i wrote this a bit less than a year ago as the speech i wanted to hear president obama give during the gulf oil disaster. it could easily be adapted to reflect current catastrophes:
Uniting Towards a Sustainable Future: A Speech for the President
My
Fellow Americans, I stand before you tonight wishing that I could tell
you from the bottom of my heart that everything is going to be all
right. But that would be dishonest, and you have been lied to enough.
You have been lied to by politicians, by CEO’s, and, the sad fact of the
matter is that we have been lying to ourselves. We all know that our
system is broken – that rampant borrowing is unsustainable, that
voracious, wasteful consumption of non-renewable resources is
unsustainable, that a culture based on greed and fear is unsustainable.
Everywhere we turn, we see evidence of muck rising to the surface, muck
we sensed was lingering just out of view, but chose to ignore. Citizens
cannot go on pretending, and nor can the government. The time has come
for us to look ourselves and each other in the eye and ask the question,
“What really matters? What are the things that bring real happiness?”
For most of us, family, community, health, and security might come to
mind. And yet many of us feel that these things are in jeopardy. How did
this happen? When we take a moment to think about it, we may realize
that at some point we simply stopped nurturing the things we value most.
We mortgaged away our most precious assets, bet them against some
artificial notion of future success. When did the American Dream become
something that very few can afford, with many others so caught up in the
struggle just to get by that they have no time to tend to the things
that matter most?
In
the April 3, 1944 issue of LIFE magazine, there is an article on page
93 titled “OIL – U.S. Must Drill 20,000 More Wells to Get Enough in
1944.” In the same issue, almost every advertisement – from aftershave
to shoes - alludes to the motto of the day, “Use It Up, Wear It Out,
Make It Do…or Do Without”. On page 130 there’s a full-page ad from the
“War Advertising Council” with a list of things you can do “if you want
to be able to enjoy the good things of life in the peaceful days to
come…if you want to speed victory and thus save the lives of thousands
of fighting men.” The first item on the list is “Buy only what you need.
Take care of what you have. Avoid Waste.” Another point urges the
reader to “Pay off your old debts – all of them. Don’t make new ones.”
Next is “If you haven’t a savings account, start one. If you have an
account, put money in it – regularly.” Last, “Buy and hold War Bonds.
Don’t stop at 10%. Remember – Hitler stops at nothing!”
How
different would our current wars and other crises be if our leaders
asked us to contribute, to collaborate with them, all of us working
together to do our parts? During WWII self-sufficiency in general was
encouraged. Citizens were asked to grow “Victory Gardens” in order to
limit the burden on trucking and railroad supply lines and other
industries. A national “Victory Speed” of 35 miles per hour was
enforced. Gasoline was rationed according to necessity, and for almost a
year, anyone with an “A” sticker – those for whom driving was deemed
non-essential – were allowed only 4 gallons of fuel per week. Since
rubber was in extremely short supply, citizens were asked to contribute
old raincoats, shoes, garden hose, and tires to the recycling effort.
What
has changed? In 65 years, how did we go from a culture eager to share
responsibility and involvement to one of selfish obliviousness? After
9/11, George W. Bush advised us to go about business as usual, act like
everything is fine and leave it to him to annihilate “evil”. Well, it
turns out that, unlike Hitler’s army, this far less tangible and
insidious enemy could not be annihilated with aggression – in fact,
hostility and hatred are the very food on which it thrives. After 9/11
we were justified in our anger – but we did not clearly define our
adversary before we began the battle. The people of Iraq and Afghanistan
were not our enemies. Brothers, fathers, mothers, children, homes,
schools, farmland, ancient relics – all destroyed because violence was
used as the first resort instead of the last one. Our crusade to root
out and destroy evil has wreaked havoc on countless families,
livelihoods, and traditions in the cradle of civilization – and here on
our own soil as well. In our vain attempt to destroy the enemy, we have
lost no small part of ourselves.
But it’s not too late to begin now to do what’s right.
