Editor: Thank you for printing Butch Mazzuca’s “First, clean up the streets” (Monday, Nov. 26), where he rightfully belittles the hypocrisy of celebrities and politicians who give lip service to environmental causes but who don’t lead environmentally sound lives. Additionally, he decries the environmental movement’s focus on climate change, when our cities are inundated with trash and excrement and our laws have had unintended negative consequences for the environment.
The focus on climate change is as real as he says it is, but with good reason. We can have the cleanest cities in history, but it won’t matter if we don’t wake up to this problem. Beyond that, Mazzuca talks about “today’s environmentalist” as if we are all living like the celebrities and politicians. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Within the confines of being human, which is often at odds with the natural world, and within the confines of relationships and past choices, many of us make environmentally friendly decisions on a daily, even hourly, basis. Our environmentalism affects how we drive, what we drive, how we power our homes, the routes we take when running errands, the products we buy and how they are packaged, how we garden and recreate, even our hairstyles (wash and wear — no dryer needed).
Without collective action on a global level, these can feel like very small steps, but we are happy to take them, even if no one is aware that we do.
Debra Dieter
Eagle …read more
Via:: Vail Daily