After 40 Earth Days we still have a difficult time making the connection between our need for a healthy environment and our ability to survive.
The economy and we depend on the ecosystem, not the other way around. Both words come from the Greek word oikos, meaning the “house.” In other words, we are all in the same house. When we pollute the environment we are polluting our “house.” A healthy environment is essential to have a healthy economy. It”™s as simple as that.
To remain healthy, humans require a very big “house” because of the needs of this complex species ”“ fuel for mobility and manufacture, great swaths of land to grow the food and large oceans to provide the protein for human energy. So how are we doing in protecting these essential resources?
Coal has been touted as the solution to our energy needs because it is within our control. The danger in producing this energy, however, was vividly illustrated in the recent Massey mine explosion in West Virginia. The human tragedy hardly ends there as coal is a contributor to CO2 air pollution, environmental damage and human health issues.
The discovery of the Marcellus Shale, dominantly under Pennsylvania but reaching up into the New York City watershed and beyond, has caused a lot of excitement. The money being offered by drillers to landowners in this economically depressed area of New York state likely is hard to resist. The likelihood of monumental damage to watershed, which also covers Westchester County, is beyond question if the drilling is allowed to proceed. In a period of diminishing potable water this answer to energy needs seems irrational. While there are other options available to fulfill our energy needs there is no substitute for water. When it is gone ”“ it is gone.
The evolving disaster in the Gulf could be yet another opportunity to rethink our plans of energy independence based on fossil fuels. Given the media rhetoric it does not seem likely.
There are already 3,500 production platforms operating in the Gulf, only 1,000 of which are manned, and oil spills are not uncommon. Most never reach the press but every leak has some impact on the environment and the food supply. Nonetheless, off-shore drilling is likely to continue, at least those that are already in operation.
Off-shore oil drillers and their political supporters are attempting to diminish the implications of this disaster. Even the rosiest scenario will be nothing to rejoice about. After almost 20 years there is still oil to be found in Prince William Sound in Alaska. The citizens who were economically harmed have received cents on the dollar for their pain.
Jared Diamond”™s book “Collapse” details the fall of many highly sophisticated civilizations and the comprehensible explanations for their demise. Yes, friends, we are headed down that well-trod path.
There seems to be no limit to our willingness to pollute the seas, source of an enormous part of our food supply system. The same with our willingness to use corn to keep the cars going instead of using it to feed the public. Water, the truly finite resource on the planet, is even more in peril with the panic to get more polluting energy out of the ground, no matter the cost. Then there is the need for healthy air. And so it goes.
At every stage we are sacrificing our future to the need to avoid facing the facts. No matter the price, we need to stop funding our enemies and put our money in clean energy and the eco-system that keeps us alive.
Surviving the Future explores a wide range of subjects to assist businesses in adapting to a new energy age. Maureen Morgan, a transit advocate, is on the board of Federated Conservationists of Westchester. Reach her at maureenmorgan10@verizon.net.
