Time for a change
Many of us believe the time has come to change our petroleum addicted convenience-culture habits now — individually and institutionally, as a society:
▪ To finally ban single-use petroleum plastic bags and water bottles in our communities,
▪ To change over to renewable solar and wind power,
▪ To upgrade efficient non-toxic building standards,
▪ And to shift our commitment from mere theory to actual practice today — in particular, collectively designing infrastructural systems that support a zero-waste ethic.
Environment advocates who fear aggressive change enable the petroleum industry to determine and sustain consumer habits.
So much can be accomplished immediately, without financial burden, but only if we have the will to change.
Nelson Mandela said, “It’s always impossible until it’s done.”
Where would we be now without civil rights advocacy, protests against the toxic tobacco industry, anti-apartheid vigilance and the anti-Vietnam War movement?
Physicist Stephen Hawking said, “Everything we need to know and do is already within us, just waiting to be realized.”
Courageous environmental activists Al Gore, Michael Mann, James Hansen, New York Gov. Cuomo, California Gov. Jerry Brown, Bill McKibben, Bob Inglis, Antonia Juhasz and so many unsung local heroes insist we must move forward now with resolve, aggressively changing our collective behavior through institutional paradigm shifts — migration to Mars is not a viable option!
Micaela Amateau Amato, Boalsburg
This story was originally published August 25, 2017 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Time for a change."