Holy Earth!

By Michael Hasty

The Marathon

As we begin the second year of the most anti-environmental presidential administration in history, it may be a good idea to reflect on how a "changed" post-9/11 world really isn’t that much different from the world as it existed before, and to renew our commitment to the real, substantive changes in the world that are needed if it is to be preserved for future generations.

It’s sometimes said that, like other of life’s efforts, the pursuit of environmental justice shouldn’t be seen as a sprint, but a marathon. We especially need to remember this at those times when it seems like the faster we run, the further the finish line recedes into the distance.

We’re fortunate, in this regard, to have the inspiration of those who have gone before us. I’m thinking specifically here of people like Laura Forman, whose sudden and untimely recent death has shocked and saddened the West Virginia environmental community. It’s always particularly sad when a young person dies; that sorrow is compounded when it’s someone of such vitality and promise.

I never had the honor of meeting Laura personally, but like many people, I felt personally inspired as I followed her accomplishments at the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. When OVEC’s work was recognized last year with a grant from the Ford Foundation, it provided an emotional uplift to everyone in West Virginia who believes in and supports OVEC’s goals. It seems a tragic irony that Laura’s death occurred at a rally that she herself organized. Somehow, though, that fact also feels like a consolation, and a tribute to her courage and commitment.

The greatest tribute we can make to Laura’s memory is to carry on the work to which she was so dedicated -- the work of saving planet Earth.

God knows, there’s plenty of work to do. Last month, WorldWatch Institute released its annual State of the World report, and it makes for sobering reading. You don’t need any more evidence than this that any "changes" the world has made since last September’s terrorist attacks have not been changes for the better when it comes to the environment.

What makes the WorldWatch viewpoint so valuable is its holistic approach to the world’s problems -- identifying the connections between economic conditions and armed conflict and environmental degradation. The report is geared toward issues that will be a particular focus of the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development that will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa next August. This summit is a follow-up to the UN conference on the environment held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.

Although there has been some progress in the decade since the Rio conference -- notably, the phasing out of chlorofluorocarbons, which have been destroying the planet’s protective ozone layer -- other trends have worsened. Most threatening is the 9 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions, the leading contributor to global warming. This trend represents a distinct failure of the Rio Summit, where nations had agreed to reduce their CO2 emissions. Partly as a result, the last decade was the warmest of the century, and 2001 was the second- warmest year on record.

Among "several significant impediments that have slowed progress towards building a sustainable world over the last decade," the report points to the fact that "environmental policies remain a low priority" for the world’s governments. "The growing number of international environmental treaties and other initiatives suffer from weak commitments and inadequate funding" -- in contrast to worldwide "military expenditures...running at more than $2 billion a day."

That’s a trend that has only been magnified since September.

Another alarming study released last month was the first-ever report issued by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which was set up as a "side agreement" to the NAFTA accord. The report warns of a "widespread crisis" of vanishing biodiversity across the continent, due mainly to the "loss and alteration of habitat." Reading this, a West Virginian cannot help but think of how mountaintop removal, logging and urban sprawl (in which this state leads the nation) are contributing to this crisis.

The report says that the continent’s "diminishing biological diversity has profound consequences. Because the loss is irreversible -- species that are lost are lost forever -- the potential impact on the human condition, on the fabric of the continent’s living systems, and on the process of evolution is immense." The continued existence of at least 235 species of North America’s mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians is threatened by our "severely degraded" ecosystems.

Under normal circumstances, you would think that any report stemming from a "free trade" agreement would attract the attention of our commerce- oriented US government. But of course, these are not normal circumstances. Just as environmentalists predicted during the 2000 presidential campaign, the administration of George W. Bush has essentially declared nature an enemy of the state.

Beyond its abandonment of the Kyoto Treaty on Global Climate Change -- probably the most egregious action the Bush administration has thus far taken against the environment (thankfully, however, it didn’t kill the treaty, as Bush had hoped) -- there has been a relentless effort to roll back every environmental advance of the past three decades.

Just looking at a few days’ worth of news, we see: a public watchdog group reports a "steep decline in environmental enforcement" under Bush; the EPA considers repealing key provisions of the Clean Air Act (signed by his own father); the campaign promise to defend Clinton’s roadless policy in national forests is secretly abandoned; Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is designated a nuclear waste dump (so now where are they going to do the nuclear weapons testing they plan to resume?); etc, etc, etc.

The worst of it is, Bush has set a tone of general dumbing down of environmental awareness that has trickled down to the states. A lot of this can be attributed to the distraction of the "war on terrorism," but think of it: the highest-profile environmental issue in this year’s session of the West Virginia legislature is overweight coal trucks. And the governor’s on the wrong side of the issue.

At least we’ve got the coal miners with us on this one, for a change. And United Mine Workers of America president, Cecil Roberts, is even publicly complaining about (albeit non-union) Massey Coal’s environmental record.

As the old saying goes, where there’s life, there’s hope. So what else can we do, but keep on doing what we’re doing?

It’s a marathon.