Right-Wing Seems to Think This Land Was Made for Them

Now that Earth Day 2011 has come and gone, did anyone really notice? And did the forty-first annual celebration of all things environmental have any real political impact? Has it had any political impact in, let's say, several decades? I'm aware that on, or around, Earth Day, individuals of all political stripes helped clean beaches and parks, planted trees and created community gardens, and held forums on a bevy of environmental issues; all laudable endeavors. At the same time, eco-preneurs were hawking their "eco-friendly" products to Americans who actually want to do right by the environment.

However, as a People for the American Way report recently pointed out, while Earth Day activities were in full gear, "Republican officials [were] accelerat[ing] their efforts to weaken environmental regulations and attack climate scientists, [and] energy corporations [were] reaping the benefits of a decades-long effort to put a more benevolent, humanitarian, and even religious spin to their anti-environmental activism."

After four decades, the question can be reasonably posed: What is Earth Day's raison d'etre? Are we any closer to dealing with global climate change, holding BP accountable for its mess in the Gulf, putting a moratorium on the building of nuclear power plants, or ending our dependence on fossil fuels? No, maybe, doubtful, no, are, I think, fair answers to those questions.

For the past decade at least, we've been inundated with eco-this and eco-that. The word eco now even appears in crossword puzzles as a three-letter word that precedes conscious or friendly. If Groucho Marx was still alive and his program "You Bet Your Life" was still on television, eco might qualify as a "magic word," which, when uttered by one of the contestants, resulted in a Duck (with mustache and cigar) dropping down from the set's ceiling with an extra $100-bucks.

To paraphrase an anti-Vietnam War song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969, and sung by the great Edwin Starr -- "Earth Day: What is It Good For?

[MORE @ http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12663]

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