<
https://www.salon.com/2023/08/06/even-like-richard-nixon-were-once-champions-of-the-environment-what-happened/>
'Five days before astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot
upon the Moon, the American president who sent him there dispatched his Vice
President to go on an important mission of his own. Speaking to the American
Medical Association Convention, Spiro Agnew reflected that although America was
"capable of catapulting men to the Moon," the nation was also "in mortal danger
of devouring its irreplaceable life-sustaining elements through simultaneous
genius and foolishness."
Even as NASA under the Nixon administration had used the "blessings" of modern
technology to forever change history, "the curse of modern society is man's
inability to eliminate — or at least to neutralize — the adverse effects of his
own creativity," Agnew said.
Agnew was referring to environmental pollution, of course. His tone reflected
the bipartisan consensus which existed at the time on the need for
environmental reform: "We are bringing a national plague upon ourselves. It is
the plague of a polluted environment."
As humanity endures extreme heatwaves, wildfires, massive floods, ecosystem
collapse and the other consequences of climate change — which is occurring
because of carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels — it is imperative to
look back at recent American history and examine how things might have gone
differently. At first glance, it is telling that a Republican president like
Richard Nixon passed pro-environmental policies at all, given that the modern
GOP is staunchly against environmental reforms.
Although Nixon was more liberal on domestic issues than many of his
contemporaries were willing to admit, his support of eco-friendly causes had
less to do with conviction than with pragmatism. Nixon read the room, so to
speak — and, at that point in American history, reading the room meant
supporting environmental reform.'
Via libramoon.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
