Paul Newman died this past week. He was a humanitarian and a fine actor and he will be missed. One of my favorite Newman roles was in Cool Hand Luke. Do you remember how he would match wits with the quietly vicious prison warden who would say "what we have here is a failure to communicate" before Newman's character was punished -- again.
There will be an English language party leaders' debate this evening and I fear that there will be a failure to communicate to Canadians the importance of paying the true cost for the energy we consume and our addiction to fossil fuels. Several of the parties have put forward in various proposals taxing carbon to curtail our spendthrift, enjoy-now, pay-later approach to energy consumption. They have failed to demonstrate that other countries such as Germany, Spain, and Denmark have managed to do this, keeping their economies strong while fostering growth in industries producing alternate forms of energy. Now Denmark and Germany are world leaders in exporting this technology.
As each election comes along I encourage voting and generally refrain from endorsing any particular party. I will say this time around that the Conservatives have done nothing more than create fear over the possibility of the innovation we desparately need while maintaining "business as usual." At the same time, the other parties have done little to "sell" their proposals.
I am obviously convinced that living responsibly on this planet is a deeply spiritual, Christian imperative and I hope to God we "get it" before it is too late. If we think the financial crisis in the States is scary...Maybe we will hear things tonight that will turn on the light.
2 comments:
I actually enjoyed the debate last night and am looking forward to the debate tonight. If only more people cared. I thought that all the leaders with the exception of Harper genuinely care about our environment. We can only hope things will change after the election. Laurie
Hi Laurie. Kudos for being able and willing to listen in both official languages. I'm trying to believe that Mr. Harper does care about the future of his own children and others but he doesn't have a vision for change. Thomas Friedman writes for the NY Times and in his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded he points out that the Stone Age didn't end because they ran out of stones. They discovered something new, and we need to do so as well.
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