This week, in President Barack Obama's Oval Office speech on the oil spill, he used the term "mission." That's the right word. Most of the media coverage, and even much of the presidential address Tuesday night, was about "management" -- but the real and deeper meaning that is now emerging out of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is indeed the call to a new mission.
The ongoing discussion about who's to blame, who's responsible, and who's in control of the oil spill disaster -- which is now the worst environmental catastrophe in U.S. history -- has been constant in the media, and the speech was in response to many of those questions. The clear financial, and perhaps criminal, responsibility of BP is a fundamental moral and political issue here, of course; as is the continuing frustration of people in the Gulf Coast region with the government's response and leadership in the crisis. The need for more skimmers, more boom, more equipment, more people, more help, and much more coordination in protecting and cleaning up the endangered Gulf Coast from the gushing assault of toxic oil is very clear; but missing the deeper meaning would be an even greater disaster now.
It will take a purposeful commitment to a mission of change, of transformation in the way that our entire society and culture is energized and powered, to truly respond to the epiphany in the Gulf. After Obama described what he plans to do in response to the immediate and long-term consequences of the oil spill, he returned to more moral and even theological language in admitting how "our addiction to fossil fuels" had taken us to deeper and more and more dangerous waters -- drilling more than a mile under the ocean.
"For decades, we have known the days of cheap and easily accessible oil were numbered," Obama said. "For decades, we've talked and talked about the need to end America's century-long addiction to fossil fuels. And for decades we have failed to act with a sense of urgency that this challenge requires. Time and again the path forward has been blocked, not only by oil industry lobbyists, but also by a lack of political courage and candor. The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight."
But will the consequences in plain sight be enough to change us? Last night, Jon Stewart did a very funny and very sobering review of how the last eight Presidents now -- Obama, Bush 2, Clinton, Bush 1, Reagan, Carter, Ford, and Nixon -- have called for and promised to end our dependence on foreign oil. It's time to indeed call this an addiction -- and it is time for an intervention.
Obama continued, "today as we look to the Gulf, we see an entire way of life being threatened by a menacing cloud of black crude. We cannot consign our children to this future. The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash American innovation and seize control of our own destiny."
But to change our addictive oil habit -- which is killing the environment, killing wildlife, killing us, killing the Gulf, and threatening our children -- will take a mission to:
It will take seeing this as mission of God, and not merely our own; and it will take our faith in God to see this mission through.
Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street -- A Moral Compass for the New Economy, CEO of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com.
+Click here to get e-mail updates from Jim Wallis
Rev. Jennifer Kottler: Attention Must Be Paid: The Gulf Oil Spill Is Not Over
Jim Wallis: New Economy, New Energy: Lessons from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount
Jim Wallis: Testifying in the Gulf (PHOTOS)
It makes no difference if we drill in the Alaska, or India, or Timbucktoo, it all goes into one big reserve that we, Americans, purchase our oil from.
All through the “drill baby drill” debate, I’ve been dumbfounded as to why no one points this out. We can’t drill our way to oil independence unless we actually nationalize the oil, take “our product” off the world market, and form a government run oil company to extract and refine it and I don’t hear ANYBODY calling for that.
Perhaps the bigger question is, how do people not know this?
We live in an information age where the Internet has brought facts and figures right into our homes yet still Americans don’t understand how things work..
They don’t understand the oil market, they don’t understand banking, and they certainly don’t understand their own government or history … how is this possible?
The myth of American oil is just one of the many obstructions to ever devising a cohesive energy policy or finding common ground for ANY common purpose in this country. If we can’t even agree on the very basics of reality, how can we ever agree on what needs to be done?
So the absolute insanity that we are now experiencing was foretold in ancient writings believe it or not and all the answers are of a spiritual nature. Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, and even Mohammed are offering grace but it is up to each of us to embrace these transcendental thoughts if we wish to have some true relief.
Many on the left have rejected this line of thinking for one reason or another. From intellectual pride to a feeling of revulsion for the current misinterpretation of Christianity displayed by many so called Christians.
So I am sympathetic to Mr. Wallace’s point of view, appealing to God for aid in accomplishing a mission is the right thing to do. However to expect God to deny the forces that He has set in motion is unrealistic and could be construed as lacking in faith as strange as that may seem.
Having read bits and pieces of the Bible I have stumbled on a number of relevant thoughts, humans make very bad leaders due to human nature for one. The Bible says that we are foolish to trust humans and who can argue with that, check out our history if you want conformation.
Jesus said something that is paramount to understanding our condition “Why are you trying to kill me, it is because I say your world is evil.” Apparently we resist strongly the notion that we are living in an evil world.
So the absolute insanity that we are now experiencing was foretold in ancient writings believe it or not and all the answers are of a spiritual nature. Jesus, Krishna, Buddha, and even Mohammed are offering grace but it is up to each of us to embrace these transcendental thoughts if we wish to have some true relief.
How dare the author maintain that "faith" in his Biblical God is the answer?
How arrogant. On behalf of the more than half of humanity who do not believe the Bible, I protest.
The Bible says us that humans are created in God's image.
That we are superior to animals, that we rule over them, they serve our needs.
No wonder "the faithful" care more about driving SUVs than saving oiled birds.
And why care about the environment? The Rapture is coming anyway.
"Faith" - unreasoned beliefs, usually self-serving - is the cause of this disaster, not the cure.
Second, the Genesis directive does indicate that humanity is differentiated from animals in that only humanity is described as being created in God's image. But it goes on to say that humanity is to exercise "dominion" over creation in the sense that we are God's representatives, that we would care for creation in the same manner as God would. Whether you believe in God or not, I suspect that you and I would not be far apart in terms of our desires to see us be better stewards of this beautiful planet where we live.
