| Earth Day |
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Dear Friend, It’s Earth Day, and today this means a great deal more than it did when Earth Day was established in 1970. Today, we must look with concern at our lack of stewardship with planet earth and we need to make hard choices that will profoundly affect the way our children live. In my church we pray “for the good earth that God has given us, and for the wisdom and will to conserve it.” Have we shown such wisdom and will? Not much in the past seven years, as the President and Washington Republicans (including Senator Alexander) have ignored climate change brought on by human activity and have refused to reduce our dependence on coal and oil, especially foreign oil. We see the result of this folly in gasoline prices approaching $3.50 per gallon (and predicted soon to reach $4.00), while multinational oil companies are enjoying record (and obscene) profits year after year. Yet these companies still are enriched at our expense through tax breaks they don’t require or deserve. At the same time, businesses and farmers in Tennessee struggle to cope with fuel prices they cannot afford. It is clear that we must invest much more seriously in alternative energy solutions. But Senator Alexander has opposed such measures. It may be that a “cap and trade” system modeled on our own Congressman Cooper’s thoughtful legislation to reduce sulfur emissions from coal plants in the 1990’s may assist in generating funds for alternative energy research. Congressman Cooper urges serious but cautious examination of this market-driven mechanism to reduce greenhouse gases. Unwisely, Senator Corker wants to divert the funding it would create away from alternative energy research. Senator Alexander is silent. The time for silence has ended, lest we allow our planet to drift toward a “silent spring.” It is time for leadership and stewardship in our energy policies. That is why I am running for the U.S. Senate. Let’s Take the Hill. Semper Fi, 
Bob Tuke |
