Alexis De Tocqueville is right: apathy leads to governmental paralysis. This became evident today at the UN Bali Climate Change Conference.
People do not care enough about the world around them. If they did, they would see the grave danger posed by Climate Change and Global Warming. There is nearly a scientific unanimity that human produced green house gases(GHG) are the chief culprit of Global Warming. The good news is that we can stop Global Warming through reducing GHG emissions. The bad news is that citizens are not speaking up about it. Inaction on Climate Change is intolerable and threatens our biological existence. Yet, Washington carries on as normal because citizens allow it to do so.
The US is balking at mandatory caps on GHG's. At the Bali UN Conference on Climate Change, proponents of an international agreement (Replacing Kyoto, which expires in 2012) are pushing to include mandatory carbon reduction standards: zero emissions by 2020. The US, and other major producers of GHG's do not want to take responsibility and agree, at the very least, to have some target reducing carbon emissions. Thus, talks are stalled, and the EU is threatening to pull out if a framework of an agreement is not reached by the end of the conference.
De Tocqueville warned that citizens will get too caught up in physical gratification, retreat from democracy, and in turn, democracy would become static. This is becoming all but true. We are valuing 'the now' over 'the future'. We are putting physical gratification and materialism above ensuring the surivial to our biological existence.
What can you do? You can start by calling your member of congress and demanding action. Furthermore, you could get involved with the many organizations spearheading this fight, vote for candidates who will promise action on climate change, and start to personally reduce your carbon out put. Believe it or not, one person can make a difference. A little in abundance is a lot. Imagine if one million individuals were to make an effort to address climate change through personal action. Americratic inaction on Climate Change is not acceptable, what are you doing to do about it?
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Green is the new red, white and blue. We all have to be responsible for our individual carbon footprint and we must do all we can to collectively make a difference. It is also imperative that corporations and government do their part to create ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The genie is out of the bottle with respect to new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, solar and wind energy, and we must band together to demand that these alternatives to fossil fuel get put into place. We have the power, now let's use it to reduce, reuse, recycle and renew.
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