hoosier environment
BY J e s s e K har banda
Drawing Lessons From an Epic Environmental Tragedy Images of vast oil slicks, lifeless marine mammals, fish, and birds, and devastated fishermen fill our minds as we envision the extraordinary pain unleashed on the world of the Gulf Coast. For the people of Indiana, hundreds of miles away from making a direct impact, what must we do to mend a world so harmed? Hoosiers, possessing a vast highway network and endeared to the Indy 500, must join a national effort to end our addiction to oil. While use of oil has done much good for commerce and family life, it has also caused great harm to our air, water, and land, as well as our national security and economy: In our daily lives, we— “The broader lesson who bear responsibility for our oil addiction—must pledge to find biodegradable substitutes to our plastic from the Gulf oil containers and commit to walking, biking, and carpooling whenever safely possible. And as citizens, disaster is that we Hoosiers must champion the cause of finding a Hoosiers can never sustainable, dedicated source of funding for public transit and passenger rail, two oil-saving strategies be complacent grossly underfunded in our state. The broader lesson from the Gulf oil disaster is that about the risks of Hoosiers can never be complacent about the risks of our actions to the environment and our government’s our actions to the commitment to protect nature. While BP bears the environment and ultimate responsibility, so must our government: Had the U.S. Department of Interior required BP to install our government’s a device that is required in offshore drilling sites in Norway and Brazil—a half-million dollar acoustical commitment to regulator—our nation would have likely avoided tens protect nature.” of billions in damage and innumerable suffering to the already devastated Gulf Coast. Providing that needed vigilance to our environment demands your help: Send a hand-written letter to your legislator, expressing your specific concerns about Indiana’s environment. Pen a letter to the editor of your local newspaper voicing your opinion on the importance of specific green legislation. Get engaged early in the 2010 elections: Support political candidates who truly “get” environmental issues, and are willing to make brave decisions to protect our environment. We can never erase the damage to the Gulf Coast, no matter how many billions of dollars we spend. But we can honor the countless creatures and vast natural resources that have been harmed through our determination to change our lives so that we avoid such tragedies in the future. And we must, as citizens, rise to this occasion and advocate for clean energy policy that decisively shifts us away from our dangerous dependence on fossil fuels. n Jesse Kharbanda is the executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. You can learn more about renewable standards at www.hecweb.org
July/August 2010
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