IF YOU felt a tremor, it might have been more than just the multitudes chanting O-BA-MA. It just might have been the rumble of roots, tree trunks swaying like hips, and branches stretching outward to praise the heavens. If you heard a song, it might not just have been the crowd when Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said to Obama, "Congratulations, Mr. President." It might have been the birds serenading as if let out of a cage, soaring to perches to applaud with their wings.
So, today, begins Derrick Jackson in his bi-weekly Boston Globe column. It is a reaction to Obama's speech, or rather, specifically to Obama's saying we can no longer "consume the world's resources without regard to effect." Jackson explores the impact of those words, the reactions of noted biologist E. O Wilson, and finds a link between Obama and T. Roosevelt (take THAT John McCain).
Jackson offers more imagery near the beginning of his column: stone lions coming to life and roaring, ants and insects waving blades of grass as if they were American flags. He tells us that he has searched on line and found no other president has either uttered the words "consume the world's resources," nor so bluntly said that we can no longer ignore the effects of our consumption.
And then the T. R. reference: in his 1905 inaugural address, that noted outdoorsman said
"We are the heirs of the ages, and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization."
This reference by Jackson is the first interpretation of the inaugural address I have seen that has focused on those words about consumption (although that was a phrase that a number of my students noted in their papers about the address), and this may well be the first time anyone has made a connection between Obama and Teddy Roosevelt.
It is impossible to give a real sense of the column through quotations without violating fair use. It is packed with wonderful observations. Several of those are from the noted biologist E. O. Wilson, for whom
Obama's speech "was like blinds being opened to let light beam into a dark room."
and who also said that
the America of the past century is suddenly "a car stopped dead on the prairie."
Jackson tells us that
Obama sent the unprecedented, sober signal that America is no longer the America of boundless Western frontiers, the America that can endlessly poison rivers for industry and dragnet the oceans for dinner...
and that
Obama became the first president to admit on a global scale that we have limits to live within.
Wilson offers some proposals to the new administration, in an attempt to begin to reverse the damage done by the Bush administration, things like making a public tour of some national parks to raise the morale of the staff and extending the protection of the National Parks to many national forest lands.
Jackson ends with two very brief paragraphs, which I offer here:
"A guy in his position has to do the easy things first," Wilson said of Obama. "Upgrade the national parks and give us some uplifting statements on preservation. He'll have Americans on his side."
He will also have trees swaying, the birds singing, the lions roaring, and the ants marching in celebration. Wilson said, "How much time we lost depends on how much we put in."
Perhaps Wilson and Jackson are optimistic about the response, at least of the American people. After all those still losing jobs may well have more important things on their minds than the upgrade of national parks and commitments to science and the environment. Republicans and many industries and the Club for Growth are certain to attack any movement they perceive as following the cautions of the speech on which Jackson focused, that we can no longer consume without regard to the effects, because they fear the economic impact upon them of a moving away from the unbridled consumption of recent years.
That fear is palpable, and now showing up in interesting ways. For example, yesterday the dealership from whom we have since 2004 bought three Honda Civic Hybrids contacted us to offer a deal on new Hybrids, for LESS than we paid in 2004: gas prices have dropped enough that people are dissuaded by the additional upfront costs, and people worried about their own economic future do not willingly take on major new purchases like a new personal vehicle.
But Wilson and Jackson point at something important. Right now there is a sense of optimism that Obama can make a difference in our lives. That was of course part of the reason for the massive numbers who temporarily tripled (or more) the number of people in the District of Columbia, who are telling pollsters that their approval of Obama continues to rise.
There are many tasks in front of us. We have schools that need to be rebuilt. We can and should require that they be rebuilt and refurbished to green them. Greening requirements should be a part of any infrastructure spending. Such requirements, along perhaps with some funding for startups in green industries, could be what our leaders can do to simultaneously invigorate our economy and to move us in more sustainable directions that will no longer damage the environmental heritage for which we should be stewards, which we should pass on to future generations.
This is also about us, as the entire Obama campaign has been, and as we heard in so many ways throughout the inauguration, not only in the speech, but in the remarks Obama made at balls, and in much of what he has said - and done - since. We are required to participate. We must be wiser in what we consume, in the environmental footprint we impose upon the landscape.
If in fact we can help fulfill the promise of those words, if we restrain our unbridled consumption, then perhaps the image of stone lions coming to life and roaring, ants parading across our feet and waving blades of grass like flags, and birds serenading will be appropriate.
I suggest you might well want to ensure that more people read Jackson's column, and not only for his wonderful writing and Wilson's important words. Reading the column may well inform people of the commitment Obama has to the environment, and perhaps even inspire a few more to get involved.
And if that happens? Then truly we will be able to say with Jackson, Outside, things are looking brighter.
Peace.