Day Fourteen: two weeks ago the first non-binding resolution was presented to a viewing public of just over 700,000 people. As they mingled in airports, restaurants, community centers, warehouses, and myriad other locations across the country, many of them learned for the first time about O.U.T.R.A.G.E. - discovering that this organization, made up of several hundred thousand people, had methodically been planning a rebellion for years, and had now dramatically put their plan into place. While still trying to cope with all the death and destruction, these 700,000+ viewers felt a need to pique their curiosity about this organization. How had it managed to stay 'secret' for so long? How had it been capable of directing such pin-pointed devastation in so many places around the country at precisely the same time? How had it decided who would be targets and who would be spared? What were its intentions now that the political and bureaucratic structures of government were gone? Why did it choose to also kill particular movie stars, wealthy industrialists, corporate CEOs, certain sports celebrities, and an assortment of other seemingly-innocuous U.S. residents? What was its overall plan, if - indeed - there was a plan? What would it do next? Would it abruptly take over the country and turn America into an imperious dictatorship to be ruled by its own heavy-handedness? If that were the case, why go through the motions of all these non-binding resolutions, with ballots cast by U.S. citizens registered with their Social Security numbers? Instead of putting everything to a popular vote, why not just lay down the law of the land?
As the 4:55 P.M. EST meeting began, two 29-year-old identical twins approached the camera. "I'm Lisa," said the one twin, "and this is my sister, Linda. We are privileged to present today's resolution, one that we believe to be essential to the survival of our country, and to the planet." Their southern accents gave them away, and few were surprised to learn that the two modestly attractive women were from Georgia.
ARTICLE XIV. RESOLUTION: EXPAND THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
"For more than seventy-five years, American leaders have minimized the significant roles of our ecology and environment. Celebrities, people in positions of power, wealthy individuals, and multi-million-dollar corporations have pretty much pooh-poohed any and all notions that protecting the environment is at all important. In 2006, former Vice-President Al Gore produced a movie that scientists lauded as professionally executed and frightfully accurate. The Bush administration, in collusion with the U.S. Congress, big business, and special interest groups opposed to more regulation, successfully dismantled environmental laws designed to protect and preserve the delicate balance between human beings, plants and all other animals - a natural balance intended to allow all of us to co-exist and survive on this Earth.
Precious little has been done about global warming, air pollution, fuel efficiency, and other environment issues so necessary to the continuation of life on Earth. The 'green' movement never took off in the United States, perhaps because we didn't perceive it as an issue of importance. The overall consensus seemed to be, 'I don't need to recycle. I'm rich!' - or - 'We can't be fettered with environmental regulations. It will cut into our profits.' That lackadaisical attitude has cost this nation more than you can measure in dollars and cents.
The Bush administration has consistently refused to endorse the Kyoto Protocol. By doing so, it ignores the massive indirect costs to economic growth, corporate prosperity and national health and safety. Every environmental issue brought forth today is deserving of our full attention.
We are proposing that the role of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be expanded to include the nationalization of a federal environmental policy that will affect every business, every citizen, and every organization in America by forcing the significance of the environment and the ecology to the forefront of national consciousness. The EPA will be given full power and authority over every aspect of American life that affects the environment or may threaten to disrupt the fragile ecosystems around the world, from ocean life to air fresheners. This is something we've neglected for too long; only if we begin to take aggressive action immediatley will we have any chance of minimizing the damage that's already been done.
For those of you who still don't believe a 'green movement' is meaningful, consider these possibilities before you vote today:
If we continue to allow oil drilling in our oceans and lakes, natural habitats and breeding grounds for many species of ocean life will be destroyed or disrupted. While that might not seem like a 'big deal', it is; if fish can't lay eggs, fisherman have nothing to catch. If they don't catch anything, American diners may have to go without such delicacies as smoked rainbow trout, lox and bagels, imported caviar, shrimp cocktails, or even a simple tuna casserole! If the oil industry destroys the coral reef (which, for the uninformed, is a marine animal), the entire ecological balance of the oceans may be distrubed.
