Democrats Failing Planet Again

By FRANK LINGO

As of this writing in mid-October, provisions for action on climate chaos in the infrastructure bill could be goners. That’s because of Joe Manchin, a holdout in the Democrats’ bare majority in the US Senate.

The West Virginia senator is clearly in the pocket of the coal industry, having accepted their contributions of several hundred thousand dollars for the most recent quarter alone.

That amount of money overrules any amount of persuasion from President Joe Biden or Democratic leaders to sway Manchin’s vote for measures to combat our climate emergency, which the majority of American voters want.

Even with control of Congress and the presidency, the Democratic Party is failing to fulfill its campaign pledges to get bills passed for mitigating the damage of climate chaos. It’s a pathetic given that the Republican Party is united against any effort to protect our air, land and water.

Meanwhile, in October the United Nations held its Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in China. Every nation on Earth is a signatory and voting member except ... guess who? The United States of America has never joined the treaty to protect the Earth’s plant and animal life from extinction. Blame the United States Senate.

Not that the treaty has accomplished much for the good of non-human life. National Geographic estimates that about one million species of plants and animals face extinction within the next few years as a result of our maltreatment of the Earth. That is an astronomical and horrific rate of destruction.

The conference received only slim press coverage, which is usually the case with issues of biodiversity. American news sources apparently see little reason to bring this topic to the forefront since the U.S. is only a non-voting observer, but they should because Americans are big perpetrators of flora and fauna extinction.

One goal of the CBD is to safeguard 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030. That’s admirable, but voracious greed by agribusiness, oil companies and the fishing industry could easily leave this goal in the dust, as has happened with past goals, because enforcement ranges from rare to non-existent.

To paraphrase an old adage, variety is the STUFF of life, not just the spice of life. There is considerable research showing that the more varieties within each plant and animal species, the more likely they will survive adversity.

Last year, United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres said, “Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back - and it is already doing so with growing force and fury. Biodiversity is collapsing.”

If we believe there is a web of life that is all inter-connected, then tearing out strands of that web damages the entire ecosystem. Unfortunately, this macrocosmic view is not held by many people with the power to control how our worldwide web of life is treated. Their pursuits are for profit alone, leaving our fellow inhabitants of Earth as their victims. The powerful also treat people, especially people of color, like throwaway objects. How can people take care of the Earth when they can’t even get adequate food and shelter?

That leaves it up to us, the people of the world, to rein in the runaway rampage of those who would ruin the Earth. We can do it. We must take control away from the corporations and their political puppets while there is still time to protect our planet and ourselves.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, November 15, 2021

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