For the purpose of this article, let’s take climate change off the table. I won’t even state my opinion on it. Pretend that Global Warming is not even part of the discussion. A few simple questions. Do you want to breathe clean air? Do you want you children to breathe clean air? Do you want to drink clean water? Do you want your children to drink clean water? Do you want to maintain the beauty of nature?
Next set of questions:
How do we do this? Do we move away from oil and coal as the main energy sources? Yes. Do we try to move towards clean energy such as solar and wind? Yes. Do we stop fracking? Yes. Do we stop the use of certain pesticides? Yes. Do we regulate the proper disposal of chemicals? Yes. Do we have safety standards for factories and businesses that deal with dangerous chemicals and pollutants? Yes.
This is all just common sense. We see oil spills and chemical spills. We see the sacrificing of water safety to gain access to natural gas. We see all the disgusting factories with their discolored smoke stacks pumping who knows what into the air. Why are some people against making improvements that would stop these harmful processes? Why in hell aren’t we all on the same page? If there are solutions that would solve, begin to solve or minimize any one of these atrocities, why aren’t we all working towards them? Is it the way these issues have been packaged? Is it Global Warming believers v. deniers…or Science v. God will take care of us?
As we see the impact of the massive chemical spill in West Virginia, the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and concerns around the globe of air and water quality, don’t most citizens of the United States and the world want to do better? If there are new technologies that can be developed to improve on the processes and bad decisions that cause these events, they should be pursued. We are supposedly a country that believes in exceptionalism. We believe in innovation. We believe in ourselves.
So what the hell is our problem? Can’t we just all agree that we have free will, and with that comes great responsibility, and we should of course NOT want to put ourselves, our children, or future generations into a toxic world? You don’t have to believe in Global Warming to want to protect the environment. You don’t have to want to protect the environment to want to protect yourself or your family. This isn’t rocket science. It’s self- preservation in the most basic sense. You just have to think…and once you or your kid have contracted some cancer caused by some pollutant that you ignored because Global Warming is a hoax (in your mind), it’s too late.