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| April 25, 2007 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth, insurgent49 Building a Greener Mousetrap
Wal-Mart has good news for America’s mainstream
conservation circle: earth-friendly compact fluorescent light bulbs at
the Wal-Mart price.Wal-Mart’s full page New York Times ad should bring hearty cheers from mainstream environmentalists, for, as the ad says, “no matter how Earth-friendly a product is, it doesn’t do any good sitting on a store shelf.” The same spiraling light bulb that appears in the ad ornaments the back of an Alaska Conservation Foundation circular. The groups’ solution to global warming is certifiably American: we’ll buy our way out of this crisis. Shopping at Wal-Mart for new light bulbs and making donations to a mainstream environmental group will, of course, only make you feel better. "We don't have the luxury of time on this issue," says Ted Glick, coordinator of the US Climate Emergency Council. "Scientists such as James Hansen have said we have less than ten years to fundamentally alter our energy policies, and that was a year and a half ago. A small number of scientists think we may have already reached the point of no return. Other scientists think that we are fast approaching it." Just over a week ago, I stood with two dozen others beneath a chilly Juneau rain. The occasion (“Step It Up Day”) was organized to deliver a message to Congress, so we stretched a banner and took photos.  The more than 1,300 “Step It Up” rallies that took place across the country are the brainchild of author Bill McKibben, who’s been running a low-budget campaign out of his Middlebury, VT home. Yet, while many in the corps participated in the April 14th “human postcard” campaign, the mainstream environmental lobby is wildly out of step with McKibben’s grassroots effort. Nowhere would you hear this statement (from McKibben speaking to Democracy Now!) from the Big Green lobby: “... The only question we ask about the economy in our society is how can we make it bigger? That question is running out of steam for two reasons, one, the environmental damage that we’re now seeing on a global scale. Two, as economists and others are beginning to realize with new research, endless expansion isn’t making us as happy as it’s supposed to. In fact, if anything, just the opposite.” McKibben, whose most recent book is Deep Economy, speaks unequivocally about the false promise of consumerism. Since the 1950’s a downward slope in happiness has countered an upward trend in aggrandizement. “We have three times as much stuff,” McKibben said in the Democracy Now! interview. “If what we think we know about economy was true, those two curves, satisfaction and prosperity, should move in somewhat the same direction. That they are moving in opposite directions, really should lead us to ask some pretty stiff questions, and should lead us also not to fear ... a world with much more localized economies, and much stronger communities, and much more emphasis on belonging and much less on belongings.” Yet, the Alaska green lobby’s answer reflects not McKibben’s bold demand of an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, but Al Gore’s centerpiece message of changing consumer habits. That solution panders obsequiously to the refrain of the ruling class for “personal responsibility,” a sentiment that ignores the science of sociology and discourages collective organizing. When Kate Troll, head of the Alaska Conservation Alliance, tells a Juneau crowd, “I want more hybrids,” she inadvertently speaks for Big Oil and the automobile industry. As usual, then, establishment environmentalists need to create strategies that are grassroots, daring, and populist in their approach to this looming disaster. McKibben says we need to make the cause to chill global burning more than just an environmental issue, but an urgent, passionate movement, one like Civil Rights, one with fire in its belly. He says we need to “get into the streets” and “be creative.” That means average citizens need to take over. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist, and is the winner of the Alaska Press Club's 2006 'Best Columnist' award. He resides in an undisclosed location in rural Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. 'Red Alert' appears on insurgent49.com every Wednesday. |
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April 18, 2007 April 11, 2007 April 4, 2007 March 28, 2007 March 21, 2007 March 14, 2007 March 7, 2007 February 28, 2007 February 21, 2007 February 14, 2007 February 7, 2007 January 31, 2007 January 24, 2007 January 17, 2007 January 10, 2007 January 3, 2007 December 27, 2006 December 20, 2006 December 13, 2006 December 6, 2006 November 29, 2006 November 21, 2006 November 10, 2006 November 3, 2006 October 27, 2006 October 20, 2006 October 13, 2006 October 6, 2006 September 29, 2006 September 22, 2006 September 15, 2006 September 8, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 25, 2006 August 18, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 4, 2006 July 28, 2006 July 21, 2006 July 14, 2006 June 30, 2006 June 23, 2006 June 16, 2006 June 9, 2006 June 2, 2006 May 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 May 5, 2006 April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 |
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