Thursday, April 05, 2007

There's a certain slant of light

The earth day came earlier this year. Two days ago, the Supreme Court has ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act and the U.S. EPA should regulate it as such. When such rule is regulated in one of the world's biggest producer of CO2, the impact will be profound for the entire planet. The debate over whether CO2 is a pollutant or an important substance to support life (therefore not to be classified as pollutant) doesn't change the reality that it has contributed to the raising temperature of the earth. And as one of the most advance industrial countries, this country has a power either to control(if stopping is entirely absurd) or not to control the production of this gas.

The regulation will be effective in 2009 in twelve states including California (exclude Ohio here..*hiks*). The EPA has no choice other than to regulate CO2 as a pollutant as other green gas houses.

I was so happy to hear about this, because I remember discussing about this matter in class a few years back. I remember came back from school upset just to think about how many people got away with they did, although I was upset mostly not because industries got away with polluting the environment but just because there's nothing could stop the raising percentage of CO2 in the air. The industry is not the only one to blame, but automobile gave more contribution over the production of carbon dioxide, which why, the first step that the state of California will implement is to limit the carbon production in cars.

Will it work? well, it doesn't hurt to try. It certainly a slant of hope, just as EmilyDickinson said in her poem...

But there are much more hope to offer from us the common society. This article from the NewYorkTimes reviewed an environmentalist who said he walked the walk of Jesus: to be the steward of the environment by driving a hybrid and doing as much as he can to save the energy usage in his household, and everything else in his lifestyle that shows he cares about the environment, such as buying used things in purpose. All by choice. Of course Jesus didn't drive a Prius, but, we got the analogy; Jesus is not occupied by his surrounding; his definition of enough, is just enough, not by greed or want. He provided enough food for 5,000 people from the fish and bread, he made enough wine for the wedding party. Jesus was even homeless, he didn't own anything but the clothes he wore.

By choice, we can help to protect the world that we are in right now. It is encouraging to see this evangelist' effort, and more efforts I've read and heard from many Jesus' followers to have this understanding. For me, it's not just what he does to be a good steward for the environment, but also why he does what he does, matters.

2 comments:

Stushie said...

I thought that we exhaled CO2. Is the Supreme Court going to stop us from breathing?

dyah kartikawening said...

But we also create balance by planting trees, try not to drive so much (some people). Those factories only produce waste, CO2 is one of them, and if the imbalance is in its peak, what can we do? Do nothing with the gas that contribute to global warming? It is a fact that this century, we've taken the rise of temperature in its upnormal condition...There's always up and down since thousand of years ago, but Global Warming is a reality. And I am soooo glad that this country is moving along in the right direction (I wish it could be faster, but one could hope..)!