Saturday, September 3, 2011
Our So-Called Environmental President
Yesterday, the Obama Administration, in a deluded effort to appease conservatives and business interests, rejected a well-considered proposal from the E.P.A. to reduce emissions from smog polluting chemicals. The E.P.A, following the recommendations of it's scientific advisers, had proposed lowering the ozone standard from 75 parts per billion to 60-70 parts per billion. Ozone at its current levels has been linked with many major health care problems, including heart disease, asthma, and lung disorders. But who cares if small children can't breathe any more in the inner city without the help of inhalers...at least general Electric will be happy!
This latest decision comes on the heals of several others from the Obama administration that make you wonder how committed this so-called environmental President is to the environment. In recent weeks, the Obama administration has:
1) given Royal Dutch Shell the approval to drill for oil in the Arctic.
2) approved a 1,700 mile pipeline from Alberta to Texas.
3) has approved even more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, despite the fact that cleanup from the last oil spill there has not even been completed.
This sort of pandering to conservatives is foolish for two reasons: First, Republicans will never give Obama credit for anything, so the attempt to appease them by weakening environmental rules is a waste of time. And second, Obama stands a very good chance of alienating his own base, which is made up of people who strongly support much stricter environmental standards.
Perhaps it's time for the Green Party to run another candidate for President in 2012. The Green Party in Germany has shown that it can win elections when it runs candidates who have consistent and firm positions on environmental issues. Now, Americans, according to recent polls, feel as strongly about environmental protections as Germans do. So let's at least give them a candidate for President in 2012 who is really committed to reducing carbon emissions, investing in alternative energy sources, cleaning up our air and water, and ending the strangle-hold that Big Oil and Big Gas have over our economy. That candidate, sadly, doesn't appear to be Barack Obama.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Mike's Original Post I’ve been having a debate recently with some of my more purist vegan friends about whether a 100% vegan diet i...
-
More and more people are becoming vegetarian as a result of their belief that animals shouldn’t be mistreated on factory farms, or that ...
-
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches and millions of Americans prepare to dine on millions of turkeys, I sat down to write a blog post a...
-
" Homo Consumens is the man whose main goal is not primarily to own things, but to consume more and more, and thus to compensate for ...
-
One of the things that we try to promote on this site is the adoption of voluntary simplicity as a way of life. Our goal is not to try...
-
Ecologist Richard Conniff has written an interesting opinion piece addressing the question of whether animals are only important becaus...
-
When I drive through upstate New York, I’m always in awe of the natural beauty of the state of which I am proud to call myself a citizen. ...
-
As a teacher of ethics for over 20 years now, I’ve always been interested in what sorts of actions students view as morally wrong. I ty...
-
Imagine a species that is so fecund that it spreads to every habitable corner of its ecosystem. Then imagine that same species as it voracio...
-
The Chinese currently have a population of 1.3 billion people. The U.S. has a population of 300 million. The average ecological footprint...
You guys really hate Obama, don't you? Just wait until a Republican gets elected in 2012...Then you'll see how much harm can really be done to the environment!!!
ReplyDelete