If McDonald's continues to chop down more rain forest so it can graze more cattle and ultimately sell you more cheap hamburgers, there eventually will be no rain forest left. That will affect climates throughout the world, and might impact on the coastal cities of South America in ways we can't imagine yet.
If oil industries continue to build oil pipelines in Alaska and disturb caribou migration routes, a first glance tells us that it will only affect the lives of a few minute Eskimo tribes who depend on caribou for food, clothing, and shelter. Since we don't see those tribes as important in the grand scheme of things that contribute to our way of life, we fail to understand how cruel it is for us to destroy their way of life. What if the circumstances were reversed?
If we keep asphalting over America's rich farmland so that new shopping malls can be erected, we fail to see how that might affect us. After all, we need those 'glitzy' shoe stores and specialty shops, don't we? But when there's no longer any more productive farm land available, crops can't be grown. And - while most people want to assume food comes from the local supermarket - the fact is that food comes from farms. No rich soil, no farms. No farms, no food. No food, we DIE.
If we continue to let someone haul all our trash away and bury it in a landfill, it's only a matter of time before those landfills overflow, leaching God-only-knows what kinds of poisons and contaminants, not to mention the stench that will accompany all that oozing of decaying waste. So, our children or grandchildren will have to tolerate such squalor just because we refused to recycle such renewable resources as plastic, glass, newspaper, cardboard, aluminum, oil, magazine papers, styrofoam, wood, cooking grease, bricks, plants, and more. And the only excuse we'll be able to offer our descendants is that we were just too damn lazy. Americans never have been good at reusing, returning, or recycling. Without sustainable, renewable products, we will use up all our natural resources. And we will DIE.
If we don't force auto manufacturers to develop more fuel-efficient, more durable, automobiles, we will continue to pour pollutants into the air that will affect the way we breathe - and someday eliminate our ability to breathe. And we will DIE.
If we don't pay attention to the impact of global warming, all the coastal cities on both sides of both oceans will ultimately disappear under water, the Earth's temperature will rise to a point where human beings can't adapt quickly enough to the warmer air, and plant and animal life as we know it will be gone. And we will DIE.
The 'green movement' isn't just a fad. It's reality. If we don't start paying attention to our environment and protecting the ecological balances within nature, we will DIE.
It's that's simple. Ladies and gentlemen, we implore you to give this serious thought before you vote. Thank you."
The two women disappeared from the TV screens. The two-minute message appeared briefly, followed by black.
As the 4:55 P.M. EST meeting began, two 29-year-old identical twins approached the camera. "I'm Lisa," said the one twin, "and this is my sister, Linda. We are privileged to present today's resolution, one that we believe to be essential to the survival of our country, and to the planet." Their southern accents gave them away, and few were surprised to learn that the two modestly attractive women were from Georgia.
ARTICLE XIV. RESOLUTION: EXPAND THE ROLE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
"For more than seventy-five years, American leaders have minimized the significant roles of our ecology and environment. Celebrities, people in positions of power, wealthy individuals, and multi-million-dollar corporations have pretty much pooh-poohed any and all notions that protecting the environment is at all important. In 2006, former Vice-President Al Gore produced a movie that scientists lauded as professionally executed and frightfully accurate. The Bush administration, in collusion with the U.S. Congress, big business, and special interest groups opposed to more regulation, successfully dismantled environmental laws designed to protect and preserve the delicate balance between human beings, plants and all other animals - a natural balance intended to allow all of us to co-exist and survive on this Earth.
Precious little has been done about global warming, air pollution, fuel efficiency, and other environment issues so necessary to the continuation of life on Earth. The 'green' movement never took off in the United States, perhaps because we didn't perceive it as an issue of importance. The overall consensus seemed to be, 'I don't need to recycle. I'm rich!' - or - 'We can't be fettered with environmental regulations. It will cut into our profits.' That lackadaisical attitude has cost this nation more than you can measure in dollars and cents.
