After reading The New Yorker article titled As the World Burns by Ryan Lizza, I was left with a sense of dismay and sadness about the whole environmental crisis that we face. The crisis, which is real enough, isn’t what saddens and dismays me but actual the policy and attitude of the people that run our government. Global warming, oil crisis, pollution, and energy consumption are all the latest issues that are being publically circulated. More and more the science points to an upcoming crisis that will affect the quality of life for every individual on the planet. I would expect that world leaders take heed of the looming crisis and make change and sustainability a priority issue but instead it sits much lower of the list of the many other issues that now plague the US and other countries. When the issue of carbon consumption and the use of new forms of clean energy are brought up, the environment is usually a secondary concern. Most of the time when a policy is put together and promoted to be instated, the main reason is usually less noble and concerns personal interest or gain. A good example is Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman who came together in a common cause to enforce a new policy to reduce carbon consumption. Their personal interests were on the most part to gain political credibility by implementing a major and historic policy. Also momentary gain was expected on the basis that part of the proposed policy would sell the right to energy consumption to corporations willing to pay. Kerry was so intent to pass the policy that he, in a sense, made a pact with the devil when he sought support from T. Boone Pickens, a very ambitious and successful oil / natural gas tycoon. Promising to allow increased expansion of oil drilling and exploitation of other resources, Kerry was able to acquire Pickens support. The plan definitely was far from being environmentally sound. To add to the muddy water, the Republicans opposed the policy due to the fact that it was proposed by democrats and the President seemed to sabotage the negotiations for the policy by following his own agenda. It appeared that the policy was being used as a commodity and anything else became a secondary concern. Personal interest is what fuels the policies that will promote the changes that we so desperately need in the future. The only problem is that personal gain/ interests leave us all divided and weak . We do not have a common front or goal so unless we change we will be faced with certain failure
