Published: June 15, 2008 01:04 am            

Room in the middle

Extremism has become the norm anytime the environment’s the topic in today’s polarized political climate. Leftists rant that global warming will kill us all and demand that governments cope with the threat of ecological disaster by forcibly reducing energy consumption to pre-industrial age levels. At Berkeley naked guys are living in trees to prevent a “magical place” that soaks up carbon from being chopped down to expand the football complex.

Meanwhile on the Right, many conservatives come unglued anytime someone voices even reasonable suggestions as to how we might be better stewards of our natural resources as if they’ve been duped by the sky is falling mafia.

Two weeks ago I heard a nationally syndicated radio host (whom I usually agree with) condemn John McCain’s speech on energy policy because he proposed free market solutions to energy shortages that encouraged environmentally sound practices. This speech was brandished as proof that McCain was no conservative. Interesting. I read the speech through twice and thought it seemed fairly reasonable.

The notion that you can’t be a political conservative and care about the environment is nonsense. And conversely, the idea that economic progress always destroys the environment is equally untrue. The problem is that when the extremes on both sides become entrenched in illogical positions, it’s hard for the rest of us to find a truthful balance.

Conservatives have good reason to fear Marxist environmentalists who desire to increase the power of the state to control the economy in the name of saving the planet. Americans have a right and a duty to oppose any effort to subordinate the sovereignty of the United States to the U.N. or to any other international body that would dictate our economic policy.

We don’t have to give up our economic opportunities and our freedoms in order to be good stewards of our land. Most Americans want clean air and clean water and enjoy the beauty of nature. We hope endangered species survive and don’t want all of our forests turned into parking lots and strip malls. And there’s no reason we can’t have both a healthy economy and a healthy environment to pass to future generations of Americans.

Perhaps its time that reasonable people on both the Left and Right found room in the middle to work toward a common goal of preserving nature while prospering financially. Even though they may vote differently, Prius-peddling bird watchers in tweed and truck driving deer hunters in Mossy Oak both have similar interests in protecting wildlife. Teddy Roosevelt, the biggest conservationist in history, was a big game hunter who helped found the National Park System. He also was an avid promoter of American commercial interests at home and abroad.

Freer nations are not only more prosperous, they are also much better managing their natural resources than poor nations who clear cut forests for firewood and subsistence farm with no thought to the future.

On both a national and a personal level, the key to a balanced approach between the economy and the environment is avoiding the extremes and taking simple common sense steps that add up over time. If each of us does a little to reduce our energy consumption, we’ll not only help conserve our resources, we’ll also save a few bucks in the process. Driving the Honda a couple of days a week instead of my truck and turning the thermostat up a few degrees doesn’t make me a liberal.



Craig Ziemba is a military pilot who lives in Meridian.

        

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