The Bush administration has consistently refused to endorse the Kyoto Protocol. By doing so, it ignores the massive indirect costs to economic growth, corporate prosperity and national health and safety. Every environmental issue brought forth today is deserving of our full attention.
We are proposing that the role of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be expanded to include the nationalization of a federal environmental policy that will affect every business, every citizen, and every organization in America by forcing the significance of the environment and the ecology to the forefront of national consciousness. The EPA will be given full power and authority over every aspect of American life that affects the environment or may threaten to disrupt the fragile ecosystems around the world, from ocean life to air fresheners. This is something we've neglected for too long; only if we begin to take aggressive action immediatley will we have any chance of minimizing the damage that's already been done.
For those of you who still don't believe a 'green movement' is meaningful, consider these possibilities before you vote today:
If we continue to allow oil drilling in our oceans and lakes, natural habitats and breeding grounds for many species of ocean life will be destroyed or disrupted. While that might not seem like a 'big deal', it is; if fish can't lay eggs, fisherman have nothing to catch. If they don't catch anything, American diners may have to go without such delicacies as smoked rainbow trout, lox and bagels, imported caviar, shrimp cocktails, or even a simple tuna casserole! If the oil industry destroys the coral reef (which, for the uninformed, is a marine animal), the entire ecological balance of the oceans may be distrubed.
If McDonald's continues to chop down more rain forest so it can graze more cattle and ultimately sell you more cheap hamburgers, there eventually will be no rain forest left. That will affect climates throughout the world, and might impact on the coastal cities of South America in ways we can't imagine yet.
If oil industries continue to build oil pipelines in Alaska and disturb caribou migration routes, a first glance tells us that it will only affect the lives of a few minute Eskimo tribes who depend on caribou for food, clothing, and shelter. Since we don't see those tribes as important in the grand scheme of things that contribute to our way of life, we fail to understand how cruel it is for us to destroy their way of life. What if the circumstances were reversed?
If we keep asphalting over America's rich farmland so that new shopping malls can be erected, we fail to see how that might affect us. After all, we need those 'glitzy' shoe stores and specialty shops, don't we? But when there's no longer any more productive farm land available, crops can't be grown. And - while most people want to assume food comes from the local supermarket - the fact is that food comes from farms. No rich soil, no farms. No farms, no food. No food, we DIE.
If we continue to let someone haul all our trash away and bury it in a landfill, it's only a matter of time before those landfills overflow, leaching God-only-knows what kinds of poisons and contaminants, not to mention the stench that will accompany all that oozing of decaying waste. So, our children or grandchildren will have to tolerate such squalor just because we refused to recycle such renewable resources as plastic, glass, newspaper, cardboard, aluminum, oil, magazine papers, styrofoam, wood, cooking grease, bricks, plants, and more. And the only excuse we'll be able to offer our descendants is that we were just too damn lazy. Americans never have been good at reusing, returning, or recycling. Without sustainable, renewable products, we will use up all our natural resources. And we will DIE.
If we don't force auto manufacturers to develop more fuel-efficient, more durable, automobiles, we will continue to pour pollutants into the air that will affect the way we breathe - and someday eliminate our ability to breathe. And we will DIE.
If we don't pay attention to the impact of global warming, all the coastal cities on both sides of both oceans will ultimately disappear under water, the Earth's temperature will rise to a point where human beings can't adapt quickly enough to the warmer air, and plant and animal life as we know it will be gone. And we will DIE.
The 'green movement' isn't just a fad. It's reality. If we don't start paying attention to our environment and protecting the ecological balances within nature, we will DIE.
It's that's simple. Ladies and gentlemen, we implore you to give this serious thought before you vote. Thank you."
The two women disappeared from the TV screens. The two-minute message appeared briefly, followed by black.
posted by Bushwacker! at 6:58 AM
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