Times Record "Sustain Maine" op-ed series

Lady Slippers, Ospreys, and November 2004

May 2004

David Vail

Pink lady slippers and soaring ospreys have made their annual re-appearance at Neils Point in Harpswell. These are reassuring signs of nature's resilience. Not long ago, the ospreys' survival was threatened by toxins and habitat loss. More personally, our little lady slipper patch was threatened by carelessness during a recent construction project.

This essay marks the third anniversary of the "Sustain Maine" series. Like the osprey's recovery, many of our stories document inspiring efforts to protect and restore the nature -- and culture -- that make Maine a special place to live, for ourselves and for generations to come. Among more than 30 topics, we have highlighted:

  • Land for Maine's Future's help in protecting local treasures: Brunswick's Town Commons and Topsham's Muddy River estuary;
  • Lobster co-management as a resource conservation success;
  • Maine's farsighted Climate Change Action Plan;
  • The Chewonki Foundation's biodiesel waste-to-energy initiative;
  • Western Maine's creation of thriving tourist destinations, blending natural attractions and cultural heritage;
  • Sustainable design principles for buildings and communities;
  • Progress toward closed loop manufacturing at Guilford of Maine.

Other stories, in contrast, warn about trends and actions that threaten Maine's environmental, economic, or social sustainability: depleted groundfish stocks; invasive species; liquidation timber harvesting; the school funding crisis; the state budget squeeze on higher education; human obsolescence among adult workers; the scarcity of livable wage jobs; deficiencies in long term care; and summer tourist congestion.

Environmentalists were once inspired by the slogan, "Think globally, act locally." What we have learned, in this era of ozone holes, rising temperatures, and mass species extinctions, is that sustainability requires us both to think and to organize for action at every level, from the local to the global. The current run-up in gasoline prices is a stark reminder that, for all our sustainable development initiatives in Brunswick, Topsham, or the Augusta Statehouse, Maine's future is largely shaped by powerful forces beyond our control.

From a big picture perspective, many key trends are ominous, with the United States deeply implicated as part of the problem, not part of the solution. For the time being, the United States is the 900 pound gorilla in world economic, political, and environmental matters. And the Bush administration, backed by radical conservatives in Congress, is throwing its weight around with a gorilla's intelligence, foresight, and moral awareness.

In this brief space, I would stress that US policies - and White House attitudes -- pose three intertwined threats to sustainability. First, the Republicans' reckless fiscal policy - tax less, spend more - threatens America's long term economic and social health in many ways. Insolvency looms for the Medicare program, putting the health of future elders at risk. States face a severe squeeze on Federal support for K-12 and higher education, investments crucial to the next generation's productivity and prosperity. Many a child is being left behind. And big budget deficits, as far as the eye can see, will eventually drive up interest rates and start crowding out private investment.

Second, the reckless Cheney-Bush energy "strategy", an inside job by the coal and oil industries, points America in an unsustainable direction. With consensus emerging on the economic, environmental, and national security foolishness of intensifying our dependence on fossil fuels, it is astounding that there is so little emphasis on energy conservation and renewable energy development. Bush's denunciation of the Kyoto climate change protocol, his ceaseless efforts to open drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and his unwillingness to require that SUVs meet cars' fuel efficiency standards are symptomatic of his head-in-the-sand worldview. Americans' current panic over $2/gallon gasoline (it's going to get a lot higher) is a clear sign of our leaders' failure to prepare us, either psychologically or practically, for our unavoidable weaning from fossil fuel gluttony.

Third, the Bush administration's crusading foreign policy -- reckless in concept, vicious and incompetent in execution -- is disastrous from a sustainable development perspective. It deepens the budget crisis and distracts attention from critical domestic challenges like health, education, and energy. It demoralizes Americans and undermines their faith in elected leaders. And it alienates the rest of the world, including allies whose collaboration is crucial for re-shaping global economic and environmental governance. Even under the best of circumstances, these destructive trends will take years to reverse.

This is not a partisan rant: our own Republican Senators Snowe and Collins have been persistent critics - heroic critics, considering the pressures on them -- of Bush's energy, environment, tax, and domestic program slashing agendas.

As we anticipate the next three years of "Sustain Maine" op-ed essays, it is clear that Mainers will face plenty of sustainable development challenges here in our own backyard. But we, our children, and our children's children also have an enormous stake in the outcome of this November's national elections.

David Vail is coordinator of the "Sustain Maine" series and Adams-Catlin Professor of Economics at Bowdoin College.

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