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| March for Science Cleveland photo Martins Krebs |
Presidents famously begin to think about legacy - how they will be remembered by history - during their waning years in office. Most of the rest of us, not so much. But then again, maybe a little.
Those who are fortunate enough to be wealthy often plan to pass some of their riches to their children or to charity. The gesture can often be altruistic. To take the financial aspects of legacy a bit further, many Conservatives and Libertarians are fond of saying that they don’t want to bestow future generations with the high public debt resulting from our wasteful public spending. I believe this concern is also laudable. In fact, there is much to be said for fiscal conservatism. Whether curtailed spending ought to come from reductions in military or domestic spending is another matter, but one left for another forum. The bigger question is this: if you don't want to burden your offspring with debt, why would you burden them with a poisoned planet? It seems to me that many of the people who are so very concerned about spending and the budget are not at all phased by the extreme removal of environmental regulations by our current President and Congress. Isn't leaving clean air and water for our children the most important legacy of all?
A while back, in a post entitled,
In What Universe?, I described how our President had rescinded a law to prevent dumping of coal waste in streams. I asked how such people (and those who support/vote for them) face their children and grandchildren (as well as other questions, like where is their human decency?). It was meant to be provocative, and got the desired response from a couple Facebook friends, some of whom would probably identify themselves as Libertarian. One who took issue tried to turn the tables, wondering how I would face my own kids after supporting the previous President, who had taken seven years before signing the order for the law in the first place.
My conscience is entirely clear on the issue. President Obama was not perfect, and in fact did relatively little for the environment during his first term. During his latter years in office, however,
his environmental accomplishments were nothing short of spectacular.
This article, from the Berkeley/UCLA School of Law, illustrates the accomplishments even further. Just for starters, the list includes:
An international climate agreement, due to his leadership
Improved fuel economy and generally cleaner cars and trucks
Energy production pollution limits
Clean energy investment
And much more
I am quite proud of the fact that I supported President Obama, and I think we can all literally and figuratively breathe easier because of his environmentalism. That is quite a legacy. I wonder what the eventual legacy of President Trump will be?
I don't know whether it's yet proper to say that I'm in my waning years of own life (who knows, I may yet have a few good decades left), but I am beginning to think about how I am leaving this world for my children and grandchildren. I've actually often thought about how I may go about leaving the world a better place. Certainly there are as many ways to do this as there are people on the planet. Taking care of the poor, building a company that provides good jobs or simply loving someone may be some of the ways. If you've guessed that my own hope for a meaningful legacy is for it to involve the environment in some meaningful way, you would be correct.
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| March for Science Cleveland photo Veronica Dancer |
Back, therefore, to the kids. Will they be better or worse off as a result of how I've lived my life? More importantly for them, and for all future generations (related and not): will the planet be a better place? I truly don't know. All I can do is try.
Try how? For one thing, I'm not especially well-off, so I probably won't be able to leave the environment (or the kids, for that matter), a fortune of any kind. I most likely won't even have as much time to volunteer, and/or protest as I'd like, although this, I believe, will be changing. It doesn't look like I'm even able to convince very many people to appreciate the environment and the planet, as I do - unless they already do.
But I can indeed donate at least some funds to the cause. And I can at least begin to protest, as I did at the March for Science, and as I will for the People's Climate March in Washington. Believe me, this protesting and marching stuff is entirely new to me. And although I'm probably not convincing gobs or people, perhaps a couple here and there will listen. Part of that, of course, also involves this blog,
dontpoopinthepool.
Here then, as clear as I can make it, is my plan for an 'Environmental Legacy':
- Live my life as if the future of the Earth depends on it (it does, by the way). This means going out of my way to recycle, to not be any more wasteful in terms of energy, than I feel necessary, and to always make intelligent, informed choices regarding day to day environmental decisions.
- Continue to try my best to convince others to do the same. This will be, by necessity, in my own gentile way, because... that's my way. I think I may have some measure of influence over immediate family members, but others, not so much. I'll keep trying, however.
- Continue to try to convince people of the facts regarding the environment in general and the climate in particular through the writings of this blog. It certainly can't hurt. Once again, it's my way.
- I will march! I've already started, with my participation in the March for Science. It will continue at the People's Climate March in Washington. I've never been this much of an activist; in fact, I've hardly ever protested anything. That's all changed now.
I don't know what the exact outcome will be, but this battle for the planet must be fought. And for our children's future, it must be won.
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| Poster for the People's Climate March |
