Environment

Before I actually start, let me divulge the fact that my daughter in university is studying Environmental Science. I like to believe a small part of that is because of her experience with me, between nature trips and having a 3000 sf garden at one time. Her preference was straight Biology but Environmental Science is one form of applied biology. I love nature and so does she. I’ll also say most vacations I have ever taken have involved nature in some form.

Now, here we go.

Environment

I realize too well that some Americans have no concern for the environment. The only things they care about involve their income and preserving their current or anachronistic view of their way of life. For some, I understand they are in fear. Fear of change, fear of losing what they currently have. I empathize with those fears in very real terms. Yet we must adapt or risk a very dark future. Many Americans already are experiencing the neglect of the environment. High cost of living, decreased incomes, lost farms, lost homes, massive wildfires, lost lives.

The first thing to understand is that technologies change over time. At one time in this country, people feared the Industrial Revolution and all the changes it brought about. People feared motor vehicles. Some places banned automobiles of any kind. There is still one island where motor vehicles are banned, other than emergency vehicles. Before Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law, some cities had such poor air quality as to be toxic. You can look up images of the smog in New York and San Francisco in the early 70’s compared to today. If a society does not adapt technologically to the needs of the time, that society is doomed to complete collapse.

In every case where societal needs have made technological changes necessary, there have been capitalists screaming how those changes would destroy the economy. In every case, they have been wrong. In many cases, those changes improved both the economy and everyday lives. If you improve the environment, you improve health, that leads to improving business and the economy.

If everyone in a society is disabled from asthma and cancer, how is that going to help the economy?