I'm compelled to clarify a few misnomers. There is no environmental cult. I am not a cultist. I do not invoke supernatural entities in order to preserve that which I cherish as precious and life-sustaining. However, a supernatural power may be required to preserve the beauty and health of a planet ravaged by profligate human consumption.
Nonrenewable resources do not propagate. There are finite amounts of many of the resources we depend upon for survival. Many of the world's human conflicts are a direct result of the mismanagement and the disproportionate dispersal of these resources.A larger portion of our budget for destruction could easily be reinvested in long-term strategies promoting self-sufficiency and sustainable development in countries receiving our aid.
The original unamended Constitution of the United States allowed and condoned slavery, a barbaric practice that supported an economy dependent on slavery. When you attack environmental and human rights advocates because of their attempts to ensure an equitable NAFTA, you also condemn the very morality which was suppressed to justify and allow slavery because of its economic expediency.
To ensure that American or international companies do not relocate across the border for the sole purpose of exploiting the lack of human rights, environmental protection, health and worker safety laws, there must be stipulations in NAFTA which prevent this from occurring. In this age of enlightenment, we are still entrapped in a profit-driven economy which encourages corruption and disregard for basic human dignity.
Activists have battled tirelessly to enact legislation that empowers the people of this country to scrutinize the manner in which our rich natural heritage is managed. When we as a people surrender or allow politicians or special interest lobbies to legislatively dissolve our right to know and to be involved in the decisionmaking process, we will lose our timeless landscapes to the juggernaut of greed.
Long-term economic health and living in a clean, green and spacious environment are not antagonistic. To the contrary, a symbiotic relationship exists. Taxpayers and the economy suffer when government subsidizes the enormous profiteering which currently pervades the resource extraction industries.
Environmental legislation is aimed at removing the financial burden placed on taxpayers when government funds are required to reclaim and render safe the sites that have been plundered and left destroyed and harmful by irresponsible industries and individuals.
Merrill Bitter
Salt Lake City