Posted: Monday, July 17, 2006 12:00 am
We need action now on global warming
By MAUREEN BEEZHOLD
Growing up in a Jewish community during the 1950s, I was immersed in stories of the Holocaust. Some members of my congregation still had concentration camp numbers tattooed on their wrists. Many lost loved ones during that horrendous period.
Learning more about these families' stories, I was amazed that even when people had options to leave, they often chose not to. They could not believe it would get that bad. How could they not see the Holocaust coming? Feeling puzzled, I wondered if I would recognize that kind of situation.
I realize now how easily denial happens. In my work, I am painfully aware of the potential for planetary catastrophe if we continue down our present path of living on nature's capital rather than its interest.
If you need a quick course on the effects of global warming you only have to see Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" or read Time magazine's special report April 3. It begins "Be worried. Be very worried … Here's how it affects you, your kids and their kids as well."
Yet do we have a national policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Are we improving our public transit system to make it reliable, on time and reasonably priced? Do we give priority to alternative forms of transportation including walking, biking, bus or train?
Or do we think, like folks in Nazi Germany, that it will never get that bad? What will it take for us to realize we are pushing the planet beyond limits it has never experienced since humankind's presence on the Earth?
Our car (ironically) displays one bumper sticker: "No Planet - No Business." Yet somehow our culture seems to regard planetary health as an option - something nice to do when you have money or time left over from more profitable pursuits.
There are many indicators that our only home's future is pretty grim. What are our options? Fortunately, many are rising to the challenge both locally and around the world.
Corvallis recently became a Green Power Community by purchasing 15 percent of our energy from renewable sources. We are one of three cities in the country to receive this designation.
Our city and county governments are working to increase sustainable practices in their government operations. Several local businesses and organizations are using the Natural Step framework for sustainability as part of their business plan. Corvallis is becoming a model for sustainability.
Other models include Curitiba, Brazil, sometimes called the "ecological city." This city of 2.4 million people reduced its slums, maintains a 95 percent literacy rate and enjoys a thriving international business community. Its residents have a 72-year life expectancy. All this in a country with a gross domestic product that was
27 percent of the United States' in 1996.
One of the city's initial projects was improving transportation by developing a system focused on universal access over cars while meeting the requirements of its poorest citizens. A subway system was prohibitively expensive so they utilized the existing bus system. Rush hour buses leave once a minute. Bus drivers operate traffic lights retaining bus priority and reducing fuel, pollution, noise, cost and trip time.
Curitiba has the cleanest air in Brazil, car ridership that is lower than any other Brazilian city, and a self-sustaining public transport system. Old buses are recycled into classrooms, clinics and job training centers. This is not a community in denial.
I wonder if our children and grandchildren will wonder why we did not see the planetary holocaust coming and strive to do something or will they thank us for figuring it out and giving them a livable planet.
Maureen Beezhold is the Corvallis coordinator for Northwest Earth Institute and the assistant coordinator for the local chapter of the Oregon Natural Step Network.