It is with great relief that I read in today’s news, that President Biden will be “pausing” new oil and gas leasing on public lands, and offshore. This is another step in the right direction. On his first day in office he re-entered the Paris Climate Agreement and repealed the permit for the Keystone pipeline that Trump had foolishly pushed forward. There will no doubt be pushback and disagreement by those who remain ignorant and stubborn in their refusal to acknowledge climate change. Our new president’s purposeful steps to combat this serious problem does not currently prevent extraction on private, state, or tribal lands; but at least it is a step.
I am encouraged that the Biden Administration is looking at the big picture. They know that simply putting a stop to current practices will do little to reduce greenhouse gases. It will basically require the revamping of nearly every aspect of modern human life. As more people become aware of the problems our world is facing, there will be more who join the ranks of those seeking solutions. We must work towards and quickly reach that place where we are no longer dependent on fossil fuels. We must arrive at a new paradigm where electric cars, solar power, and sustainable farming are the rule and not the exception. When the race consciousness arrives at knowing that we are NOT separate from nature, but PART OF IT, we will be able to make giant strides in our human evolution. We must step down from this false mountain of superiority before it crumbles beneath us, or melts like the polar ice caps, dropping us to our demise. Instead of trying to control nature, we must approach her with humility and reverence so that she can teach us her mysteries. By seeking her wisdom and not merely intellectual knowledge, we are taking the first step, merging onto the highway of global healing. If we are to stop the devastation that has been left behind, by greedy perpetrators who never looked back, we must get their attention. We must help them to see where they have been blind. We must ask them to change their ways – not for themselves, but for their children’s children’s children.
