Closet environmentalists or just green politicians
October 26, 2007
Posted by CindyW in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback
This blog is apolitical, and we intend to keep it this way. However a couple of recent news pieces are spurring me to mention a few politicians and their recent environmental records.
The Expected
Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize – highly deserving in my humble opinion. Enough has written about his work, so I won’t repeat here. But a couple of other politicians have caught me by surprise, in a nice way.
The Unexpected
Last week, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, signed 18 of the 25 bills on Sierra Club’s list (72%). Nicely done. San Jose Mercury News reported that environmental groups were “surprisingly pleased”. Some of the 18 bills Schwarzenegger signed are:
- Provide $250 million a year in incentives to homeowners and businesses that install roof-top solar hot water heaters, reducing natural gas use.
- Ban phthalates, plastic softeners in toys linked to medical problems in some studies.
- Require statewide programs to collect and dispose of expired pharmaceutical drugs, in response to studies that have shown these chemicals turning up in bays and the oceans.
The other surprise came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean - French President Nicolas Sarkozys. BBC News reported that “Sarkozys has called for taxes to target polluters and said French use of pesticides should be halved.”
“We need to profoundly revise all of our taxes and charges. The aim is to tax pollution - notably fossil fuels - more, and tax work less,” Mr Sarkozy reportedly said during a national conference on the environment.
He also called on the European Union to spend six months studying “the possibility of taxing imports from countries that do not respect the Kyoto Protocol” - the international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Sarkozy went even further by saying that France would stop the building of new motorways and airports to try to tackle pollution from transport, which accounts for at least quarter of French CO2 gas emissions.
In one of his recent columns, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman declared that CFL light bulbs, hybrid cars and solar-roofs did not matter. Electing the right politicians is what counts. While I disagree with him about the complete futility of individual actions, I do agree with him about exercising our citizen responsibility - voting the right politicians into offices do matter for our green future.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Comments»
>>While I disagree with him about the complete futility of individual responsibility, I do agree with him about exercising our citizen responsibility. Voting the right politicians into offices do matter for our green future.
I hate it when people say that individual actions don’t make a difference. They’re not looking at the broader picture. People start with individual actions sometimes and once they are invested in living a green life, they realize they’d better make sure their leaders share the same values.
Also, in a market-driven society, our individual purchases add up to pressure on businesses to produce more environmentally-friendly products.
Individual actions, taken collectively, add up to a big movement. And that movement drives who gets into office and what products find their way onto shelves.
Beth, I can’t agree with you more. People who are actively involved in green politics are more likely to have taken the first steps to change their lives. And people who cannot be bothered to do their part are less likely to care about electing green politicians into public offices.
Very useful information Cindy, thank you for sharing. I hope the power of the green moment strengthens and that our political leaders will recognize this and also the people of this world. We seem to forget the power we have to change how our country is run and who runs it