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]]]]]]]] AN ECOLOGICAL KRISTALLNACHT. LISTEN. [[[[[[[[[[[
(8/18/1989)
By Albert Gore Jr.
[``Albert Gore Jr., a Democrat, is Senator from Tennessee.'']
[From The New York Times, 19 March 1989, Sec. 4, p. 27:1]
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[Kindly uploaded by Freeman 10602PANC, who writes:
Dear Dr Beckmann: I found the following so astonishing that I
cannot thing of anything to say. The sad fact is that The Times
is not letting a crazy discredit himself by allowing him his say.
They agree with him! A good many of the Times' readers are
Jewish, so that trying to make a parallel between environmental
`holocaust' and Hitlerian `holocaust' is clever. But how wrong!
What a blasphemy! How offensive!
You said you wanted items that would be valuable five years
from now. That the most influential newspaper of the most
scientifically and technologically advanced nation and a member
of the legislative body of the most powerful nation could hold
the points of view expressed in this piece strains credulity.
Gore proves that man is the only creature capable of doing filth
on himself.
Regards,
O. Panczenko]
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WASHINGTON
Humankind has suddenly entered into a brand new relationship
with our planet. Unless we quickly and profoundly change the
course of our civilization, we face an immediate and grave danger
of destroying the worldwide ecological system that sustains life
as we know it.
It is time to confront this danger.
In 1939, as clouds of war gathered over Europe, many refused
to recognize what was about to happen. No one could imagine a
Holocaust, even after shattered glass had filled the streets on
Kristallnacht. World leaders waffled and waited, hoping that
Hitler was not what he seemed, that world war could be avoided.
Later, when aerial photographs revealed death camps, many
pretended not to see. Even now, many fail to acknowledge that
our victory was not only over Nazism but also over dark forces
deep within us.
In 1989, clouds of a different sort signal an environmental
holocaust without precedent. Once again, world leaders waffle,
hoping the danger will dissipate. Yet today the evidence is as
clear as the sounds of glass shattering in Berlin.
Listen:
o The earth's forests are being destroyed at the rate of one
football field's worth every second, one Tennessee's worth every
year.
o An enormous hole is opening in the ozone layer, reducing the
earth's ability to protect life from deadly ultraviolet
radiation.
o Living species die at such an unprecedented rate that more
than half may disappear within our lifetimes.
o Chemical wastes, in growing volumes, seep downward to poison
ground water and upward to destroy the atmosphere's delicate
balance.
o Huge quantities of carbon dioxide, methane and
chlorofluorocarbons dumped in the atmosphere have trapped heat
and raised global temperatures.
o Every day, 37,000 children under the age of 5 die of
starvation or preventable diseases made worse by failures of
crops and politics.
Why are these dramatic changes taking place? Because the
human population is surging; (it took a million years to reach
two billion people. In the last 40 years, world population has
doubled. And in the next 40 years, the number of people could
double again); because the industrial, scientific and
technological revolutions magnify the environmental impact of
these increases, and because we tolerate self-destructive
behavior and environmental vandalism on a global scale.
Why, once again, do we fail to rally our forces? Much of the
world closed its eyes as Hitler marched because the only adequate
response was a horrible war many hoped to avoid. Do we now
shrink from the unimaginably difficult response demanded by the
global environmental crisis, and hope against hope that it will
yet prove unnecessary?
This crisis is so different from anything before that it is
hard to believe it is real. We seize scientific uncertainties,
however small, as excuses for inaction. Some, like Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain in Munich, would rather adapt to the
threat than confront it. This time, they are protected not by an
umbrella but by floppy hats and sunglasses.
Our complacency stems in part form a standard of living
dependent on rapid consumption of the earth's resources. Our
generation has inherited the idea that we have the right to
appropriate for ourselves the earth's accumulated treasures as
quickly as we can consume them. We reach back through millions
of years for the deposits that fuel our industrial civilization.
Just as a drug addict needs increasing doses to produce the
same effect, our global appetite for the earth's abundance grows
each year. we transform the resources of the past into the
pollution of the future, telescoping time for self-indulgence in
the present.
In 1987, carbon monoxide levels in the atmosphere began to
surge with record annual increases. Global temperatures are also
climbing: 1987 was the second hottest year on record; 1988 was
the hottest. Scientists now predict our current course will
raise world temperatures five degrees Celsius in our lifetimes.
The last time there was such a shift, it was five degrees colder;
New York City was under one kilometer of ice. If five degrees
colder over thousands of years produces an ice age, what could
five degrees warmer produce in a lifetime?
In a classic experiment, a frog dropped in boiling water jumps
out. The same frog, put in the water before it is slowly boiled,
remains in the pot. Our environment is at the boiling point.
Will we react?
The 1990's are the decade of decision. Profound changes are
required. We must create a new global compact for sustainable
development -- for example, trading debts for shared
environmental stewardship. Our agenda must include the following:
o A worldwide ban in five years on chlorofluorocarbons, which
simultaneously destroy the protective ozone layer and cause up to
20 percent of global warming.
o Rapid reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, through
increased vehicle mileage standards, increased energy efficiency
and development of alternative energy sources.
o A global halt to destruction of forests and swift
implementation of worldwide reforestation programs.
o A ban within five years on packaging that is neither
recyclable nor naturally degradable, a comprehensive waste
minimization program and aggressive efforts to control emissions
of methane from landfills and other sources.
o A series of global summit meetings to seek the unprecedented
international cooperation the environmental crisis will demand.
In the 1940's, as victory neared over the dark forces
unleashed on Kristallnacht, Gen. Omar Bradley offered advice that
is once again relevant to the challenge that confronts humanity:
``It is time we steered by the stars, not by the lights of each
passing ship.''
* * *
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