President Bush’s Plans for Greenhouse Gases; The King Midas Story

Much talk recently about the administration wanting to block any number of measures in Congress that are rowing against the President’s mindset on what will and what work re the environment… The President has characterized all measures there as ‘a regulatory trainwreck.’

Today, in a news conference, the President said he had not signed the Kyoto agreement because

– it did not bring all players to the table
– it would have interfered with growing the USA economy, requiring the USA to do what others who were polluters were not doing.

He said he had hope for the future of ‘cellulosic’ fuels, and that the USA economy would grow as “a new generation of nuclear plants” were built with responsible putting away of dead fuels, and responsible oversight in running nuclear plants

and

that the economy would grow as a result of building infrastructure (roads and all attendant small businesses and jobs that come with new spurs, etc) to now narrowly or non-populated places, “sparse land” in the USA where such structures would be built and have to be connected with large city centers.

He said “the G8 has now embraced” bringing together all parties (meaning other nations such as India, China and certain African nations, in particular, who are thought to be growing the most economically –and also creating more greenhouse gases– to plan forward from Kyoto Treaty’s expiration in 2012– so that “none are given a free ride.”

President Bush also offered the idea of 35mpg for cars in the USA by 2020, (no specifics)
that we’re making progress as planned on reduction of greenhouse gases in the USA by 1212 (no specifics)
and billions of gallons of renewable fuel be available by then (a useful wish)
and to ’stop growth’ of greenhouse gas emissions 2025, (which is far beyond the deadline of many other countries)
and to capture carbon, to expand storage (good idea, but without funding or specifics)
and to “decrease dependency on foreign oil”…

Well.

And I don’t mean oil.

What does this all mean? Again.

WAR AND SCARCE RESOURCES

I don’t know all that it affects. But, one thing it means, is that the ties to warring endlessly about environmental resources is not well understood or meaningfully intervened in by our administration. The connection between oil and death. Ongoing oil. Ongoing death.

There are no doubt other meanings, and the pragmatics of not being able to stop by tonight the dependence on foreign oil. But is enough being done to develop any other ways and means? Is enough being done as priority? Is enough being done in a timely way? Is it writ large enough, clear enough in the sky for all to see yet, that death and dependence have married each other?

KING MIDAS

There is a connection between ongoing war and scarce domestic environmental resources, no matter where in the world those two polarities exist… a domestic scarcity such as oil, yes, ‘black gold’. It seems more and more apparent that the quest for ‘ever more of what we don’t have that we say we must have,’ puts endless numbers of innocent souls in the path of sure death.

That wake up call has apparently not yet dawned on various ones in charge. Or not knelled loudly and relentlessly enough.

King Midas wished for gold too; black gold, green gold, yellow gold, no matter which.

Maybe George Bush remembers the end of the story.

Midas’s wish was granted. And he was delirious that everything he touched turned to gold; golden chair, golden doors, golden carpets, the finest filigree of raindrops that fell onto his face turned to gold too, his footprints in the sand turned to gold …

he was awash in gold and happy until…

he touched something he loved more than anything;

he touched his own child, who immediately fell dead

and turned to gold.

Then Midas lay weeping with his child stiff in his arms.

He had only wanted gold, but instead, had killed the innocent Life Force of his own young.

Black gold, green gold, yellow gold, no matter which.