The good news today from the economic front is that the GDP of America (the total of all goods and services) is rising. The bad news is: that the GDP is rising. We are hooked on the proverbial horns of a dilemma.
On the one hand, we are glad to see more of our neighbors going back to work, to see unemployment payments decrease, to see higher tax revenues flowing back into government coffers and to see a general easing in the country’s stress levels. On the other hand, the level of business activity has a direct effect on the nation’s and world’s environmental issues.
I have just returned to classes at Colorado Mountain College (after a 20 plus year layoff) and am deeply involved in the study of environmental science and sustainable business. Of my many reasons to go back to school, perhaps the most important was to find a way to make a real difference in the future facing this country and the world. I am bringing 40 years of construction experience, and many more of life, to the table. But, I am far from alone. The ranks of the activists are growing by the day. You need not look very far or long to find a staggering amount of evidence for a looming environmental disaster. Simply, our modern lives are beating the hell out of the earth’s resources. The burning of fossil fuels, some as old a 300 million years, is changing our climate in a way that is death to an unprecedented number of the earth’s species of plants and animals; and probably a large portion of the human race.
We are facing a race of different kind. The race is to find solutions and alternatives; or else. But standing in the way are political, economic and social road blocks. We now live in a world in which many of the necessities of life are provided by multi-national corporations. These mega-businesses have grown beyond the control of our societies. And, currently, they are obfuscating the nature of our situation; for continued profits.
But even here at home, the Roaring Fork Valley, we are burning more energy than some small countries. (A slight exaggeration, perhaps.) Consider the jet planes, heated driveways, non-stop traffic, heating and cooling of massive trophy houses, ski lifts and snowmaking, and the importation of virtually everything we consume every day. To paraphrase Desi in I Love Lucy: “Somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do!”
With the help of my instructors, classmates, and many others, I hope to bring you some ideas and information that will help solve these problems and find a path forward.
Patrick Hunter
Carbondale
After reading the article please share your thoughts in the comment section below.