Op-Ed: World Burns While Politicians Palin, Jindal Fiddle

Climate change and the inevitable extinction of the human species have been emphatically underlined by scientists studying coral reefs. But some leaders don’t listen.

Even though the loss of these reefs, already at 20 per cent, constitutes a serious blow to the balance in the ecosystem that is the key to maintaining survival of the earth, and the global warming that is leading to man’s extinction, some leaders don't listen. Nevertheless, Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, and Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, two key figures repeatedly touted as two of the leaders of the Republican Party and contenders for the Presidency in 2012, continue to back oil and gas exploration and activities counter to maintaining the balance of nature necessary to the survival of the planet. Their emphasis continues on the message “drill, baby, drill,” the refrain that brought Republicans to rounds of applause at their convention prior to the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. This latest plea has been cited by Worldwatch that quotes Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, as saying "Indeed the world is currently facing a sixth wave of extinctions, mainly as a result of human impacts." This world destruction is known as the Holocene extinction event, scientists maintain may be the A study earlier this year in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science said the current extinction period, known as the Holocene extinction event, may be the peak event in the Earth's history and the first for which man has been responsible. This time, however, the destruction is taking place over decades as opposed to centuries. In the meantime, the “go merrily on your way” attitude is reflected by the fact that the world keeps on turning with politicians in the United States, led mostly by those who have been supported by the oil companies or who administer States where oil exploration is paramount, continue to push for the drilling of oil and production of materials that pollute the atmosphere. Two of these individuals are being touted in the media and by Republican stalwarts as being likely Presidential candidates. Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska and Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana. Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, has ignored science and continued promoting fuel sources that can cause environmental damage. Palin, as reported by Alaska newspapers and environmentalists, is on the environmental community’s hit list because of her lack of support on environmental issues that include her risk of endangered species, like polar bears, her push for drilling in the ANWR, a protected refuge whose array of life forms has been found essential to earth’s maintaining balance, and her support of coal mine productions that also reap serious consequences. One would think Sarah Palin, who but for the economic recession and quotes in television interviews with Katie Couric that made her look foolish, according to newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel, might have become Vice President with John McCain as President according to some folks’ hypotheses, only admitted after running for national political office that it wasn’t God but man fooling around with earth’s safety causing the problems. But it didn’t stop the cries of “drill, baby, drill.”and recently Palin's support of plastic over natural evergreens for Christmas as reported by the Huffington Post. In the meantime Bobby Jindal frequently traverses the State of Louisiana supporting the drilling for natural gas, a type of activity that can pollute the drinking water while supporting oil and gas exploration off the coast of Louisiana. Landfills of plastic cause problems related to global warming because plastic is not biodegradable and becomes part of the food chain, as reported by such lofty publications as Time magazine, that have taken responsibility in trying to alert the public to the risks of using plastic. Educating the public about problems related to the use of plastic is one of the means of reducing the practice, according to experts quoted recently.

Photo by richard ling

Coral garden, part of the ecosystem being destroyed by activities supported by Jindal and Palin

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The economy is presently front burner for most of the world, but it surely won’t do any good to balance the budget everywhere only to really keep rescuing folks from cataclysmic events that scientists maintain are directly related to changes in the earth’s climate caused by man’s pollution of the atmosphere. Coral reefs may not make headline news. But while Jindal and Palin are still grabbing headlines after the Presidential election, they have a public voice that could be used to help the earth’s plight constructively rather than destructively and stop fiddling while we lose our precious world.