A New York Times editorial reported on Monday that U.S. citizens are witnessing one of the greatest examples of misplaced priorities in the history of the U.S. presidency. This is because President George W. Bush has an energy crisis staring him right in the face, but he chooses to ignore it and instead focus on Social Security. Even Republicans who normally support Bush are beginning to voice their opinions against his environmental policy.
Rather than encourage low-emissions vehicles, which get 40 to 50 miles to the gallon, the administration instead continues to search for more oil. The presidency seems to be facing a conflict of interest. With Vice President Dick Cheney still on the payroll of Halliburton, a major oil corporation, why should the administration do anything that would hurt the vice president's extra paycheck?
The United States is not fuel efficient. Many Americans still pay considerably less than $3 per gallon for gas, while the average price per gallon in Europe is now $6. In Switzerland, citizens pay an extra $2,000 when buying a new car to pay for the future recycling of the car. This not only provides money but also makes people conscious of their personal environmental implications. This additional vehicle tax was added in the '80s, when Switzerland was in the midst of its own environmental crisis, and since then it has done so much to clean up. The United States needs to start doing something.
Bush comes off as a horrible president from an environmentalist standard, but the sad truth is even the country's most environmental presidents have not exactly been shining environmentalists. Former President Teddy Roosevelt, the man responsible for the initiation of many of the country's national parks, traveled to Africa to kill wild animals. Still, Roosevelt created many initiatives to protect nature, but he was president 100 years ago. Since him, things have been moving downhill.
Now it is the United States' turn to start cleaning up. America is an enormous country, and it is certainly not expected to be pristine, but it should start working to correct its environmental problems. Politicians need to acknowledge this problem and take care of it - whether the environment is a vote-grabbing issue is not the case. This is not an environmental issue, this is a human issue. The well being of humans around the world depends on cleaning up the environment.
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