The Senate has finally decided to approve an extension of unemployment benefits (albeit one denuded of anything but the most basic provisions they can get away with) ~ having waited just long enough for everyone in dire economic straits to be just desperate enough to be grateful for whatever paltry benefits they get (don’t believe me? take a look at what the unemployment extension doesn’t include).
Can you say diversionary tactics? I knew you could!
Because, meanwhile, attacks are being levied on multiple fronts against legislation promoting clean environment initiatives and boosting green employment ~ from Texas oil companies fueling the argument to defer or repeal California’s AB 32 Climate Change Law to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, along with the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the US Treasury Department, doing everything they can to block or kill the Property Assessment Clean Energy (PACE) Programs that provide financing for residential and commercial property owners to make their properties more energy efficient, and thus lower their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint.
Who has time to pay attention to what the government is doing when they’re just trying to figure out whether or not they can pay the rent or the mortgage AND buy some groceries this month? or whether or not they will be able to supplement the twice a month they’re allowed to get food from a local food pantry and still buy perishables like bread and milk?
The result: those whose voices most need to be heard ~ struggling unemployed, under-employed (the working poor), low-income members of our communities, and what used to be the working middle class ~ in other words, the largest percentage of “the People” government officials are meant to serve and represent, are too consumed by worry about how they’re going to make do with even less than they had before to think about speaking out and demanding that their voices be heard.
Like Alice, holding on to the hand of the White Queen, they are running as fast as they can just to keep in the same place.
It’s difficult to pay attention to what the government and big business is doing and to hold them accountable when you’re worried about foreclosure and bill collectors calling and your credit card interest rates that, post credit card regulation laws, shot up to 30% and when those all-important credit ratings are dropping like stones into a well ~ You’re just trying to stay alive, batten down and weather until the storm passes.
It’s equally difficult to believe that “the People” who are meant to represent the best interests of ALL the People ~ our government officials ~ are the very people who, in league with corporate leaders who don’t, themselves, have to face this economic death by slow poison, are building roadblocks and leaving oil slicks in the road to economic recovery, well-paid employment, and a clean and healthy environment for all of “the People.”
Yet, these are the daily actions of the government our forefathers installed, as President Lincoln so eloquently put it at Gettysburg, to be a government “Of the People, By the People, and For the People.”
What has been forgotten is that WE are those People, each and every one of us. What happens in our nation ~ a nation that used to lead the world in equality, beneficence, honesty, and accountability ~ is OUR responsibility. It’s about time we took up that responsibility again.
How do We, the People, begin to do just that?
Do this: Take your focus from the negatives that seem to keep piling up and turn it to the positives of what your life should be. Take time off from running as fast as you can, stop, and join with organizations that are working toward the green future of clean, renewable energy; gainful, green employment; and a clean and healthy, recovering environment.
Here are just a few of many national organizations working toward just that:
- Green For All (http://www.greenforall.org/),
- EarthJustice (http://www.earthjustice.org/),
- the Apollo Alliance (http://apolloalliance.org/),
- GreenPeace (http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/),
- the Climate Equity Alliance (http://www.greenforall.org/what-we-do/working-with-washington/climate-equity), and
- the Sierra Club (http://www.sierraclub.org/).
Find one that suits you and join your voice with theirs. Look as well, into activist and advocacy groups where you live and join them in taking positive action toward ensuring that green future in your state, town, community.
On a more personal level, if you’re unemployed, look for work in the green sector, and if you need training, look for funding to help you get that training. Two places to start your search are the Jobs page on GreenJobsReady.com and the articles on training and funding at Boots on the Roof.
Finally, and both as individuals and as a group, contact your representatives, and keep contacting them. Flood their offices with email, snail mail, postcards, petitions, demanding legislation be put or kept in place that will promote
- good-paying green and green-collar jobs;
- decent, safe, energy efficient buildings to live and work in; and
- programs that will safeguard and ensure the care and repair of our planet in all of its eco-systems ~ land, sea, and air.
Like Kindra the fisherman’s wife said, “it starts with one.” Today, YOU be that one. What do you say?
Stand up, speak out, and believe that you can make a difference, and I know that, someday soon, I’ll see you all on the green.
Rebecca
Rebecca Longster is a writer, editor, and lover of words. She believes passionately that people can be healthier, wealthier, and happier living and working in harmony with the earth, and that doing so is a practical as well as a moral imperative. In addition to writing fiction and non-fiction, both for the web and for print publication, she currently teaches writing at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
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