EARTH DAY 2021: Mandates Bad? Mass Extinction Okay?
In Tribute To David Buckle.
For Earth Day 2021 let’s demand that we outlaw our pollution!
This solution is staring us in the face. We need to stop the pollution we cause by producing electricity, driving cars, and growing our food. These are 80% of the pollution solution. And most importantly are 100% of the political solution.
I call these mandates but am told we can’t use that word. Meanwhile, folks seem fine with the word mass extinction. That’s how powerful the oil lobby is. They took mandates on polluting industries so far off the agenda we can’t even say the word.
It’s time to put them back on the agenda and THE EARTH BILL is that demand.
The demand in a movement is everything. It has to be a real solution to the problem. It has to call the political question. It has to be understandable, relatable, and have a catchy name.
We know we need to stop our pollution. But no bill and no politician is planning to do this in law. And it has to be in law. Reversible regulations are too unstable to secure private financing to build 100% renewables at the scale and timeline required. Only a law can do this. Or the utility will not be required to buy clean energy and it will not be built.
This is obvious. The problem is political. If we require utilities to buy 100% renewables, this means they will stop buying oil and gas. The corporations that sell oil and gas have ultimate power in Congress and U.S. politics. So, what happens? For 40 years, not a single law has been passed to stop our pollution, when all we need to do is make the utility companies go green.
The Biden Administration is not looking for a fight on anything. Instead, they astutely ride the political currents, offering trillions for new projects that avoid confronting the pollution pumping now. This would be a savvy way to turn the ship if we had more time, which we don’t. The cliff is imminent, and this is an abdication of responsibility to save our children’s future while we have both Houses and the White House, which may not happen again for some time.
Due to our inaction, we now have under 7 years more of our pollution before we reach 1.5 and the zone of tipping points, like ocean currents that stop flowing and ice-sheets melting, ensue that will mean disaster on this miraculous planet of abundance.
We can not allow the politics of now to stop us from saving life on Earth. We have big momentum on our side and the time is ripe for a real demand.
Republicans on the U.S. House Climate Crisis Committee are not even really mounting a defense, so now’s the time to surge forward. In Rep. Castor’s recent hearing focusing on the urgency (Making the Case For Climate Action. The Growing Risks and Costs of Inaction), calm scientists explained how Florida will disappear under sea-level rise. Rep. Castor is from Tampa, so she understands the problem.
But still, no one in Congress or in the White House is willing to confront the problem head-on. No one wants to ban fossil fuels or chemical-laden agriculture. They don’t want to piss off the corporate bossman.
They can’t even define “renewable energy” without reverting to fantasy technologies, which are like grasping for delusional straws. Everyone knows we’re not acting to avert the disaster, so we create pretend-hope that theoretical technologies might fix it later. It’s their escape hatch for culpability for inaction today.
“Oh, new technology will fix it later, so let’s keep polluting.” This is worst than a head in the sand. It is an intentional deflection to avoid confronting the political truth that they are afraid of Big Oil and selling out humanity’s future to stay in office.
The large climate institutions are also avoiding this. As with other movements, the insider experts are tight with the Democratic Party, and they provide staff and technical advice, including external political cover. They too are more worried about the next election – and their relationships with the DNC – than the next generation.
It’s a political pragmatism of the status quo, which is an equal threat to our ability to change course in time. Civil society is often the first line of defense for the politicians against the grassroots, even the youth crying for action. History will note this in more detail.
This leaves the activists. The 16-year-old organizing a protest in-between classes while babysitting their siblings. The 86 year old at every meeting in a basement. The parents quitting their jobs to fight for their children’s future. This has come down to you. The system has not saved us. But we might if we’re able to unite.
The hardest part of fighting the system is uniting among activists with a strategic focused demand that inspires relentless determination. Without a clear path, despair sets in. One activist – David Buckel – a husband and father – a beloved gay rights attorney – set himself on fire with gasoline in Prospect Park NYC out of desperation in the face of the institutional failure for Earth. Here is an artistic rendition for this “Climate Martyr”.
This desperation is understandable. We have so many groups in every state working on climate but they are not working together. There is no common rallying cry. And as such, there are no results and no real power.
We are losing this race against time. We zoom and email constantly. We have deep contacts used for sign-on letters and marches. We all dance around the topic when the solution is right in front of us.
We need to make our governments outlaw our pollution.
This means mandating that the utility company switch to renewables. It means we stop making combustion engines. It means mandating that big agriculture companies stop using chemicals that destroy the soil’s ability to absorb our pollution. And it means enforcement with personal liability.
These three industries – working for us – are killing our planet with our own money. Your electric, gas and food bills all support this system. And only you have the power – the possibility of enough power – to stop it.
THE EARTH BILL is a grassroots-driven demand for 100% renewable electricity, electric vehicles, and regenerative agriculture. It puts the responsibility on Congress to make utility, car and food corporations change their inputs from dirty to clean. It’s that simple. Mandates on three industries can save us all.
We consumers will still have these products but without the pollution destroying Earth. It’s targeted and fast – by 2030 – to match the carbon clock – and has measurable results. It’ll also test in real-time our ability to actually do this before it’s too late.
Everyone wins with this. The clean way is better, cheaper and healthier. But the polluting companies have no intention of stopping and they are the power ruling the day still.
We’re here to change that and we need everyone, every group, every leader to unite to make this demand together in unison without compromise. This starts with you.
For Earth Day 2021 let’s demand it! Stop our Pollution. In the 117th Congress and Biden Presidency. If not now, when?
Humanity has thrived because of our ability to work together. This is that test. Will 100 corporations destroy Earth? Or will the People of Earth prevail?
Let’s get to work! Unity is our only hope!