Earth Day was established in the 1970 by then United States Senator Gaylord Nelson to inspire awareness for what is commonly associated today with climate change or sustainability.
As inspirational as the message might have been on that now famous date of April, 22nd, 1970 I cannot settle for where we are today. To put my concerns in perspective please consider the following.
Car sales by decade are as follows:
1970 1980 1990 2000 2009
(figures in hundred thousands)
8,399 8,949 9,303 8,847 5,456
Other data suggests that 2009 sales were 10.4 million units and expect 2011 sales to reach 11.5 million. This represents a 19% increase between 1970 and 2010 (using the 10.4 m. figure).
As you look at increases in production across other sectors a similar increase can be found. For instance since 1970 U.S. domestic oil production went down from 9.6 MBD (millions of barrels)/ day to 4.9 MBD; but add foreign oil production (OPEC & non-OPEC countries ) from 3.1 MBD to 11.4 mbb/d for a total net increase of 14.8 mbb/ day of oil (imports minus exports = net oil import).
If we increased our commitment to sustainability and carbon output reduction by similar margins 1) we would likely have less vehicles on the road and 2) we would likely have more fuel efficient vehicles or better yet zero emission vehicles on the road. It is important to look at legislative decisions to fully consider the comparison across the decades we are concerning ourselves with. This could be done in part by determining legislative authorization for pollution allowances for automotive manufacturers, regulations on crude oil imports and exports etc. A variety of benchmarks could be used.
These examples are only to demonstrate that manfacturing and production are increasing at rates greater than that of sustainabile industries.
Earth Day should remind us that there is much work to do still, despite that increase in wind generated energy, solar energy awareness and other "preferred" (a term I use rather than alternative [which suggest that something else is not the best choice] ), energy sources.
Awareness is good but change is better. Lobbyist continue to mount cases against rapid changes that would aggressively protect the biosphere from profit making over environmental priority setting. This is what we have to contend with.
Very nice Earthday Op Ed. Peter
Posted by: Peter Lee | Saturday, 23 April 2011 at 10:38 AM