Earth Day  

If I wasn't reading the blogs I wouldn't have even noticed that it was Earth Day on the weekend - a check of the local paper revealed just a single reference in an article on how environmentally conscious Australians are. While we aren't conscious enough to be aware of Earth Day, its interesting to see how little impact the pro nuclear PR campaign is having (as is the spin put on it by the paper).

Australians get top marks for recycling and their concern over the country's water crisis, but need to think more about nuclear energy, a new international poll has found.

The survey, conducted by market intelligence solutions provider Global Market Insite Inc (GMIC) compared the environmental attitudes of 9,000 people from nine countries - the UK, France, Germany, USA, Russia, Canada, Brazil, China and Australia.

The poll, which coincides with International Earth Day, revealed that 91 per cent of Aussies are worried about the future of the environment, slightly ahead of the international average of 90.9 per cent.

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But he pointed out that Australians were showing the same fears as other countries such as Germany, France and Russia who were more proactive.

"Germany, by far, environmentally leads the way in a whole number of areas and yet so many of the concerns that the Australians showed were very similar to those expressed by the Germans," Mr Dee said. "And the German government has been a lot more proactive in respecting the wishes of the German population and their voters."

He also pointed out that Australia came third, behind only Germany and Brazil, in their concerns over saving rainforests. "Yet we are still logging our rainforests here in Australia," Mr Dee said. "It's a very bizarre situation to find ourselves in."

He said it was interesting that 20 years after Chernobyl and with a global coordinated attempt by the nuclear energy industry to put the issue back on the agenda, it was the lowest priority for Australians.

Seed magazine suggests readers send an Earth Day postcard to Senator Inhofe or one of his ideological fellow travellers.

Biodiversity

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is the chairman of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee. Legislation that would considerably weaken the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was put to the committee after a bill passed the House late last year. As chairman, Inhofe—whose environmental record is questionable—has significant influence over the impact of such legislation on important environmental protections.

More info: epw.senate.gov

E-mail Senator Inhofe using this form.

Climate Change

Red Cavaney is president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the primary trade association and lobbying group of US oil and natural gas corporations. As such, he is the single most influential person in the private sector on US energy policy—the Speaker of the House calls him.

More info: www.api.org

E-mail Red Cavaney (cavaneyr at api.org)

Alex at WorldChanging has an essay on Earth Day and the lack of impact all this eco-consciousness is having thus far.

Green is the new black. No buzz-phrase better sums up both the excitement many of us feel about the blooming environmental and social consciousness around us and the essential hollowness of the answers being promoted by many newly-minted eco-pundits.

The flood of environmental magazine cover stories, documentaries and advertisements has pushed us over a public-opinion threshold, which is great. But the solutions being touted by many of our new-found allies are themselves creating a new kind of problem -- people who should know better are selling a muddle-headed, style-over-substance, "lite green" environmentalism at a time when we need to be rebuilding our civilization to avoid disaster. To be blunt, we're being sold out.

People are being told to buy organic cotton T-shirts, keep their tires inflated and recycle their beer bottles. But the reality of the situation is that the impacts of these sorts of actions are totally out whack with the magnitude of the planetary problems bearing down upon us. Those of us who care about the future of the planet need to reclaim this moment from those who would have people think that our biggest challenge is picking the most stylish vegan shoes.

With every passing day, we are discovering that things are worse than we thought. Our climate is ripping apart at the seams at a rate that's surprising even the so-called alarmists. Natural systems are collapsing. The ocean seems headed towards a series of catastrophic tipping points. Economic inequity is producing a planet of billionaires and a billion desperate people. Our political systems are suffering a massive crisis of legitimacy, while insane fundamentalists, violent criminals and two-bit dictators (wearing both uniforms and Armani suits) are stealing or destroying everything they can get their hands on. Everywhere on the planet we find an empty consumer culture so accepted we barely speak of it, except perhaps to make an ironic joke. We have placed a Great Wager on the future of humanity, and the odds are getting worse.

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I believe we are bombarded with messages encouraging us to take the "small steps" precisely because those steps are a threat to no one. They don't depress sales of fashionable crap we don't need. They don't bring people into the streets or sweep corrupt politicians from office. They certainly don't threaten the powerful, entrenched interests who are growing fantastically rich off keeping us locked into the systems that make our lives such a burden on the planet and impoverish our brothers and sisters elsewhere.

Buying a hemp hoodie is not a blow for better world, it's at best a mere gesture towards the idea that the world ought to better. And, here in the Green Spring of 2006, we must finally admit to ourselves that gestures are no longer enough. That to be focused on lifestyle tweaks and attitudinal adjustments at this moment in history is like showing up with a teaspoon to help bail out a sinking ship. If the New Green degenerates into handing out more stylish spoons, we're screwed.

We don't need more carpool lanes. We need to eliminate fossil fuels from our economy. We don't need more recycling bins. We need to create a closed-loop, biomimetic, neobiological industrial system. We don't need to attend a tree-planting ceremony. We need to become expert at ecosystem management and gardening the planet. We don't need another unscented laundry detergent. We need to ban the vast majority of the toxic chemicals upon which our livestyles currently float and invent a completely non-toxic green chemistry. We don't need lite green fashions. We need a bright green revolution.