WashingtonPost.com marked Earth Day with a chat called Tips for Living Environmentally Friendly with two writers from Treehugger.com. Very interesting.
But to immediately tackle the biggest environmental crisis of this century, we can't wait for the 300 million consumers in this country to change their ways. It's up to the 535 people under the Capitol dome to force government, consumers, and businesses to cut carbon now.
There's a big problem, though. Those 535 members of Congress don't know how we feel because we aren't speaking to them with a united voice.
I know seemingly small personal choices can add up to make a huge difference. I'm the one relentlessly pitching Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment's Green Living Challenge.
But personal change without political change will not be enough to stop climate change. At a time when Virginia's carbon emissions are skyrocketing and Dominion is planning new coal-fired power plants, individual ripples are being swamped by a tidal wave of government inaction and corporate greed. Only government action can reverse the trend.
Treehugger.com's Jacob Gordon says the site doesn't get into political issues because "we try not to pigeon hole ourselves too much -- we'd like to have as broad an appeal as we can."
Welcoming as many people as possible into the green tent (especially when you're trying to make money with your website) is fine, but when it comes to politics, environmentalists are too quick to compromise, back off, or never make their case at all. Conservatives have no such qualms about making their case, no matter how extremist and no matter how long it takes to wear down the general public.
Look at gun control. Polls show the general public broadly supports sensible measures like background checks and an assault weapons ban. Yet our nation's background checks are so weak, they couldn't stop the Virginia Tech shooter with a legally documented history of mental illness from acquiring two hand cannons. And the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. I hate them as much or more than you do, but the NRA's radical extremism has won the gun war.
Liberals as a whole tend to see both sides and spend more time pondering the shades of gray, which has led to an environmental movement marked by cautious incrementalism. This has gotten us exactly nowhere on carbon emissions. It took a Supreme Court ruling (Congress failed to act) to force the Bush administration to even acknowledge carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and as of this moment carbon is still unregulated.
I'm not suggesting we emulate the NRA's ideology, but I envy their strategy and discipline. So I have just one tip for you on Earth Day 2007:
Write your Representative and Senators today and tell them America must cut its carbon emissions 80% by the year 2050 -- the goal laid out in last weekend's Step It Up rallies.
It may not happen this year. It may not happen at all unless a Democrat is elected president in 2008. But we have to let our elected officials know we want action and we want it now. Organizations like Climate Voters are starting to spring up to force action, and they need our support.
And if our representatives fail to act? We need to hold them accountable. Does that mean a carbon litmus test, as conservatives hold their candidates to so many litmus tests on guns, abortion, taxes, gay marriage, and so many other issues? I'd hope not, but it's a conversation we need to have.
Carbon dioxide emissions in Virginia rose about 34 percent from 1990 to 2004, a rate nearly twice the national average, as increases in driving and electricity production made the state more reliant on fuels linked to climate change, according to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Jim Moran was there by himself just walking around taking it all in.
paul