to be green, or not to be That Is the Question
EXCERPTED FROM AN ESSAY TITLED “TO REALLY SAVE THE PLANET, STOP GOING GREEN” BY MIKE TIDWELL IN THE OUTLOOK SECTION OF THE WASHINGTON POST ON DECEMBER 6, 2009 // All who appreciate the enormity of the climate crisis still have a responsibility to make every change possible in their personal lives. I have, from the solar panels on my roof to the Prius in my driveway to my low-carbon-footprint vegetarian diet… // Ours is a nation of laws; if we want to alter our practices in a deep and lasting way, this is where we must start. After years of delay and denial and green half-measures, we must legislate a stop to the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. // So what's the problem? There's lots of blame to go around, but the distraction of the "go green" movement has played a significant role. Taking their cues from the popular media and cautious politicians, many Americans have come to believe that they are personally to blame for global warming and that they must fix it, one by one, at home. And so they either do as they're told – a little of this, a little of that – or they feel overwhelmed and do nothing… // [W]ith treaty talks underway internationally and Congress stalled at home, we need to act accordingly. Don't spend an hour changing your light bulbs. Don't take a day to caulk your windows. Instead, pick up a phone, open a laptop, or travel to a U.S. Senate office near you and turn the tables: "What are the 10 green statutes you're working on to save the planet, Senator?" // Demand a carbon-cap bill that mandates the number 350. That's the level of carbon pollution scientists say we must limit ourselves to: 350 parts per million of CO2 in the air. If we can stabilize the atmosphere at that number in coming decades, we should be able to avoid the worst-case scenario and preserve a planet similar to the one human civilization developed on. To get there, America will need to make deep but achievable pollution cuts well before 2020… // So join me: Put off the attic insulation job till January. Stop searching online for recycled gift wrapping paper and sustainably farmed Christmas trees. Go beyond green fads for a month, and instead help make green history. Mike Tidwell is director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit he founded in 2002 to fight global warming in the region through the promotion of clean, renewable energy.
2 | crossroads | spring 2011
AN ESSAY HEADLINED “A Climatewas deeply alarmed by new studies on global Change Activist Prepares for the Worst,” warming, so I went all out. I did my part. published in the Outlook section of the Tidwell went on to explain, however, that Washington Post one recent Sunday (Feb. 27, he feels “we’re running out of time” to avert 2011), sparked 444 online comments before the physical and social upheavals that will the Post closed the discussion. The essay result from global warming. also prompted more than 1,800 people to Fourteen months earlier (Dec. 6, 2009), recommend it via Facebook. the Post’s Outlook section published another The writers of the 444 postings were essay by Tidwell in which he criticized the sharply divided, perhaps 35 to 65 percent. “go green” movement for leading people to About one-third expressed some degree of believe that small changes in one’s personal agreement with author Mike Tidwell, execu- lifestyle would add up to ultimately rescuing tive director of the Chesapeake Climate the planet. He said personal changes – like Action Network. He described steps he had the way he used a Prius and ate a “low-cartaken recently to try to protect his home bon-footprint vegetarian diet” – are drops in and family against the effects of devastating the proverbial bucket. climate change, including stockpiling food, He challenged his readers: “No more investing in an emergency generator, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. No more taking skeet-shooting lessons. The shootgreen wedding planning. No more organic ing lessons were in case he needs to protect toothpicks for holiday hors d’oeuvres . . . his family due to anticipated social unrest “Instead of continuing our faddish and caused by climate-related food shortages counterproductive emphasis on small, – and this is despite calling himself “fundavoluntary actions, we should follow the mentally a pacifist.” example of Americans during past moral The remaining two-thirds of the Post crises and work toward large-scale change.” readers who commented online thought (Read more excerpts from Tidwell’s 2009 Tidwell was nutty – or pursuing a leftistessay at left.) environmentalist agenda – and dismissed his worries about the pace at which earth seems AGREEMENT ON BEING GREEN? to becoming uninhabitable. (Tidwell’s exGiven the divided readership of the ecutive assistant is Nathan Kauffman ’10.) Washington Post, it seems safe to assume that Tidwell opened his February article with the readership of Crossroads is not united on these words: the subject of climate change. Ten years ago, I put solar panels on my When we asked readers to “tell us your roof and began eating locally grown food. I path to ‘going green’” on the back cover of bought an energy-efficient refrigerator that the fall/winter 2010-11 issue of Crossroads, uses the power equivalent of a single light we received a flurry of contributions from bulb. I started heating my home with a stove alumni who are putting solar panels on their that burns organically fertilized corn kernels. roofs, riding bikes or walking instead of drivI even restored a gas-free lawn mower for ing a mile or so, growing as much of their manual yardwork. own organic food as possible, and building As a longtime environmental activist, I well-insulated homes from local materials.