Earth Day

I try very hard to keep my politics out of this blog – and I largely succeed. Unfortunately, in today’s Clausewizian political environment, it’s hard to demonstrate genuine respect for Earth Day without being immediately classified into tiny, neat little ideological boxes. Therefore, I choose to honor Earth Day here in my apolitical blogspace by honoring Richard Nixon, who founded the Environmental Protection Agency by signing the Environmental Policy Act of 1969, remarking:

What we really confront here is that in the highly industrialized, richest countries, we have the greatest danger. Because of our wealth we can afford the automobiles, we can afford all the things that pollute the air, pollute the water, and make this really a poisonous world in which to live.

And, quoting Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it.”

And that’s all I have to say about that.