ENVIRONMENT POLITICS--As someone who leans conservative (conservative as in "common sense"), I always thought that being an environmentalist was pro-clean air, clean water, less imprint of humanity on the world, free space, etc. Of course I contribute money to rather than make money from, the environmental industry--but what an economic/political industry it has become, to the detriment of the environment!
True environmentalists are into being green in a natural, pro-Mother Earth manner of being. They seek to encourage and teach others what they believe and have studied to be best practices for our own lives, those of our children, and for generations to come. They do NOT have any conflict of interest, or desire to make some quick bucks or political points, in proclaiming their environmentalist beliefs.
Faux environmentalists who trumpet their love of the land while allowing for (and profiting from) overdevelopment, unaffordable utilities, and establish top-down government control while our own physical, mental, and economic health goes down ... well, that's a different breed of "environmentalists".
As the solar tax credits expire, and as the electric/hybrid carpool stickers are up for debate, and as even off-peak hours are disallowed for carpool lane use by our "green" governor, it's evident that it's the money and the power that the environmental industry truly yearns for.
How wonderful it is that the environmental industry can cajole, do, or force others into complying with their vision and into complying with their power-grabs and money-grabs ... because if you question or oppose the environmental industry, then you're nothing short of a troglodyte, Genghis Khan, and Adolf Hitler all rolled into one.
Because it's not OUR carpool lanes but Sacramento's carpool lanes. It's not OUR streets, it's City Hall's streets. It's not OUR solar panels that we paid megabucks for, it's the utility companies' panels. And we'll be taxed and lose our credits if Big Environmentalist Brother damn well feels like it--because otherwise, we're satanic anti-Earth types who want other people's children to wallow through carcinogenic sewage every day and die young.
● The conclusions that solar panels should be cheap and very affordable, and that paying for infrastructure and exorbitant DWP salaries, pensions and benefits should NOT be mutually exclusive, aren't hard to achieve.
● The conclusions that off-peak-hour use of HOV (carpool) lanes to relieve congestion and reduce auto emissions, and street to bikeway conversions (a la Ciclavia) on weekends is different than during weekdays, and to not overdevelop as a way to maintain a sustainable environment, aren't hard to achieve.
● The conclusions that global warming/climate change is evident (just look at the receding titular glacier of Glacier National Park), but that the role of man versus normal earth cycles, the role of America versus that of China and India, and the cost-effectiveness of our current "environmental" policies are not so evident or obvious, aren't hard to achieve.
But the environmental industry (shall we call it "Big Green"?) will certainly make those conclusions hard to achieve. Because it's never been about the respect and love of Mother Earth--just a new way for human beings to grab money and power at the expense of others.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 80
Pub: Oct 2, 2015
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