Your Earth Matters

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published. It influenced a generation and for many it marked the beginning of the environmentalist movement and the first time the voice of reason was pitted against the interests of the corporations that would rape the planet in pursuit of profits.

But even before it was published, Carson herself was beset with viscous threats of lawsuits and public derision, including suggestions that this scrupulous and published scientist was a “hysterical woman” incapable of writing such a book. Huge pushback against Carson was organized by the entire chemical industry lead by the biggest names at the time, Monsanto, Velsicol, and American Cyanamid. The efforts at discrediting her were faithfully supported by our own government’s Department of Agriculture and many in the media.

In 2006, Al Gore’s Movie An Inconvenient Truth was released. I can follow this sentence with almost an exact duplicate of the paragraph preceding it; practically changing only the names “Carson” to “Gore”. In almost 45 years, while progress on environmental issues has been made -so little has changed.

I was born in 1961, a year before Silent Spring was published. I do not have the answers on how to save the planet, but I feel my generation bears the responsibility to do so. I have spent the last quarter of a century as a print and broadcast journalist who has had many stories on sustainability, environmental issues, and green technologies both published and aired on national television networks such as Discovery and PBS.

Reason will only be understood when it is given a voice that people will hear, and I would like to be that voice with Your Earth Matters, here at Demockracy.com

Beginning in the New Year, I will be probing these issues weekly.  Through this new column, I hope to expose the truth about sustainability and discuss the myths and realities about wind, solar, and the creation of a green economy and green infrastructure. I will introduce the most promising green technologies and debunk those that are just pipe dreams and empty promises. We will take a serious look at global climate change and its impact on everything from poverty to politics.

Your Earth Matters will be an eye-opening exploration that will allow you to better see this planet as the one living, breathing, interconnected sphere it is. I hope you will enjoy the journey.

Thomas Friedman Vouches for Obama

Thomas Friedman all but endorses Obama as he calls him the only “green” candidate remaining.