Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Thanksgiving of discontent


Everyone in the Wood River Valley is grateful to be here this Thanksgiving. There's much to be grateful for.

In August, the Castle Rock Fire for a time threatened both the valley's human population and its economy, so strongly tied to skiing and boarding on Baldy.

Much has been said, written, photographed and sung about the smart and bold fire-fighting crews that saved the valley. And when it comes to holiday giving, no one should forget the groups that help to support injured firefighters and their families.

Though there is much for which to be thankful, this year's Thanksgiving holiday is also one of nagging discontent.

Mother Nature already looked a lot like Cruella De Vil, and she looks worse now. Sun Valley, along with most of the rest of the West's big ski resorts, is going to open late. The fall has been a torment of tantalizing rainfall with warmer than normal temperatures. With cooler temperatures on the way, Sun Valley's extensive snowmaking system will allow opening some mountain terrain on Saturday. Not all resorts will be so lucky.

Even so, the delayed opening, last year's scratchy winter and prolonged regional drought should be grabbing our attention about the long-term effects of global warming on the nation's ski resorts.

If that's not enough to stop Thanksgiving revelries mid-bite, other matters will.

Oil and gas prices are skyrocketing as demand is beginning to exceed supply. This will drive up prices on everything, including the vacations that are the lifeblood of the valley's economy.

Then there's the choice the nation faces between fouled air and water from coal-fired power plants and fouled land from nuclear waste. It's become manifestly evident—with high levels of mercury showing up in Idaho's freshwater fish, melting glaciers in Montana and melting ice flows in the Arctic—that there's no place left to hide from global degradation.

Yet, instead of launching an all-out effort to confront, contain and control the impacts—like the efforts of firefighters with the Castle Rock Fire—we Americans seem to have a really bad case of denial.

The U.S. government is actually fighting California's demand for more fuel-efficient cars. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to enforce clean air laws that would reduce coal power plant emissions.

And the nation's misadventure in Iraq goes on and on and on.

Americans—still the richest people on the planet—should be thankful. We should also listen to the voices of discontent that urge us to quit ignoring the globe's messages of distress and to band together to restore health to the nation and to the world.




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