A modest proposal for a better economic and environmental future

We love to play the blame game in this country, don't we? In any crisis or disaster, we can count on finger pointing. Various people will blame big business, big labor, immigrants, Republicans, Democrats, the President, Congress, the Supreme Court, liberals, conservatives, and so it goes on forever.

Unfortunately, folks engaged in blaming or trying to duck blame cannot expend that same energy on actually solving the problem. It was for Earth Day 1971 that Walt Kelly introduced perhaps the most famous line in his strip Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us." (See last week's strip for two examples.)

We all, as individual citizens, need to make adjustments in our lifestyle. We need to change our thinking, primarily because that's the only way we can change our behavior. I offer the following points for contemplation:

• It is not the government's responsibility to supply all our needs.
• But it is the government's responsibility to encourage development of more sustainable technologies. That means it must subsidize small startup companies until they and the industries they are founding become big enough to stand on their own.
• Not all tax increases are unreasonable burdens. People must be willing to pay the ones that support new technologies or upgrade our infrastructure.
• Bad things always happen, from natural disasters to man-made disasters. There's no point in merely trying to find who to blame for them.
• We have some control over some bad things, but none at all over others.
• Individuals ought to take prudent steps to insulate themselves from what can't be controlled. For example, your property floods regularly, move your residence or business somewhere else. Don't buy or build anything in such a place.
• Individuals and society as a whole must take control where we have the chance. Finger pointing and political name calling do not count.
• Maybe there's a better way to do things than the most immediately convenient way.
• Sustainable products and practices might be more expensive at first (not necessarily), but will actually cost less in the long run.
• Regardless of what anyone thinks about the necessity of oil exploration and drilling right now, we need to explore ways not to use oil for fuel at all. It may be impossible to stop all uses of petroleum products, but the less of it we use, the less we have to buy from unfriendly nations.
• It's not that hard to plan the order of errands to minimize how far you drive.
• The more we can use our own muscle power instead of some machine, the better it will be both for our health and the national energy consumption.
• Conservation and conservative come from the same root, but it is really something that everyone can practice, regardless of politics.
• Lately, the party in power has tried to run roughshod over the minority party. When the majority changes hands, the new majority effortlessly takes up where the old one left off. The only reason they get away with it is that voters let them. It's when your party is in the majority that you must push bipartisanship on them.
• Both the "left" and the "right" support, and are supported by, special interests. Lobbyist-driven legislation is probably bad for everyone else, so be careful what bandwagons you jump on.
• When you finish drinking something out of a can or bottle in your car, put it on the floor. You can put it in a trash can or recycling container when you get to a stopping place. Don't just throw it out the window. In other words, don't be part of the problem.

Are we prepared? Man-made and natural threats in the environment.

Astronomers predict an increase in solar activity that will at best interrupt our electrical and electronic infrastructure in the coming years. Is America ready? Does anyone really need to follow the link to know the answer? As a society, and for that matter, the human race as a whole, we are not very good boy scouts. We are hardly prepared for anything.

As I write this, the great BP oil spill continues to gush. BP was not prepared, but all of the other oil drillers had similar plans to deal with a deep-water emergency. They would not have been prepared, either.

The federal government proved unprepared to do much more substantial than to hold BP responsible and declare that they must pay. Not only has it done little to protect the coastline, it has actively interfered with local residents and governments in their attempts to deal with the problem.

Who elected such a government? The same folks who consistently build and rebuild homes and businesses in flood plains, earthquake fault zones, and unstable hillsides. The same folks who want every imaginable government service but don't want to pay taxes for them. The same folks who make their own convenience their very top priority, without questioning its costs.

Are we prepared for earthquakes? California, of necessity, has adopted strict building codes, and yet it's not that long ago that an earthquake collapsed an apartment complex, which caused many deaths. Geologists say that large earthquakes are likely in areas that experience them infrequently. What kinds of building codes do jurisdictions in those areas have?

Are we prepared for floods? We have built over wetlands that would have offered some protection from floods. We have constructed whole communities in flood plains. Property owners expect insurance companies to pay for rebuilding in the same place.

We never seem to have the money to prioritize replacing eroded bridges, redesigning highways with high accident rates, or otherwise keep infrastructure in good shape.

We keep discarding huge quantities of trash, even though some jurisdictions must now haul it many miles to find a landfill for it. Then, of course, the trucks must drive back empty--one way among many that we waste gasoline. Hmm. Might that have something to do with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?