Response to Reg Wreckage by Jonathan Thompson, June, 2020
I saw another great analysis by Jonathan Thompson in High Country News, June, 2020. Thompson does a great job of analysis and exposing important environment issues, but I wonder how many of us truly understand how our own behavior and actions underlie our government's support of big industries that are destroying our planet? The slant in the article is that it's government's fault, our government is trashing our world, but about all we're left with is be angry at government. However, my own slant is that every single one of us to blame, or not, with every action we take, every purchase we make. We are either for or against the planet and the survival of all species, our own and all the wildlife that we are relentlessly driving to extinction.
The article I refer to, "Reg Wreckage", does a great job of exposing the irresponsibility of our current government regime as they relentlessly destroy efforts to get our planet back into balance. As our government supports big corporations who don’t want to pay the cost of complying with pesky environmental responsibility so they can be more profitable, each and every one of us needs to consider our own roles and responsibility to this planet we call home.
Each time we make a consumer choice, we are voting for or against our planet’s health and biodiversity that we humans, in fact, need in order to survive. We can say yes to coal, oil and natural gas, saying yes to big corp: go ahead and get rich at the planet’s expense, killing us all in the long term, with business as usual.
5 Simple ways to say NO to big energy:
1. Go solar at home.
2. Hang our clothes to dry instead of using a dryer.
3. Turn down the heater.
4. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use.
5. Minimize driving by walking, biking, carpooling, working from home, public transportation, combining errands.
It’s not hard if we make the effort. Inconvenient? Maybe. More expensive in the short run? Probably. But, we are all paying the cost if we don’t change, if we lose our planet and its biodiversity, we all face the ultimate loss. If the coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s that we can drive less and live our lives. If we could continue this trend, we can put these greedy corporations out of business and clean up our planet at the same time. It’s up to each of us.
We can’t wait for government. We can save this planet or kill it, and each of us is responsible, one way or the other. We vote with our dollar or we let government allow big corp to trash our world while we complacently stand by and continue to purchase their products and make them richer.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead.