Posted on 04/21/2011 12:57:51 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Pelosi Statement on Earth Day April 21, 2011
Washington, D.C. - Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in recognition of Earth Day, which is tomorrow:
“Since the first Earth Day 41 years ago, Americans have come together on this occasion to improve the air we breathe and the water we drink. In recent years, we have celebrated Earth Day with the climate crisis first in mind, knowing that future generations are counting on us to have the vision to see the problem of global warming and the wisdom to confront the danger.
“Under Democratic leadership, the House took serious steps to launch a clean energy economy that will create jobs, lower energy costs for American families and businesses, reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and reduce the carbon pollution causing climate change. We call on Republicans to continue and build on this progress, instead of slashing investments in clean energy solutions, giving away tens of billions in tax breaks to Big Oil. They should join us in strengthening, not weakening our ability to ensure clean air and a healthier environment for our children.
“On Earth Day, we recognize that our economic recovery and future prosperity hinge on whether the United States leads the world in the clean energy economy. We can create jobs while preserving the planet; we can and we must.”
Earth To Nancy Earth to Nancy Helll-ooooo
What about tax breaks to GE and Big Wind?
She always wants to lead the chants of “Death to America”.
Isn’t this a communist vacation day?
Big oil big oil big oil barry sends billions to petrobras big oil big oil.
I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century. Every material social advance in the 20th century depended on the proliferation of inexpensive and reliable electricity. Giving women the freedom to work outside the home depended on the availability of electrical appliances that free up time from domestic chores. Getting children out of menial labour and into schools depended on the same thing, as well as the ability to provide safe indoor lighting for reading.
Development and provision of modern health care without electricity is absolutely impossible. The expansion of our food supply, and the promotion of hygiene and nutrition, depended on being able to irrigate fields, cook and refrigerate foods, and have a steady indoor supply of hot water. Many of the world's poor suffer brutal environmental conditions in their own homes because of the necessity of cooking over indoor fires that burn twigs and dung. This causes local deforestation and the proliferation of smoke- and parasite-related lung diseases. Anyone who wants to see local conditions improve in the third world should realize the importance of access to cheap electricity from fossil-fuel based power generating stations. After all, that's how the west developed.
The whole mentality around Earth Hour demonizes electricity. I cannot do that, instead I celebrate it and all that it has provided for humanity. Earth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty and backwardness. By repudiating the greatest engine of liberation it becomes an hour devoted to anti-humanism. It encourages the sanctimonious gesture of turning off trivial appliances for a trivial amount of time, in deference to some ill-defined abstraction called “the Earth,” all the while hypocritically retaining the real benefits of continuous, reliable electricity.
People who see virtue in doing without electricity should shut off their fridge, stove, microwave, computer, water heater, lights, TV and all other appliances for a month, not an hour. And pop down to the cardiac unit at the hospital and shut the power off there too. I don't want to go back to nature. Travel to a zone hit by earthquakes, floods and hurricanes to see what it’s like to go back to nature.
For humans, living in "nature" meant a short life span marked by violence, disease and ignorance. People who work for the end of poverty and relief from disease are fighting against nature. I hope they leave their lights on. Here in Ontario, through the use of pollution control technology and advanced engineering, our air quality has dramatically improved since the 1960s, despite the expansion of industry and the power supply.
If, after all this, we are going to take the view that the remaining air emissions outweigh all the benefits of electricity, and that we ought to be shamed into sitting in darkness for an hour, like naughty children who have been caught doing something bad, then we are setting up unspoiled nature as an absolute, transcendent ideal that obliterates all other ethical and humane obligations.
No thanks. I like visiting nature but I don't want to live there, and I refuse to accept the idea that civilization with all its tradeoffs is something to be ashamed of.
Ross McKitrick
Professor of Economics
University of Guelph
It’s exactly like Hitler said, even after a big lie has been totally broken down and debunked, some part of it lingers on, vampire-like, and can never really be killed.
If SanFranNan just kept her mouth shut, we would not have a so-called global warming crisis.
“Americans have come together on this occasion to improve the air we breathe and the water we drink.”
As human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
I’ve seen Damascus Nan sitting at tables with pitchers of water, but I’ve never seen her drink any water.
You know why that is don’t you?
It’s because she’s a cyborg.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.