The Time is Now. We Can Wait No Longer

Last fall I traveled to West Virginia to witness mountaintop removal coal mining. I had never seen such destruction of the environment by the hands of man. It was shocking to see how years of corporate disregard and greed had obliterated Mother Nature and left people in the surrounding communities struggling with their health, their income, their honor, and with that fundamental human right: clean water.

Last week in Louisiana, I saw the very same things again. But this time, it wasn't Massey Coal who was the sociopath. The culprit was that other fossil fuel behemoth corporation BP. (Hey, since the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same rights and freedoms as a human being, then the distorted sense of entitlement, the complete lack of regard for how one's actions affect other human beings, the twisted belief that someone can make up their own rules... the same things that would label a human being as a sociopath, I think fit perfectly with these corporations.)

Everything that has happened recently couldn't make it clearer. We have got to start weaning ourselves off fossil fuels.

The coal mine disaster in West Virginia killing 29 men; the other mine accident in Kentucky that took two more lives; the supertanker filled with oil and coal that departed Australia and ran aground the Great Barrier Reef; the coal mine disasters in both China and Russia... all of these things have happened within the last few weeks.

And now this.

This unprecedented and astonishing disaster. This unbelievable slap in the face and rude awakening. The arrogance of the oil industry, matched with the shocking incompetence and disgusting corruption within the Mineral Management Services have manifested into what will surely be the most devastating environmental disaster in U.S. history.

And it wasn't that long ago when we experienced (up to that time) the largest environmental disaster in this country: the toxic coal ash spill that happened in Harriman, Tennessee in December 2008, where 1 billion gallons of toxic sludge spilled over 300 acres... the equivalent of a foot of that poisonous soup covering 3,000 acres. Remember that one? Coal ash is the waste product from burning coal. It was dumped in an unlined lagoon, leaking carcinogens into the groundwater (selenium, arsenic, mercury and lead). After a heavy rainfall, the lagoon overflowed. As it stands now there are approximately 1,200 of these lagoons all across this nation.

What will it take? How many more things need to happen before we, as a society, demand that we, as a nation, pass comprehensive climate legislation that will lead us in the direction that is vital for our survival economically, physically and environmentally?

A comprehensive climate bill is circling through the corridors of Capitol Hill. It is ready and waiting. No, it's not perfect, but it's a start. There are some politicians who are staunch climate change "nonbelievers." Funny how oftentimes they are from States where Big Oil and Big Coal pump a ton of money into their State, or into these politicians' campaigns, while these corporations suck oil and scrape coal from the earth. Funny how one record breaking flood, drought or severe storm that passes through these States is met with a blind eye.

The time is now. We can wait no longer. Contact your senators. Insist, urge, demand that they pass this legislation.

We have got to reclaim this country for us, the real human beings.

Gloria Reuben is a nationally known environmental activist and a special
advisor to The Alliance for Climate Protection.

Please visit www.ClimateProtect.org

 

Follow Gloria Reuben on Twitter: www.twitter.com/glo_reuben

Comments

[Ecocampaigner]

01:29 PM on 06/09/2010

Of course the time is "now". The time to part with your money is always now. It was "now" in 1989 when this fear campaign started, and its "now" now. Sending taxpayer money to third world dictators and carbon traders in the name of climate mitigation strategies that everyone admits won't mitigate anything is a lot like buying a home.

Listen to ads from real estate agents. The right time to buy a new home has been "now" for the last 60 years, every single day of them. Will tomorrow be too late? Will next week be too late? If you think today's the last day they want your money, tomorrow is another day.

[SecondTime]

06:23 AM on 06/09/2010

We have hundreds of years of supplies, so we can make the weaning process an orderly one, and not a blind panic. Nuclear technology for example is no doubt improving all the time, both fission and fusion, and electric cars may one day be a sensible choice of transport for many more people.

The hazards of renewables are probably not as well documented as are their limitations as major sources of energy. But we need not doubt that fatalities and serious injuries have happened. These folks are trying to track them for windfarms, mostly because they don't like windfarms much: http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/page4.htm

As for the climate, it will do whatever it will do, pretty much regardless of whatever we do at the margins. Perhaps if the president were to emulate Canute, and do some ostentatious commanding of temperatures or rainfall or hurricanes, more people would get the picture that we are not in control of these things.

[gvaporcarb]

01:21 AM on 06/09/2010

But even if it is not to be believed that Fuel Vaporization is entirely possible, it's illegal to even attempt to do so with any Vehicle from 1996 to the present.O2 Sensors are set up to detect that Fuel is being consumed at 14.7/1. A mixture of 100 / 1 will not emit enough Polluting Exhaust Emissions to register on O2 Sensors.When such a Vehicle is connected to an OBD II Emissions Inspection Analyzer, an O2 Sensor Failure Code will be generated, which will result in a failed Emissions Inspection.O2 Sensor Exemptions are permitted for Vehicles that have been legally converted to operate on Natural Gas, Propane, or Hydrogen, and are Registered as such.But not for vaporized Gasoline.Thus, it is entirely possible under this EPA-OBD II Vehicle Emissions Inspection Law for any Gasoline powered Vehicle from 1996 to the present to fail it's Emissions Test for not emitting enough polluting Exhaust Emissions ! As long as this insane 14.7/1 Law that only benefits Big Oil remains in effect, the only way to make Vehicles more "efficient" will be to make them lighter, and smaller.This has got to change ! I have asked the Question many times ; "Why is it illegal for any Gasoline powered Vehicle from 1996 to the present to emit too little polluting Exhaust Emissions"? So can You or anyone that You know please answer the Question ? (PART II)

[gvaporcarb]

01:17 AM on 06/09/2010

I would really like to see the EPA-OBD II Annual Vehicle Emissions Inspection Law closely examined and changed.As it stands right now, it is entirely possible for any Gasoline powered Vehicle from 1996 to the present to fail it's Emissions Inspection, for not emitting enough polluting Exhaust Emissions ! All such Vehicles have on board Oxygen [O2] Exhaust Sensors.These O2 Sensors are set up to detect a level of polluting Exhaust Emissions that would indicate that Gasoline is being consumed by an Engine at 14.7 parts of Air to 1 part of Fuel.If there is a low level of Oxygen, and a high level of Pollution, a Vehicle will fail it's Emissions Inspection as well it should.But Gasoline can be safely vaporized into a mixture that is 100 parts of Air to 1 part of Fuel.With this, even the largest SUV could easily get 50 + MPG and emit a fraction of the Emissions of a conventional 14.7/1 Fuel System, with an increase in Power, and much longer Engine life.I'm not the first to figure this out.Far from it ! For proof, do a search on [the late] Tom Ogle, and Charles Nelson Pogue.Then, go to http://energy21.freeservers.com/bookrep.html and scan down the page to just before the Update. (PART I)

[lennykohm]

06:13 PM on 06/08/2010

Millions of citizens speaking softly results in one very loud voice, and if that one
voice is directed at the U.S. Congress it can stop mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

Please contact your Representative and Senators, urge them to cosponsor & support the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310), and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696).

They are blowing up our mountains, and there oughta be a law!