Save the Planet? Americans Say "No"

Sorry, crankyjewishguy (CJG) was missing in action there yesterday, a victim of March Madness. There sure were a lot of close games yesterday, enough to drive CJG's younger son, who has $10 in a school pool, crazy because he's already, mentally anyway, spent the $700 he stands to win if his "bracket" tops those of 69 other kids. CJG isn't sure of this type of gambling is sanctioned by the school so he is declaring an area that comprises the high school campus an Indian reservation.

Now, what's chapping CJG's ass today is that a recent poll shows that by the widest margin in three decades, Americans say economic growth should take priority over protecting the environment. The spread is 54% to 36%.

What troubles CJG is that in the long-term we ain't gonna have much of an economy if we let the environment go to hell. Just take a look at the price, human and economic, Japan is paying for building six nuclear reactors in one of the worst earthquake zones on Earth. Even more to the point, clean energy technology offers one of the greatest economic opportunities of our lifetime, and we're still sitting here, lagging way behind the Chinese, weighing the fossil fuel/nuclear options. Long-term thinking in Washington is defined as two years, or the greatest distance between now and the next election. Even college basketball coaches building a program have a longer frame of reference than that. Yup, we're in March Madness alright.