That's arrogance I was complaining about: that Bible-believers presume to speak for all.
That if God exists, He would have to be like the one in the Bible.
But clearly the Biblical God is an invention of man, modeled after a king, possibly King David. He's jealous, vengeful, demands obsequiousness.
Not a Supreme Being; not even a good person.
A despot, exactly as primitive peoples would expect from their rulers.
Stephen Hawkins said "like Einstein, I do not believe in an anthropomorphic God".
"Man created God in his own image" is the truth of the Biblical God.
So, believe what you like, but half the people believe otherwise.
For example, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Washington - all Deists.
They had a much better view of God than does the Bible.
Read Deuteronomy, see what your God says you are to do to us unbelievers.
Ask any individual what the meaning of life is and you will receive a different answer. Yet the pursuit of any diversion they choose to endow with meaning, requires a physical presence be maintained. Forfeiture of that essential requirement, negates anything a person might deem to be the essence of their existence. It is, perhaps, the one and only need we all share. If this continuity of enablement became the watchword of humanity, then whatever might threaten that primary necessity would become the common foe. When work to secure life itself is done, there is time for all else we may devise.
Corporations will have to be transformed from planet destroying, people eating, profit machines that socialize risk and privatize reward into responsible businesses that promote the general welfare and operate in a sustainable manner. Let the teabaggers scream "socialism" all they want. Wiser minds must prevail.
God is still up there.
But you deserve like all people the right to your own cosmic views; I would only hope that these feelings don't prevent you from some scrap of compassion.
Only solar wind and waste bio fuels can supply the worlds energy and fuel needs, clean, safe, cheaper in the long run and forever.
Immediately order energy retrofits for all gov buildings.
Rooftop PV Solar, Offshore wind, and Waste Bio char, can supply the worlds energy and fuel needs: cleanly, safely, Forever, within 12 years and cheaper in the long run 2-6 cents now, and 26$ per barrel bio oils.
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_panels.htm
about 1$ per Wp solar panels, new.
install solar plants for about $1.30 per watt, compared with an industry average of about $1.75, according to Hardy." http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=a7K1FZoNgJ0w
Wind: “between two and six cents today, depending on location.12 Wind power approaches competitiveness with conventional generation at this price point. “
http://www.repp.org/articles/static/1/binaries/wind%20issue%20brief_FINAL.pdf
http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/publ/BiofBioproBioref%203,%20547-562,%202009%20Laird.pdf
26$ per barrel bio oil from waste bio char.
We need that...
Look, we have an addiction to oil. Indisputably. What we need are reasonable solutions. GM had a car in development for awhile called the Hy-Wire that didn't use mechanical drivetrains and could revolutionize the way cars are made. We need to have that kind of thing on the front burner.
You can get rid of "cars" all you want, but you'll never get rid of the need for personal transport. The way forward is to realize that people will always be people, and 80% of the time they put their personal needs first. Getting gas stations to convert to charging stations is one easy step in the infrastructure game. Another is coal gasification. There ARE ways. But what you're promoting is really just utopian nonsense.
Converting gasoline cars to natural gas as is becoming more common in Latin America might work in the U.S. long enough to come up with renewable energy transportation solutions. It can't happen overnight but it could be done if we're serious about getting off gasoline.
Its wishful thinking, I know, but at some point, we have to realize that we are in no way bound to our past, nor do we have any obligation to honor our history. Terrible mistakes have been made , time and again, compounded by centuries of propaganda. We don't have to do things their way. We don't have to obey their agendas, we don't have to continue hurting ourselves because our parents taught us too. We can grow up. We are capable of it. Nothing stops us, except people who refuse to even consider it, let alone try. You have let the enemies of civilization demoralize you. Regrow your spine, and help regrow the spines of others, and maybe Utopia wont be such a fever dream
http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/17/smallbusiness/small_business_bp_hearing/index.htm?source=cnn_bin
Compare Obama's recommendation to the top scientists, engineers and inventors of this country (i.e. to send their best ideas, tied with a bow, to BP), to what a Roosevelt, Kennedy, or even Johnson would have done starting on day one - anyone remember the "Manhattan Project"???
I think the gulf and our oil addiction and how he plans to address this should have been the two primary areas of focus instead of the background of the spill. Most of us already knew the background and the rest of us could have found some synopsis on youtube. I spent most of the speech waiting to hear what the pres was going to lay out and when he finally did, he spoke in such generalities that it lost any sense of a clear plan and direction.
I dont know if that is because he doesn't yet have one in mind or he didn't want to get too bogged down but he left me thinking he could do something but wondering what that would be - another address might do him some good. I think the greatest obstacle for the gulf is the continued spewing of the well and the greatest obstacle for reform is the incompetence of the senate - I would like to know how obama plans to
We shared previous conversation on msnbc pundits at the White House.
The notion you have to give up your dreams to create a better present and leave a better future for those who come after us is flawed though. The answers to a few questions reveal the flaws in that view.
Why should anyone have to rack up debt to achieve their dreams? They shouldn't, so the lopsided system created by the elders, which benefits a greedy few, needs to be reformed to benefit everyone, by you and your peers.
Why should anyone have to pollute to achieve their dreams? They shouldn't, so the outdated sources of energy that the elders built our society around, need to be replaced with alternatives by you and your peers.
Why should anyone have to work so hard to increase their means? They shouldn't, so the inequitable compensation structure designed by the elders, needs to be reorganized to fairly compensate all those who contribute their ingenuity and energy to create the work product, by you and your peers.
You should be able to achieve your dreams and live in this world with its breathtaking natural order the elders have irresponsibly thrown out of balance.
The sad part is that most of the elders have not "lived high on the hog," and the potential their lives held was stolen from them by the trickery of a few in their midst.
Seize your dreams from the few who would deprive you of them.