Idealists Need Not Apply

The realists have won the day and they believe only in Pentagon budgets, data driven education and the pragmatism of multi-billion dollar bank payouts. Enter Bill McKibben originator of 350.org and his merry band of college students. All they wanted to do was return the solar panel that Ronald Reagan had removed from the White House. In a time when climate change has flooded Pakistan, fried Russians and given us temperature extremes unheard of sense such data has been recorded, you’d think accepting a solar panel wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, Mrs. Obama’s installation of an organic garden at the White House resulted in a marked increase in seed sales. Imagine what installing a panel on the roof could do! But, Mr. McKibben and friends were rejected as were the 40,000 people who signed on to the letter in support of the effort.

See, former President Jimmy Carter had installed solar panels in the 70’s. He recognized the importance of energy independence especially when the gas crisis hit. The current White House resident is more of a Reagan Democrat than an adherent to Carter’s populous ideas. Mr. Obama and his advisers deify the corporate model, Wall Street insiders are their mentors, heroes and former employers. The only oil crisis they recognize is how to cover up the long term effects of the BP spill and how to keep the Pentagon’s tanks topped off. Accepting a solar panel from a bunch of granola eating environmental activists is anathema to a government that has allied itself with endless war and outmoded energy.

Somewhere in a parallel universe it seemed that Americans loved dreamers, folks with vision and the courage to attempt the impossible to arrive at the improbable. In the current reality idealists are seen as idiots, the smart people don’t really believe in God (they just act like it so the dumb ones will continue to follow), and everyone knows that destruction is way more profitable than sustainability. When you destroy there’s always rebuilding to be done, when you sustain there’s no capital gains. So, Mr. McKibben and friends, thanks but no thanks . . .the administration will de-liberate and you can help reduce CO2 to 350 ppm by just holding your breath and waiting for change.

Rally to Stop Keystone XL Pipeline

Rally at Canadian Embassy, Wash. DC

As the US east coast bakes in triple digit temperatures Friends of the Earth, Corporate Ethics International, Friends of the Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club joined together to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Yes another sexy name applied to a project which has the potential of furthering the devastation of land, wildlife and other natural resources such as clean water.

The Keystone XL is proposed to take oil from the Alberta, Canada tar sands down through the central US to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of over 1,900 miles. States to be crossed by the pipeline include Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Of course the multi-billion dollar oil industry is trying to save a few bucks by getting Congress to allow the use of pipe which contains less steel in certain areas. Seems like we heard this same tune when it came to BP’s blow-out prevention technology in the Gulf. Our addiction to oil, as admitted by GW Bush, is obviously clouding the minds of politicians.

This is why we the people must cry loud and spare not. If our elected representatives continue to forget who they are paid to represent we must speak up for ourselves, organize and change the direction this nation is headed in. Events like today’s rally are keys towards realizing a sustainable future guided by engaged citizens.