Can We Please Stop Fighting Environmental Protection Efforts?

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that anyone who doesn’t believe in regulating our use of the earth and its resources is not just out of touch, but criminally so.

There was a time in my life when I believed that the Almighty Dollar should be the guiding light by which we navigated through life: a thing we’re awarded for the fruits of our efforts, and which we can exchange for goods and services. It became, for me, a symbol of the very natural give and take that governs life in the civilized world.

And then I grew up. I realized that a great many more things are worth pursuing in life besides money.

Unfortunately for all of us, it seems that the majority of our legislators are still stuck in the infantile pursuit of the Dollar, and they’re using their positions of power to help those who think like them: the ones who will drill holes in our wildlife refuges, block the EPA at every turn, and vote to build pipelines when we should be investing in, say, clean nuclear energy instead.

It’s not all bad news, though. An international coalition made up of delegates from some 190 countries from across the globe recently met in Lima and successfully negotiated a deal that would commit each of the involved nations to a reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions. It’s a big step in the right direction, and provides some good news as we approach the coming 2015 UN climate talks.

Meanwhile, Republicans like Mitch McConnell are so deluded it would be funny if it weren’t so serious. Last month, our next Senate Majority Leader actually went so far as to promise that his “first priority” would be to “reign in” the efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency. Can we just reflect on that statement for a moment?

We live in a country where income inequality, racism, unemployment, education, foreign policy, and immigration are all significant and ongoing problems. And what does Mr. McConnell feel is the more pressing issue? An agency that oversees the protection and preservation of the natural world.

There’s a joke in there somewhere, but I can’t find it.

On a much smaller scale, the government has always been deeply involved in our use of the land: law firms have lawyers dedicated to real estate and land use, along with all of the associated issues like business and tax laws, zoning, administration, entitlements, and annexation disputes. In other words, some branch of the government or another has always taken an interest in the where, how, why, and what of America’s use of her lands.

And yet, so many of us still balk at even the most modest steps taken toward a more comprehensive environmental protection program, including our energy policy and the proper use of America’s wildlife preserves.

It’s no secret why we’re living in that sort of world. We all know that the lines between the federal government and the private sector have never been more blurry – a fact that we’re all going to have to live with until we collectively come to our senses and start voting the right kinds of leaders into power.

I hope I’m preaching to the choir here. I really do. It does feel like public sentiment is slowly turning against the more vicious capitalists and Wall Street lapdogs: a fact I’m reminded of every time Elizabeth Warren vows to curtail Wall Street’s apparently unfettered influence over Washington and America’s taxpayers, even as Republicans double down on their efforts to even more inextricably tie the federal government together with the private sector. As long as that’s going on, we won’t see any progress made on fighting climate change.

In the meantime, let’s hope Mother Nature can hang on just a little bit longer while we get this all sorted out.

In any event, Jake Schmidt (of the National Resources Defense Council) probably said it best: “Countries around the world now fully understand that early next year they must commit to ambitious reductions in climate pollution and bold measures to slow global warming… the progress from Lima must result in pledges for real action by the time the world convenes in Paris. Only together can we avoid the worst impacts of climate change, and for the sake of our children and future generations, we must.”