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Features for Seniors
Earth Day Not So Happy as U.S. Wrestles with
Spiraling Energy Cost
Would have to be at least a baby boomer to remember first Earth Day
April 22, 2006 As many senior citizens and
boomers will remember, it was in 1969 that a devastating oil spill off
the coast of Santa Barbara inspired visiting Wisconsin Senator Gaylord
Nelson to come up with the idea for Earth Day. Twenty million Americans
celebrated at the first event in 1970 and began actions to protect the
environment. Today, on the 36th anniversary, Americans again focus on
Mother Earth, with most of this attention shifting toward the developing
energy crisis.
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In California, however, where it all began, there
is attention on the danger to the environment posed by population
growth. California's population was less than 20 million on the first
Earth Day. Now it has almost doubled. In those years thirty years
California has added the number of people that exceeds the combined
current populations of Norway, Costa Rica, Ireland, and Albania.
"Like so many early environmentalists, he (Nelson)
knew, and stated candidly, that population growth was the most important
problem facing our nation. He didnt let political correctness prevent
him from speaking the truth about this issue - unlike so many current
leaders of large environmental organizations," said Diana Hull,
president of Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS).
"Unlike 1970, most of the population growth in the
United States today, and especially in California, comes from
immigration and births to immigrants," Hull said. "We will never prevent
environmental degradation until we stabilize our population."
Save Energy
As both gasoline and electricity prices skyrocket
on Earth Day April 22, the Alliance to Save Energy offers extensive
resources on its consumer web site
http://www.ase.org/consumers as well as elsewhere to help consumers
reduce their energy bills, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, and
get a federal tax credit, too.
The Alliance also issued a timely Earth Day "4 for
the Planet" challenge to consumers: replace your four most used
incandescent bulbs with four Energy Star-labeled compact fluorescent
bulbs to save more than 2,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and $190
over the life of the bulbs. If all of our nation's households did the
same, we'd save as much energy as is consumed by some 38 million cars in
one year, the Alliance estimates.
The Alliance consumer web site offers Tips to Lower
Your Energy Bills and resources -
http://www.ase.org/consumers .
Earth Killer Award
The price of energy seems to also have the
attention of Hope for Peace & Justice, which will present the U.S. House
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) with
its first Earth Killer Award on Sunday, at the Cathedral of Hope during
its 9 and 11 a.m. worship services. The Earth Killer Award was created
to recognize those who have worked tirelessly to remove and prevent
regulations that would ensure clean air and water for future
generations. The Cathedral of Hope is located at 5910 Cedar Springs
Road; Dallas, TX 75235. The services are free and open to all.
In the last five years, the organization says, Rep.
Barton has cast only three pro- environment votes out of a possible 65.
He was selected as chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in
2004, after receiving zero percent on the National Environmental
Scorecard in 2003 from the League of Conservation Voters.
Gasoline Company Barbs
ExxonMobil invested less than three-hundredths of
one percent of last year's record $36 billion in profits on direct
research on alternative energy, according to recent Senate testimony and
company documents analyzed by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer
Rights (FTCR). The $10 million a year that Exxon puts into a 10- year
project at Stanford University also pales next to the more than $400
million granted in his final year to recently retired CEO Lee R.
Raymond.
By contrast, BP (formerly British Petroleum) last
year announced an $8 billion investment in a new business, BP
Alternative Energy, aiming to "lead the market in low-carbon alternative
power."
Exxon's penny-pinching on the research needed to
ease U.S. petroleum dependence and lead oil companies into a less
petroleum-dependent future comes on top of the FTCR's finding on April
17 that less than one-fourth of the recent spike in gasoline prices to
$3 and above can be attributed to crude oil prices and ethanol costs,
despite the claims of oil producers, refiners and many politicians.
Read the study at
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/energy/pr/?postId=6133
Political Slant
Democratic governors are also using the occasion to
point out that while Republicans control Washington oil prices are at
record highs and they have "innovative policies" to protect the
environment and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil.
"Earth Day has evolved into much more than an
expression of concern about threats to our environment. It's a
celebration of the abundant beauty and resources we enjoy, and an urgent
call to action to protect our future," Democratic Governors Association
(DGA) Chair New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said.
"While President Bush talks about energy and the
environment, Democratic governors are protecting our future by
preserving the environment."
In his state, Richardson issued Executive Orders
requiring state agencies to reduce travel and switch to renewable fuels,
and created an environmental justice task force to analyze effective
ways to protect the environment. New Mexico was also the first state to
join the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a greenhouse gas emission
reduction program.
Democratic governors say they have taken steps
toward energy independence and increased environmental protections.
● Gov. Jennifer Granholm (Mich.) ordered environmental regulators to
reduce mercury pollution by 90 percent by 2015.
● Gov. John Baldacci (Maine) signed his fifth bill designed to protect
the environment from dangerous mercury pollution, and
● Gov. John Lynch (N.H.) will soon sign similar legislation of his
own.
● Gov. Jim Doyle (Wis.) mandated that all current and future state
facilities meet high environmental and energy efficiency standards
including green cleaning, green purchasing, waste reduction and
recycling, pollution prevention, energy and water efficiency, and light
pollution.
● Gov. Ed Rendell announced that his Energy Development Authority
awarded a grant to place 15 small, advanced technology wind turbines in
highly- visible locations across Pennsylvania.
"And I cannot stress enough that developing sources
of renewable energy and reducing consumption of foreign oil is also key
to our homeland security. Our dependence makes us vulnerable," concludes
Richardson.
LINKS:
Earth Day Network
Founded by the organizers of the first
Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network (EDN) promotes environmental
citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide.
Click to site.
Earth Day Information
Center
The National Center for
Public Policy Research that is "supportive of a strong national defense
and dedicated to providing free market solutions to today's public
policy problems," has launched the Earth Day Information Center with
a history of Earth Day, as well
as information and commentary on issues such as global warming, energy
policy, forest policy, smart growth, and property rights.
Click to site.
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