gluttony gets a calling card

The more I read the news the more I seem to notice that America is being served a big-ass portion of "shoulda thunk more about what you were doing". There are lots of signs out there that Americans have been overdoing it for over 50 years and now its starting to catch up with us, in a super big, ugly, nasty way.

We've been the gluttons of the planet ever since WWII came to a conclusion. Since the Americas were untouched during the colossal war, our resources were undamaged, infrastructure in place, and the United States was the big beneficiary of it. Mexico and countries south used this advantage to start building themselves up while Canada used the time to recuperate and get back to figuring out a way to make their cars not freeze so much (I joke, don't get upset).

America in the post-war era really jumped. Manufacturing was retooled after the war for the returning solider and his family to supply the needs of the family. America didn't have to spend billions on rebuilding and as a result, we spent the money on consuming. Over the course of the last five decades, Americans have become the very best at being consumers. From petroleum and all is by-products to food and all of its processed derivatives, we've done a great job of gobbling up everything in sight.

The time has come to pay for that gluttony.

The signs were evident in the 70s. Carter tried to get the country to realize its need for an energy policy and the gas crisis of his Administration should have awoken us to the upcoming dangers. Instead his ideas were buried when Reagan came to office as that Administration spent its time and money buying out communism and ignoring the need. We stormed ahead with giant cars, dubbed SUVs, and expected that cheap gas was something we would always have. The last few years have showed the error of that belief.

American industry was also given notice back in the 70s but it failed to listen as well. The environmental disaster of the Love Canal in western New York and the flammability of the Cuyahoga River in northeast Ohio were indicators that we couldn't treat our environment as a dump site and expect any type of animal to flourish - human or other. Yet Hinkley, California still made headlines as PG&E was sued by residents for the hexavalent chromium it polluted the water with some 15 years later, as made famous by the movie Erin Brockovich.

We lived for 50 years thinking that what we did would have no consequences and ignored the idea that "everything should be in moderation". Yet there was no moderation, no limits, no reflection to see if we were acting appropriately. We assumed that we could do no wrong, that the might of America would mean that our values were never questioned and our beliefs adopted by one and all. We now reap what we have sown and America looks much the worse for it.

Our economy is tied to oil that we do not control. We are currently spending hundred of billions (the numbers range from 330 to 600) of dollars EVERY YEAR in our demand for oil. Americans are the donors of the largest transfer of wealth from one nation-state to others ever seen in history. Pretty soon there American dream will be alive and well somewhere in the Middle East or Venezuela.

We raped our environment with over-fishing, over-ranching, and over-spraying of pesticides. The fishing industry in reeling now and realizing their error after 50 years of giving everyone what they wanted at a super-low cost; only the cost was passed on to the remaining sea-life, decimating the populations so that they are dangerously low today. Alaskan King Crab, Maryland Blue Crab, and Atlantic Cod are examples of over-fishing that have devastated those species to the point where they may not be available soon in your supermarket. In search of places to raise the almighty cow, native grasslands are chewed down to nothingness to feed the hormone-laced beast. We despise bugs so much that we are willing to put horrendous chemicals on our food to prevent them from eating it (bugs need to eat too ya know) and end up ingesting those poisons in the process. I won't even go into DDT and what that can do...

But all is not gloom and doom, there is hope for Americans - provided we take a long, hard look at our practices and recognize what moderation truly is. It may mean completely changing how we think but as a young country and we have that ability. Americans are known for overcoming the odds, never giving up, always fighting to the end. We show it in our movies and in our actions (United Flight 93) which is a testament to the idea that we can accomplish whatever we set out to do. We can change in a moment's notice, we can mend our ways, and we can show others what the true path to maintaining a sustainable environment is all about. American leadership is not waning but it could do better.

So America, when do we start leading again? Show it in your actions, not your words.