
threat to our earth and to our environment, but not the only threat
we face. It is possible to do so much more than just look for
headlines in the press for the newest warnings at how the environment
will suffer because of the tar sands.
In
Canada and the US we have a natural wonder with a supply of fresh
water that makes many in the world envious. Yet it is not ever
ending, nor is it magical, constantly replenishing itself. It is our
responsibility to protect our lakes and to find ways to ensure that
contamination is reduced, at whatever cost. Simply take note of the
water bans that have been announced in England, or the rationing of
water use in California throughout summer, to understand the true
value of this wealth that we possess. As human beings it is our
nature to take for granted what we should value.
In
the end the question lingers, what is EARTH DAY? Is it only another
advertising executive's brainchild, designed for some unknown
purpose? Are people fed up with all the demonstrations and speeches
fighting the tar sands? How does Earth Day impact anyone anywhere,
did it really have any impact from the beginning? No definitive
answer can be reached, though a great deal of opinion and supposition
mixed with emotion will be bounced around. Those big
environmentalists who hang out a shingle and pass around the
collection plate all sing the same song, that discussion and
awareness are the key, and then ask for a 'small contribution'. Yet
empty words are simply recycled sounds polluting the air.
Harsh
as these sentiments may sound but discussion and awareness without
action is simply a patronizing gesture. People make the real
difference even against insurmountable odds, that too has been the
history of man. If only a few in each town across each country
change what they do, then Earth Day is a success.
An
on-line conversation through Facebook that I had with a gentleman who
began his stand with a totally opposing position to what I said,
changed to exemplify the real potential in a struggle to protect our
combined future. Mr. John Rebelo of British Columbia had his
opinions of the tar sands, even of the resilience of the Earth to
weather changes through the millennia, yet agreed that there is much
we can do to protect our future and our environment. The last words
in our conversation were John Rebelo's: “You are
welcome Alexander, I SINCERELY MEANT what I said. The environment is
NOT an infinite provider of wealth and well being. WE
MUST care for it and treat it with utmost respect or else it will
fail us! Because we all have different ideas we'll never reach a
consensus but let's keep the dialogue going and find a way to do
what's right!”
John
Rebelo was correct we are all different with varying motivations for
what we do, and a true consensus is extremely difficult to achieve.
Yet to accept the fact that our environment is not the “infinite
provider of wealth and well being” then
we have room to develop the necessities of life such as oil (and we
need to be honest enough to admit oil is a necessity at this time in
our history), and reduce its impact on our Earth, our future. There
are so many more avenues available for us and our government's to
take real action to protect our environment. Perhaps Earth Day
indeed has a purpose that is more than an empty greeting quickly
forgotten as the sounds of the words dissipate in the air.
Send comments to: demtruth@gmail.com
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