The modern environmental movement reached its zenith in the early 70's . President Nixon signed into law the clean water act, the clear air act, the endangered species act, and the national environmental protection act. In Oregon we had the leadership of Tom McCall insisting that Oregon not allow any foul suitor to pollute her waters.

These historic acts of legislation came on the heels of tangible tragedies. The Cayuga river in Ohio caught on fire. The first large scale release of Oil defouled the beaches of Santa Barbara. Prior to these events humankind was familiar with the tragedies of nature, but they were nature's tragedies not human. Now the tragedies were in fact human based.

The environmental movement now must recognize its roots. With the tragedy in New Orleans, we realize that wetlands are sponges. That the miles of erosion due to the taming of the Mississippi only exposed more weakness in our delicate lives.

The problem is that the value of environmental or conservation philosophy is scoffed. People cite over regulation, private property rights, and protecting scenic beauty as the problems with government regulation. While these issues are apparant no one would today question dispossing people of the "right" to develop wetlands in Louisianna or Mississippi, even if it would constitute a profit.

I attended Al Gore's presentation last evening in Portland. I was really impressed by all of the statistics used to support his speech. One of the most important points was the statistics about scientific articles written about global warming and the fact that there was not one article written to counter them because there is complete or almost complete consensus between experts. On the other hand, in the mass media 53% of the articles published were contested. One should pay more attention to what the "Experts" have to say. It was also shocking to see before and after photographs of what were once glaciers and are now lakes or dried up canyons. It is apparent that this phenomena is not cyclical! We all must act now before it is too late!

You can read a summary of Gore's speech at: http://sstnbl.blogspot.com/

Sorry, that URL is http://startcooling.blogspot.com.