This
starts with the understanding that there are bad seeds and extremists
in every land, but this does not justify unbridled aggression. We must
trust what we know in our hearts to be true: that most people,
regardless of their religion or nationality, yearn for a peaceful
existence, and hold out hope for a better life for their children. We
must focus on that which we have in common with our neighbor, rather
than seek out and exaggerate our differences. After WWII, Americans were
viewed as heroes who made great sacrifices to come to the aid of forces
fighting on the side of good. In stark contrast, our current wars have
caused us to be seen as lone vigilantes, serving only to isolate us and
ignite disgust and disdain for the United States around the world.
These
wars have cost too much in every sense of the word, in lives as well as
dollars. WWII was a boon to our economy because we manufactured goods
that were sold to our allies. We stopped making cars and made airplanes
instead. In contrast, our current wars provide few benefits to our
domestic economy, with the majority of funds going into the coffers of
war profiteers who have proven time and time again to favor their own
bottom lines over the safety and well-being of those they have been
charged to protect. The biggest winner in the war on terror is the oil
companies themselves. More petroleum is purchased by the Department of
Defense for use by the U.S. military than by any other singular entity
in the world. If the oil companies had their way, we’d be at war until
our tanks came to a grinding halt on the battlefield, having run out of
last drop of fuel on planet Earth.
Which
brings me to the subject I came to speak with you about tonight - the
torrent of oil currently gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. I wanted to
speak with you first about the wars in order to make something amply
clear: we are not fighting over religious differences, or to retaliate
for the attack on our soil on 9/11. The unspoken truth is that we are in
these battles for the sake of a substance that controls our every
action. We have been led to believe that we cannot survive without it,
and the fear of not having enough of it compels us kill or die for it.
We
can and must end these wars, but doing so as quickly, efficiently, and
humanely as possible will require us to first understand the real
reasons we began them. As a
nation, we must come to realize that the true enemy is our dependence on
oil, and collectively agree that the appropriate way to fight it
consists of each and every one of us doing our part to simply use less
of it. These wars – and the system that supports them - will cease to
exist the moment we reduce our reliance on oil. We need to bring our
energy and our efforts back home to help protect the things that are in
danger here on our home soil. Our men and women abroad are needed here
on our own shores to join a new and very different kind of battle.
This
will necessitate immediate legislation and, in the longer term, the
development and implementation of technologies based on harnessing
renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower.
This is your government’s responsibility. We have subsidized the oil
industry, provided astronomical tax breaks, and given it free reign on
the shortsighted premise that our economy will continue to require more
and more oil - and only oil - in order to thrive. We have put ourselves
in the precarious position of having no back-up systems, no safety net.
Rather than accept oil’s limitations and begin to scale back our
reliance on it, we’ve developed a culture based on ever-expanding
markets and increasing dependence.
Let
me be clear: BP is fully to blame for the Deepwater Horizon disaster –
they will be held financially and personally accountable for the
reckless, irresponsible decisions that caused its equipment to fail and
put its employees, the Gulf of Mexico, and countless lives and
livelihoods at stake. But there are painful truths that must be faced –
first we need to understand that all the money in the world is not
sufficient to clean up the oil that is choking sea life from plankton to
birds and is seeping into sand and marshes. We will try everything in
our power to restore the Gulf to its former glory, even strive to make
it better than it was, but a clean up could take years, or even decades. The
most difficult truth to face is that, directly or indirectly, we
encouraged and participated in a system that cut corners and allowed
this catastrophe to occur. Now we must leave behind these obsolete and
reckless ways, and instead concentrate our efforts on new, sustainable
means to thrive. The government can and must facilitate these changes in
any way it can, but the fastest route to change will be through the
actions of the people. Your help is urgently needed. We must act
immediately if we wish to enjoy the good things of life in the peaceful
days to come, if we wish to live healthier, less wasteful, more
sustainable lives, if we wish to share the burden with our soldiers
abroad. If we have any hope of leaving the world a better place for our
children, we must make changes necessary – today, not tomorrow. The fate
of our families, or nation, and our world is in our hands. Our greatest
resource has been and always will be the determination of our people,
our resolve, and our ability to do what is necessary in the face of
challenge and adversity.
It
seems there is a lot of fear around change – many people argue that
changes will take too long and cost too much. The hemorrhage of oil into
the Gulf is the most tangible evidence our country has ever seen that
we have no choice – we cannot afford NOT to change. This isn’t only a
matter of the perilous state of the economy of the Gulf – this is
rapidly becoming a matter of health and safety on a global scale.
