Contract with the Earth
By Newt Gingrich
This was a refreshing and insightful book from a political figure with a bipartisan message for us all to appreciate. I got on to this book when listening to an interview of Gingrich on NPR. I am curious if it were not for the timing in fall of 2007, with rise to a high visibility political season, would the interview had taken place. In that interview Gingrich was asked if he is running for President. He said he was not, for the same reason Al Gore is not running. He feels he can accomplish more for the world with regard to the environment as a citizen than he could as President, being encumbered with politics.
What is Gingrich’s message? First is unity in the cause. Not just across national party lines but across international lines as well. Second is recognition that we do not have all the facts, in terms of the full balance of the ecosystems of our planet earth. Third is the facts should not be proprietary but rather universally shared. Fourth, is government at all levels and business need to come together with effective participation and policy, in a cooperative posture. Fifth is education of our youth and remedial education of our elders on the individual contributions through consumerism, philanthropy, voting, and life style changes that can lead to a cleaner environment. All this says a collective conscience with one unified goal is essential. The key yet silent word through out the book is balance.
I was somewhat intrigued at a couple byproducts brought about with a collective conscience on the environment. First was recognition that democratic societies, where the free will of the people is prevalent, are more apt to participate as each individual can identify with their earth experience. Second is that our national security hangs in the balance of our recognition of the fossil fuel problem. Would focus on the environment reduce our focus on a major cause of our threat to our national security provided largely by volatile, non-democratic countries; or would it increase it? In my mind it depends on how you apply your focus. Reduce demand in fossil fuel by improving our technology and then sharing it refocuses everyone on being a good neighbor.
I find is interesting that while the still standing in Feb. 08 and probable presidential candidates they all have agreeable environmental platforms, I find Obama’s record and platform a bit more impressive. His voting record is superior to the other two and his platform calls for stronger international leadership where I have not heard the others reach beyond our boundaries. Interesting, it seems a popular cry today from our “Bush bashing talking heads” is that we should dampen our critique of other nations on their values and policy as though we are an arrogant nation. This would be to ignore specifically speaking to their environmental record as the reason for not endorsing the Kyoto Protocol. Meanwhile Gingrich is extolling the export of our technology commercially, and a call for international policy. There is a reason for my intrigue where leadership requires a genuine personal appreciation of a cause that translates to courage to advocate policy and practice towards that cause.
I did a search on the Internet and most easily found Obama willing to step up to the plate with right message. As a traditional Republican, I make the first move in reaching across lines with a call for good voting conscience as opposed to the “you go girl” mentality in choosing your candidate. We need to be for something, not against something. Its time we look for more than someone who is a divisive “I am not George W. Bush” as we hear from Clinton, but someone who actually has substance with leadership qualities as in Obama or McCain. On the environment we need unity and we need leadership, and if we saw a Presidential run off between McCain and Obama, for once either side would be voting for someone, whereby on the environment issues Obama stands tallest.
I am including notes in my review once again for those who do not make the time to read books. Shame on you who defer your information funnel solely to talking heads with agendas. It is my hope that the snippets will inspire you to read the book and get beyond the headlines or the five-minute take on TV or radio. If you are an Internet surfer, the back of the book provides a list of sites to surf. The more you know the issues and more specifically THE FACTS in depth the better you will appreciate what you as an individual can play as your part in this symphony we call Earth.
End Notes
p. 40 We don’t have a perfect understanding of Earth’s systems and processes; it may be unachievable in the face of such complexity. However, we continue to develop imperfect but useful mathematical models, and we have been able to isolate physical variables in the laboratory. We should celebrate our capacity to learn quickly about such things; and we need to continue funding the search for this vital information. We need to commit to the International Environmental Year project similar to the International Geophysical Year in the late 1950’s
p. 74 Conservation International has identified thirty-four hotspots in its most recent analysis. The degree of lost habitat can be expressed by comparing the 15.7 percent of original habitat with the remaining 2.3 percent of Earths surface now occupied by 34 hotspots, a precipitous loss of 86 percent. Amount them they contain 150,000 plant species as endemics, 50 percent of the worlds total…Hotspots are profoundly rich locales for the world’s wildlife, and the amount of biodiversity in hotspot is extremely high, so these remarkable hotspots represents an urgent priority for conservation. By protecting wildlife, especially undiscovered species, we also protect our opportunity to discover valuable new organic material.
p. 94 Non governmental organizations are driving those conservations because of the NGO’s inherent flexibility and speed…and their willingness to cooperate rather than criticize.
p. 119 Fred Kavli who is funding basic research for fairly open-ended projects in nanotechnology, neuroscience, and astronomy. He has launched fourteen research centers based at Yale, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Cal Tech.
