20160716 (overdue)

Going Green full-scale may require the government to stop producing cars in favor of producing solar panels, as we did in WWII. Is the destruction of life from global warming less serious than the threat of Nazi domination? Climate change may be slow (?) but it's certain.

Between “Do as I say, not as I do,”

And, “You can’t just talk the talk.

You’ve got to walk the walk,” is 

A challenge by which we must 

Measure the authenticity of

Environmental advocates. Are 

We individually or as a group

Actually reducing our energy

Consumption? It’s always upset

Me that I’ll rail against fracking

But readily heat my house and 

Water with gas—especially

Now that fracking has made gas

Plentiful and cheap. I can justify 

It as practical hypocrisy--no 

Other sources are available, just

As I drive my gasoline fueled car--

No electric in my price range. I

Do other things: keep my house

At 62˚F in the winter; replaced

My Focus with a higher mpg Scion.

I don’t have whole house air--I

Have a window unit for summer.

I know this listing of virtuous

Behavior is making me sound 

Like a precious good-two-shoes

Even though through enumerating

Instances helps us find where we 

Are on the consumption scale.

Despite how much we conserve

Individually, our efforts won’t

Turn the earth around much if

Population grows exponentially.

Among those where it is growing

Fastest are nations just now beginning

Middle class consumption. Who 

Are we to insist they cut back

While we consume the lion's

Share as we have for centuries?

The developed nations should 

Be exemplars for wise use of

Energy, developers of effective

Conservation, and masters 

At producing clean power. 

We are barely begun. We 

Could reduce need for air

Conditioning by making all

New roofs white, converting

Older buildings to that standard.

We could require photovoltaic

Panels on every roof and build

Farms of them through every

Desert. Who’s going to pay

For my daydreaming? We

Could tax the greatest, most

Profitable companies--the 

Fossil fuel industry--to pay to 

Undo the damage they’ve caused 

And continue to do. We cannot 

Allow corporations to operate

Any way they alone see fit.

Corporations exist for purposes

Congruent with the will of the

People. Once they have crossed

The line from benefitting to

Endangering the people, it’s

Past time to pull their plug.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016