Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Be a Voter! The environment depends on it.

I've noticed that Democrats, generally friendlier to the environment than the Republicans, are focusing on getting Democrats to the polls.  As the old saying goes, "Bad officials are elected by good citizens who don't vote," the implication being that good citizens are knowledgeable ones can't really be good citizens without voting.   This morning I read two articles that express how much clean energy and public health depend on Obama's re-election.

http://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Stakes-high-for-clean-tech-on-Tuesday-4007343.php

http://www.foodpolitics.com/2012/11/food-politics-is-at-issue-in-tuesdays-election/

Marion Nestle (bad name--too close to the corporate criminals) makes the point that Republicans generally put corporate health before public health.  They oppose any regulation and speak of "freedom of choice" which she says in her mind is a euphemism for protecting sales.  The soda industry has spent more than $2 million to defeat Richmond's soda tax ballot initiative Measure N, which means they've outspent the advocates 87 to 1. 

"Clean-tech's future hinges on election" by David R. Baker reports that no industry outside Detroit has been as closely aligned with President Obama's policies as clean tech, which a Romney election would seriously threaten.  This article explains how politicized clean tech (which I keep typing as clean teach!)  has become as the Republican Party "has closely aligned itself with the oil industry, while downplaying or dismissing the threat of climate change--clean energy's main raison d'etre." 

Our textbook for Bio 31 is called Environment:  The Science behind the Stories, so one of my focuses on my Life Style Project since the beginning of October has been keeping up with the latest news stories.  That takes us back to this past weekend when I was logging by hand, not online, in Fremont as Javier got ready for his trip to Costa Rica--not a pleasure trip.  After spending time together and with friends, I wanted to get a Sunday paper to read while Javier rested, so he took me to the place he usually gets his newspaper:  Raley's.  They were on a strike, so I didn't want to go in, and when Javier, a bit impatient with me, said he'd go in to get it, I asked him not to.  So here it was again, a quandary:  I didn't want to be a strike breaker.  The people who work at Raley's are not the privileged few.  They risk losing their benefits and  premium pay for Sunday shifts.  But I also didn't want to stress out Javier right before his trip.   So I offered to look no further and do without the Sunday paper.  (What?!!)  But Javier suggested Starbucks, and they had The New York Times.  I real a lot about  climate warming and infrastructure.  There was also an article directly connected to what we've studied about agriculture.  "Did Farmers of the Past Know More Than We Do?" 

But more about that later.  Now I must go vote!

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