P 122 One model for the new philanthropy is the Clinton Global Initiative that aims to accelerate active philanthropy, especially when it is confronted with global emergencies….
P132 with regard to the decrease in air pollution in Loa Angeles, This is a significant decline, and new technology can take most of the credit for this change. For example, it is estimated that it would take twenty of today’s new cars to generate equivalent air pollution by just one mid 1960’2 car. This goal was accomplished through recognition and regulation. Gingrich adds (paraphrased)Los Angeles is seeking greater federal policies on emissions of locomotives, cargo ships, and airplanes that come in to the Los Angeles basin from outside jurisdictions
P 140 Our national security and our nation’s economy depends on supply and demand shifts that are orderly, predictable, and carefully managed. Chaos is the enemy of national security.
By reducing expectations, it is easier to enable fossil fuel to retain its grip on the American consumer, an it becomes more difficult for competitive industry to gain a foothold, even if the industry is spawned by Big Oil…..our nation will need tax incentives to continue research on alternative fuels…a continued heavy handed policy will only limit the progress in research.
P156 With regard to leadership in environmentalism….In his best selling book, Good to Great, Jim Collins observed that effective leaders channel their self interest into the larger goal of building a great company. Their ambition is mostly for the good of the institution rather than themselves…Clearly , a sustainable environmental culture will require staying power. Today’s leaders must be tenacious advocates for the natural world, driven by results and guided by evidence. Where will we find such leaders? According to Collins…look for a well run company.
P157 A recent study published in the Journal of Peace Research demonstrated that democracies exhibit stronger international environmental commitments the non democratic nations.
P 159 In the book Green to Gold the authors identified many ways leading edge companies go beyond mere compliance to adapt environmental perspectives into all aspects of their company operations. These companies mindful of the increasing transparency provided by Internet access to the business world offer proactive pathways to an environmental business culture. Examples are provided
P 167 Because adventure capitalists tend to fund ideas that are nearly ready for the marketplace, the type of arduous research that produces real breakthroughs can only be funded by astute governments. America needs to be that kind of government, but our commitments have wavered in recent years so government incentives for energy research will be issues in future political campaigns.
P168 Mobilizing other countries to join us will not be as easy as it may appear. Many nations that signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol are lagging behind on their commitments. Canada’s commissioner Johanne Gelinas, said in 2006 that her country has “done too little and acted too slowly” in addressing climate change.
P177 On wild-life preserves, Crane-Medows ( a government preserve) does not live in a vacuum. It owes much of its success to Omaha-born entrepreneur Peter Kiewit, a generous philanthropist who died in 1979, but who left much of his fortune to his foundation….(paraphrased) contributing to the improvement of preserves.
P 188 A return to the subdued style and scholarly depth of the storied Lincoln-Douglas nineteenth-century political debates is a reform badly needed in our time. Media corporations should be working to achieve an unbiased, in-depth presentation of the original ideas, platforms, and philosophies of all political candidates so the American people can select their leaders based on trusted, reliable information sources.
P 189 We recognize that global climate change is supported by a wealth of scientific data derived from a diversity of measurement techniques….However we still cannot be certain about the variance introduced by distinctly human activities. Should human behavior be a cause, to any extent, it wouldn’t be surprising, given the role human beings have played in other environmental event….However, the debate about the origins and sources of climate change should not be left to scientists alone
P190 In three recent reports from the National Academy of Sciences, climate scientists decry the lack od adequate systems for collecting, sharing, and modeling climate data. We must heed these calls and provide the scientific community with the resources to improve future climate projections. A key first step is the development of a sophisticated data-gathering system with appropriate investment in gathering and analyzing data….The data should be available to everyone. Scientific debate and descent should be encouraged in pursuit of a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the complexities of our environmental systems