American citizens constitute 5% of the world population, and yet we consume nearly a quarter of all the world’s resources. China
has a billion more people than the United States, and yet the Chinese
consume less than a third of the resources we use. So much of what we
Americans consume is simply wasted – water down the drain, lights left
on, disposable packaging, inefficient automobiles, appliances, and
architecture. By reducing waste and maximizing our efficiency, almost
without noticing we could cut consumption of resources – and costs - by
50%. During World War II, citizens were asked to “Use it Up, Wear it
Out, Make it Do, or Do Without.” I must ask this of you again today.
Using less would also go a long way towards resolving another problem – pollution. There’s
been a lot of debate about global warming, about whether it exists and
if we should trust the scientific data. The fact is that it doesn’t
really matter if humans are causing global warming. Clearly, humans are
causing pollution. Pollution causes cancer, lung disease, birth defects,
and a whole host of ailments too numerous to list. We now know better
than to eat lead paint chips, drink the effluent from a factory, or
breathe the air in a sewer. We need to learn to be more conscious
stewards of the home we share, this small and miraculous planet Earth.
We don’t need scientists to tell us that all the oceans are connected,
or that the air we breathe here in the United States is the same air
that people in China or Australia or Europe are breathing. Poet John
Donne said, “No man is an island.” No war, no environmental catastrophe
is an island either. All of these events are interrelated. Decisions we
make today will determine not only the future of our own families, but
the future of families on the other side of the world.
This is why today I am proposing the following:
1. A permanent moratorium on all deep water drilling for oil.
2. A national campaign for every citizen to USE HALF
of all non-renewable resources to begin immediately, with greater
emphasis placed on those who have had the luxury of using the most. The
new American way of life will not be one of wasteful excess, but one of
thoughtful, sensible, comfortable efficiency. Constantly striving to
streamline our habits will make the transition to alternative energy
sources easier and cheaper – the less energy we require, the smaller and
more affordable the system needed to sustain our lifestyles.
3.
The establishment of an independent non-profit Sustainability Advisory
Council to develop guidelines for the transition to a more sustainable
society. This council will design programs for corporations, government
offices, families, and individuals to assist in maximizing efficiency
and eliminating waste. The American government will serve as an example,
beginning immediately by converting the White House and all buildings
in Washington to renewable energy. These guidelines will be considered
when taking into account future government contracts, purchases
including supplies, vehicles, and buildings, and other government
spending. Non-essential plane and automobile travel will be eliminated
or discouraged, with as much business as possible being carried out via
Internet and electronic technologies.
4.
A 5% tax on fossil fuels with all monies going to fund development of
renewable technologies, green jobs training for those in the fossil fuel
industry or other industries such as fishing which have been put at
risk by non-renewable resource mining and drilling, improving and
construction of new national train infrastructure and improving
efficiency for other ground transportation systems, rebates and
incentives for those who build new homes and businesses that utilize
renewable resources, and retrofits for existing structures.
5.
New utilities billing practices, with the greatest discounts given to
those who use the least. This new more-you-use-the-more-you-pay model
will make it especially desirable for the largest consumers to develop
ways to maximize efficiency and reduce waste.
6.
New efficiency standards for all vehicles and appliances, and
incentives for the development and implementation of technologies that
maximize efficiency from foot-pedal operated faucets to chest-style
refrigerators that require a tenth of the energy of upright models. The
age of planned obsolescence, disposable everything, and shoddy
workmanship to save a dime in the short run and lose dollars in the long
run is over.
7. A “Victory Maximum Speed Limit” of 55 miles per hour on all roadways, with 65 being allowed on major interstates only.
8.
The establishment of a “Peace Advertising Council” to encourage “Using
It Up, Wearing It Out, Making It Do, or Doing Without”, promote green
entrepreneurialism, and distribute information on gardening,
permaculture, and food forestry for homes, parks, college campuses,
community developments, and industrial complexes.
This
is just the beginning. With your help, this horrific catastrophe will
become an opportunity to unite the people of our United States of
America towards a common goal. Together we can strengthen and heal our
families, our communities, our society, and our world. In this way, the
suffering of our Gulf of Mexico and all affected by this tragic disaster
will not be in vain.
Thank you and good night.
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