| Eco-Justice Notes: Time for
intervention
Date: 8/3/01
[posted here on 8-16-01]
Peter Sawtell of Eco-Justice Ministries recently
posted a thought-provoking look at America's biggest addiction:
Energy. And, he says, it's time for a big-time intervention.
I can quit anytime I want to.
Those are the classic words of an addict. Hooked on
alcohol, tobacco or heroin.
The addict, of course, really can't just decide to
quit. Because it has gone far past a question of willpower and personal
choice. The addict needs the substance, craves it, literally can't
function without it.
As the addiction deepens, it usually takes a deep toll
on those around the addicted one. Relationships are ripped apart.
Finances are destroyed. Health deteriorates.
Sometimes, addiction leads into a downward spiral of
alienation, devastation and death. Sometimes - with the intervention of
family, friends, co-workers and therapists - the addict can break out of
the cycle, endure the withdrawal, and discover different ways of living
"clean."
Addiction is a terrible problem. We've seen it happen
to people in our churches, our families, and our communities. We all
know that the worst thing to do is ignore it, and hope that it goes
away.
+ + + + +
Addiction is the image that I come back to time and
again as I try to make sense of the vote in the House of Representatives
this week on the energy bill.
We are addicted - societally more than individually -
to energy, and especially to oil. In the legislation, and the debate,
there wasn't even a pretense that we can quit when we want. We're
hooked.
Our entire economy depends on energy: cheap,
convenient, on-demand energy. We're literally unable to function without
it. It takes more and more of it to satisfy our needs.
But the energy bill hardly acknowledges that we have a
problem. The problem that is named is one of supply, not addiction. And
so the House bill caters to the dealers with tax breaks, and
environmental waivers, and direct subsidies. We'll even give up the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, if it will keep that blessed stuff
coming our way a little longer.
More oil. More coal. More natural gas. More nuclear.
Feed the addiction. Don't try to break it.
And while we're at it, we do things that make it even
harder to change in the future. We build more highways and create more
urban sprawl. We put more SUVs on the road with obscene gas mileage.
+ + + + +
The House energy bill is a vivid declaration of
dependency by an addict. Can we look the other way and pretend there's
nothing wrong?
Just like any addiction, this one is having terrible
effects.
 | It is distorting and bankrupting our economy. |
| It is ruining our health - both the health of
individuals and of the entire planet. |
| And it is destroying our relationships. This
spring, President Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol on global climate
change, because he believes the reductions in fossil fuel use will
hurt the US economy. The other nations of the world have tried to
intervene; they have tried to help us see that we can cut back on
our oil-guzzling, but we refuse to listen. The most powerful nation
on earth is variously pitied and laughed at. |
+ + + + +
The vote in the House speaks about who we are now, and
it defines how we will conduct our affairs for at least the next decade.
This piece of legislation marks a critical fork in the
road for our nation. The House has already acted, and now it is up to
the Senate to set the course. If the Senate votes for a similar set of
policies, then the addiction will deepen, the destruction and alienation
will increase, and it will be many years before there is another chance
to try and break the habit. The Senate, though, can do some things
differently. That body can admit that we have a problem, and refuse to
make things worse. The Senate can take powerful steps to encourage
renewable energy, more efficient technologies, and conservation. They
can say that there are some things that we just won't do to feed our
addiction, and refuse to allow drilling for oil in the Arctic Refuge.
+ + + + +
But we, outside of Washington, cannot pretend that it
will be easy for the Senate to do those things. Those who are most
clearly part of the addiction - the oil and auto companies, the state of
Alaska, the Teamsters union, and many others - have shown that they will
fight hard to keep things going as they are. It has gone far past a
question of willpower and personal choice. There are parts of our
national body that are deeply hooked; they cannot imagine survival
without oil.
There's only about a month until the Senate takes up
the energy bill. Many groups, with a variety of perspectives and
agendas, will be organizing for a hard-fought battle in September.
I know that many churches will not feel comfortable
venturing into the conflictual political waters. There are people in our
pews, and our pulpits, whose values and livelihoods are part and parcel
of the addiction.
But this clearly is a time when the church must speak.
I urge you: name the addiction, even if you cannot talk to the specific
avenues of cure. Pray for the courage to confront a destructive demon
that is ripping apart our nation and the world. Encourage those who will
do more in their organizing and activism, and challenge those who want,
once again, to "ignore the elephant in the living room."
The church does have power. We can do much to set a
moral agenda, and we have well-honed tools for communicating with a
large constituency.
This is the moment to intervene.
+ + + + +
Dante said it well over 600 years ago: "The
hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great
moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."
Shalom!
Peter Sawtell
Executive Director
Eco-Justice Ministries
www.eco-justice.org
E-mail ministry@eco-justice.org
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