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Rivers for Life
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On Earth Day, the environmental movement needs repairs
Posted Apr 23, 2010 by Bill McKibben
[Excerpt] Forty years in, we're losing.
This weekend, when speakers at Earth Day gatherings across the country hearken back to the first celebration in 1970, they'll recall great victories: above all, cleaner air and cleaner water for Americans.
But for 20 years now, global warming has been the most important environmental issue -- arguably the most important issue the planet has ever faced. And there we can boast an unblemished bipartisan record of accomplishing absolutely nothing.
To mark Earth Day this year, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) were supposed to introduce their long-awaited rewrite of the House's climate legislation. Now that's been delayed for at least a few days, which is probably just as well, since, as Graham points out, it's no longer really an environmental bill.
"I'm all for protecting the planet, but this is about energy independence," Graham said last week. The bill's emission reductions are weakened by offsets and loopholes -- and to win support for even those concessions, it offers the fossil-fuel industries a glittering collection of door prizes. President Obama himself has already offered the first of these bent-knee offerings: a return to the full-on offshore drilling that was one of the targets of the first Earth Day. Now a new generation will have a chance to experience its own Santa Barbara oil spill, with its iconic oil-soaked birds...
Originally published April 23, 2010 in The Washington Post
Photo ref.: spike55151/flickr
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2 comments
Ditto
From: Andree Collier, Apr 25, 10 05:28 PM
I agree with the first comment, but I am also admiring Bill's new edge these days. It's painful to see how corrupt the big environmental groups have become, but we gain nothing by denying it.
But What of Real Political Pressure?
From: Mike Druso, Apr 23, 10 03:41 PM
I love Bill, love his words, love his books, love just about everything he has done. But...but...while he continually blasts both parties for their willful negligence, he seems to dance always around the edges when it comes to calling for real political change.