It almost seems fashionable these days to take an obligatory dig at the President whether your dig is based in reality or not. Not only is the latest statement from WWF Lou Leonard disingenuous, it’s wholeheartedly disconnected from the reality of civic processes.
It has always been convenient to blame Washington DC for not having green energy in your community. Go ahead and try to put up a wind turbine farm to power your city. Try to build a desalination plant to nourish cropland. When the complaints and stop notices come, it sure as hell isn’t coming from Washington DC. It’s coming from your LOCAL Zoning Board and the NIMBY mob picketing the project.
Got a pothole?, blame Washington. Local Mayor enact some objectionable law?, blame Washington. School District blow the book budget on a scoreboard?, who gets blamed? It’s a lovely and convenient game that allows advocacy organizations to build an entire empire based on nothing more than television and media attack ads ensuring a continual flow of donations. The problem is, it never really addresses the need. Washington can’t FORCE your local community leaders to allow green energy.
The reality is that President Trump convened a task force to address watersheds, conservation, agriculture, energy, and fisheries. We have reported on those projects since our first day as a live website. We continue to publish positive environmental news and habitat restoration work. Every state in the US is also working toward individual goals, and with enthusiastic cooperation with Federal agencies when projects align to provide a better overall user experience or outcome.
Currently State and Federal agencies are working around the clock to address one of the most pressing concerns in American wildlife. Chronic Wasting Disease is spreading through deer populations in the US. There is no known cause or cure. Decades of exhaustive work to restore populations stand on the verge and your organization has been conspicuously silent. The same silence was felt when the cutthroat trout was reintroduced, as well as your absence when the hat was passed to pay for it.
In every part of America, habitat and watershed restoration is addressing the real world work of mitigating climate change more than any sentimentally scored tv ad ever could. Those people doing that work are legitimately making an effort to improve their nation and the world by extension. To suggest they aren’t producing results is a straight up insult to every worker’s 12 hour day spent pulling garbage out of streams. It’s an insult to every person and every hour of their efforts and research. I’m one of those people who works until their body aches pulling invasives and garbage from the woods. It’s an absolutely galling insult to every privately funded fish hatchery and wildlife rescue organization.
Even as I write this, workers are in fire restoration zones ensuring riparian zones and slopes have plantings to absorb water into aquifers and reduce erosion. They wake well before dawn and work well past sunset. They sleep in tents and eat in a truck. They hike dozens of miles a day seeding slope after slope. All of this work being done to avoid the tragedies of burn scar mudslides. On the East Coast workers are helping boat owners and property owners pull their lives back together after a major storm. All the while looking for ways to help the farmer rebuild greener, and more efficient.
Conservation groups and seed banks are working with Native American Tribes to ensure culturally significant plants are conserved and propagated. Planting initiatives are underway from the Carolinas to New Mexico. Comprehensive catalogs of seeds, methods, and cultural wisdom are being cataloged for future generations. One of the most comprehensive culturally significant plant programs ever initiated.
I don’t recall Mr. Leonard standing next to anyone doing beach cleanups. I didn’t see him in any of the videos of African, Indian, or South American communities addressing plastic waste by building roof tile plants. There are a lot of places where environmental and wildlife work are happening. They all have one thing in common. Mr. Leonard is nowhere near the dirty hands work of environmental cleanup or wildlife restoration.
WWF Statement on ‘Fulfilling America’s Pledge’ Report
Posted: 11 Sep 2018 09:00 PM PDT
In response to the release of America’s Pledge on Climate Phase II Report, to quantify the emissions reductions of America’s cities, states, colleges and businesses, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued the following statement from Lou Leonard, senior vice president for climate change and energy:
“There’s been a seismic shift in leadership on climate change from Washington, DC to Main Street, USA. Businesses, states and local governments have stepped in to fill the leadership gap. Current commitments by these new leaders can bring the US halfway toward its international climate goals.
“But even more is needed to fill the remaining emissions gap and reduce risks from droughts, wildfires and superstorms bearing down on American communities. We need more collaboration between sectors of America’s economy to transform food, electricity and transportation systems. The America’s Pledge report offers a roadmap for those sectors where we can achieve the most impact. Ultimately, we will need federal action to fully close the emissions gap, but this report shows how American corporate and local leaders can achieve even more at a scale that matters.”
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