A New Vision for America III - Rescue the Planet, Save Ourselves

My father's weekly column.


Certain facts about global warming are scientifically indisputable. The planet is heating up at an alarming rate! The great Arctic ice sheet is melting. These phenomena hold dire consequences for all us no matter our geography or our political philosophy. Rising oceans are already threatening low-lying Pacific Islands. Weather systems are even now being disrupted in North America and elsewhere.

Many nations around the world are taking this crisis seriously and attempting to find ways to curtail the human causes. Scientists worldwide realize that at least part of the difficulty is produced by the pollutants we throw into the air. And it is almost universally agreed that the combustion of fossil fuels lies at the heart of the problem.

Nations which have a long-term view not only realize that the future belongs to those who take this matter seriously, but are even now restructuring their R&D resources to address it. China, which ranks with the US as a primary culprit, now produces over half of the world’s solar panels. Scientific labs there are hard at work discovering alternatives to both oil and coal, (even while China develops a new coal-burning plant each day).

Where is the United States? We remain in massive denial. One Oklahoma Senator seeks to thwart all governmental activity by positing that even if global warming exists—which he doubts—it is not the result of anything humans are currently doing. Why do he and a handful of others in his political orbit take that position? The claim is that all this talk about global warming interferes with American business interests, particularly those of the big fossil fuel companies. Cap and Trade, which sought to modestly curtail excessive pollutants, has been shot down because it would be bad for American industries and their preoccupation with their quarterly profit and loss statements. Whether it would be critical to the planet’s survival is a secondary matter.

This controversy is just another example of a basic American dilemma. Do our fundamental decisions rest on what is good for Wall Street and all those of us who invest in it, or is there a common good which goes far beyond these private interests? Around the globe the wisest scientists, savvy industrial leaders and alert politicians not only realize the environmental impact of the crisis but also know that future industrial productivity must take it into account. If there are tens of thousands of new jobs coming to the world economy, they will come from yet to be contemplated R&D. They will not come from the fossil fuel industry, but from those wise enough and invested enough to confront the environmental crisis. More about where the jobs are likely to come from in a couple of weeks.

It is not just a matter of good will, refined ethics or even sensitivity to what is happening to the planet, but also a matter of economic survival. While we have relied on the information industry to bridge the job gap, we will not meet our needs by passing around data. The challenge of the coming decades is how we can develop new forms of energy not dependent on fossil fuels, in a way that sustains economic viability. We may discover new oil deposits somewhere, or even ways to scrub coal, but the earth is not one endless copper-tin-uranium-gold-oil-coal-natural gas source. Sooner or later we will exhaust everything it holds.

The people and nations owning the future will be those able to find alternative sources that are vital enough to power our cultures. At this writing the United States is far back in that quest. Not only are we captured by the economic power of the fossil fuel industries, we are also fixated on short-term profitability. In the meantime the lobbyists for the industrial giants will continue to feed that fixation. What happens to the planet or to those who will live here a hundred years hence seems of little concern. America’s future will rest on our taking that longer look. And that implies a very different mindset.

Charles Bayer

Charles Bayer is a somewhat retired theological professor and congregational pastor. He and his wife live at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, Calif., where he is still involved in writing a newspaper column and a variety of other jobs, boards and activities.

Other articles can be seen here:

http://www.seniorcorrespondent.com/articles/2011/02/02/a-new-vision-for-america-part-ii-the-educational-imperative-22.161540