Glass House or Green House?

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In response to my Earth Day entry, a reader questioned my authority to lament the sorry state of our planet’s health. “Do you drive?” she asks. “Do you live in the city or in a nice house in the suburbs? ye who is without sin cast the first stone.” I don’t have the right to criticize because I’m part of the problem? Is that it? Better yet, is that all you’ve got? Yes, I’m part of the problem. We all are. (I take it you breathe?) And yes, I have a right to be critical of individuals who make grotesquely wasteful decisions about the use of natural resources and the long-term effect on our planet. I especially claim my right to be critical of the current administration in Washington – one that continues to promote a series of lies including the one in which they claim global warming is a theory currently under debate within the scientific community. It is not. Global warming and its threat to the planet is no longer theoretical. It hasn’t been since the late 70’s. For the record, I live in a city. I drive to work because my town’s public transportation system is so inefficient it would not allow me to do my job if I relied on it entirely. Some directives from the federal government for my community to improve mass transportation, rather than the construction of more highways might help. I’m not going to hold my breath. Then again, maybe I will have to.