2008 Woodie Awards
Americans want a better world
Tiffany Coleman
Issue date: 1/23/06 Section: Forum
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Americans, according to the poll, have a great desire for better fuel efficiency and more environmentally friendly approaches, including increased funding for renewable resources and focus on more eco-savvy energy sources such as solar and wind power.
Americans are fed up with the political machines unending push for petroleum. They would much rather focus on what they can do now as individuals and how their tax dollars can be focused to give back to the environment instead of destroying the few places we have left.
The truth is being hidden carefully so that Americans will continue to feel guilty for their actions even as they continue to reuse, reduce, recycle, and spend more money and time attempting to curb their energy uses.
When will the critics learn that real Americans want the world to be a better place? That it's not an American tough-guy ideal leading people to purchase drive gas-guzzling behemoths and live in the suburbs?
A common misconception is that Americans are not in the "business" of trying to do right by the environment, while attempting to get that petroleum monkey off their backs. Perhaps the environmental critics are right and we have all gone too far to recover from our overindulgent lifestyle. I think the world needs to look more at our neighborhoods. Check out the local recycling, car pool, erosion depletion, organic farming and bio-diesel programs cropping up nationwide, even in Kansas City, where it feels as though everything is always behind schedule.
The answer might be found in new urbanized areas created to complement our growing need for instant access. Or it might be found in the SUV-driving suburbanite who just happens to lead a neighborhood compost group bent on planting prairie grasses and native trees along those ugly highways many of us travel daily.
Americans are working for a better tomorrow. With each energy efficient light bulb used, each extra person in your carpool and every tree planted we reach closer to a sustainable society. And that, my friends, should be each person's long-term goal. Like to know more? Attend a "Peak Oil Documentary Series" film like I did and get those gears turning in your head. Thought-provoking films are offered all semester at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in Royall Hall. See you there.
tcoleman@unews.com
Americans are fed up with the political machines unending push for petroleum. They would much rather focus on what they can do now as individuals and how their tax dollars can be focused to give back to the environment instead of destroying the few places we have left.
The truth is being hidden carefully so that Americans will continue to feel guilty for their actions even as they continue to reuse, reduce, recycle, and spend more money and time attempting to curb their energy uses.
When will the critics learn that real Americans want the world to be a better place? That it's not an American tough-guy ideal leading people to purchase drive gas-guzzling behemoths and live in the suburbs?
A common misconception is that Americans are not in the "business" of trying to do right by the environment, while attempting to get that petroleum monkey off their backs. Perhaps the environmental critics are right and we have all gone too far to recover from our overindulgent lifestyle. I think the world needs to look more at our neighborhoods. Check out the local recycling, car pool, erosion depletion, organic farming and bio-diesel programs cropping up nationwide, even in Kansas City, where it feels as though everything is always behind schedule.
The answer might be found in new urbanized areas created to complement our growing need for instant access. Or it might be found in the SUV-driving suburbanite who just happens to lead a neighborhood compost group bent on planting prairie grasses and native trees along those ugly highways many of us travel daily.
Americans are working for a better tomorrow. With each energy efficient light bulb used, each extra person in your carpool and every tree planted we reach closer to a sustainable society. And that, my friends, should be each person's long-term goal. Like to know more? Attend a "Peak Oil Documentary Series" film like I did and get those gears turning in your head. Thought-provoking films are offered all semester at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in Royall Hall. See you there.
tcoleman@unews.com
