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Bree Mobley Mrs. Kim Fortun Sustainability Problems 25 October 2011 Debate: Is American culture a sustainability issue? Sustainability is defined as the capacity to endure. When looked at in relation to humans and specifically American culture, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well-being which includes environment, ecologic, economic, and social dimensions. It also relates to human’s role as steward which entails responsible management of how the Earth’s resources are used. An “issue of sustainability” has been evident since the mid-20th century largely after the first energy crisis emerged and has been present throughout my life and the lives of my generation; we have never known a time when sustainability was not a buzz word. To talk about American culture as a possible cause and reason fueling this issue of sustainability is to challenge the only lifestyles we know how to live. To defend the affirmative, that American culture is indeed a sustainability issue, Naomi Klein, a Canadian author and social activist, gave a presentation TED talks. TED or Technology Entertainment and Design is a global set of conferences formed to spread ideas. Klein’s speech, titled “Addicted to Risk”, comments on American and Canadian culture’s desire and drive to take more and more risks that are detrimental to our environment and our ability to depend on Earth for our necessities. The speech was given in December 2010, upon Klein’s return from a trip with a University of South Florida research team whose purpose was observing the effect oil has on phytoplankton, the autotrophic creatures found in the upper layer of all oceans (wiki). This research was most likely inspired by the eight-month earlier disastrous BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico that poured 60,000 barrels of crude oil into the ocean each day until the leak was repaired (Gerstein, Julie). Klein begins her presentation defending that Americans and American corporations have a lack of control and planning; we are far too willing to gamble with precious things. As an example, she presents America’s role the Iraq War or War Against Terrorism that began in 2001 with no clear exit strategy or clear, final goal. She attributes this widespread attitude to greed and hubris, or over-confidence. Klein says that American’s over-confidence is instilled in our culture because of the, as she says, ‘stories’ we’ve all learned to identify ourselves and our country with. Stories such as American settlers, inexhaustive frontiers, the prospect of success, and the ‘American dream’ instill an attitude of no limits; “dominating nature is our destiny”. This defining cultural attitude is a driving force behind new methods, riskier methods, of oil extraction, or what Klein calls “Extreme Energy”. These risker methods are needed because the easily accessible oil reserves have already been exhausted. Riskier oil extractions include deep sea oil drilling in the Arctic, dangerous fracking, and the terrestrial skinning of the land covering Alberta’s tar sands. Our world and society’s largest crisis, climate change, is being treated like a business plan; the sacrifices are being examined in a cost-benefit analysis. This greed inspired why of thought is characteristic of American culture Klein presents a solid argument without much to expose in terms of faulty reasoning, overstatements, or mishandled evidence. However, I do think that she presented her facts in a biased light and let her opinion deter the audience from the true, factual problems. For example, she mentioned that males have a harder time controlling a hubris characteristic than females do and because males are more commonly found in power amongst large corporations than females are, that could be a reason that industries are taking larger risks. Granted I understand that her speech was to a TED Woman audience; however, I felt the statement was not factually based. Representing the negative side of the argument, that American culture is not a sustainability problem, President Ronald Reagan’s Candidacy Announcement, casts American culture and its drive for individualism and strength in business and industry in a positive light. To speak specifically on American culture and sustainability I will examine how Reagan addresses his solutions to the “energy crisis” that his presidency followed and that was mentioned by Naomi Klein in her speech on the affirmative. Reagan begins, “Another serious problem which must be discussed tonight is our energy situation. Our country was built on cheap energy.” This suggests a uniform attitude that Americans are entitled to exploitation of resources in excess so much that those resources are affordable. He says that “use less energy” is not an effective government solution to the problem. He promises to solve the energy crisis by “remov[ing] government obstacles to energy production. And…make use of those technological advantages we still possess.” He defends that the US does not need to find oil resources from outside counties, but instead look internally in order to reduce transportation and labor costs. Also that by increasing spending by the energy industries on research and development of substitutes for fossil fuels, we can successfully put domestic production of oil and gas in the people’s hands. Reagan stresses the concept of individual initiatives; in his presidency he promises to increase individual incentives by rewarding initiative and effort and encouraging thrift. He believes that this combination will increase jobs, production, wealth, and success for and of Americans. Regan’s attitude towards America’s effect on sustainability shows that he has no concern for the matter because such concern is unnecessary. There are multiple flaws in this argument on energy consumption and America. First off, this presidential candidacy speech was written and presented in November 1979. This was at a time where an energy crisis was definitely present but not to the extent at which the current climate change crisis is today. Also, as a presidential candidacy announcement speech, and even as president, Regan’s job was not necessarily to ensure a sustainable economy and global presence for America. His role was rather to ensure a steady economy, wide-spread employment, and happiness to his citizens. And following the eve of multiple wars and a pending energy crisis, finding new, cheaper ways to collect oil and granting businesses and individuals more power was a way to do that. In terms of fixing the energy crisis, Regan is extremely jaded by the idea of progress: he says, “…but a day will come when the lights will dim and the wheels of industry will turn more slowly and finally stop. As President I will not endorse any course which was this as its principal objective.” This was during a time where the limited supply of fossil fuels was not yet realized. And the dangers of refining such fossil fuels were certainly not fully understood at this time either, or at least not the extent it is today. The third source I chose to discuss this debate issue with is the article by Suzanne Goldenburg entitled “US cult of greed is now a global environmental threat, report warns” published in January 2010 by the UK newspaper The Guardian. In this article Goldenburg reports on an annual evaluation done by the Worldwatch Institute which is a globally focuses environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. The article and the report state a number of facts that support that the way Americans live is not sustainable by our current planet. The opening statement is “The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fueling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest thread tot the planet…” The article goes on to say that until these environmental and consumer problems are realized and changed, America will continue to drive our planet to a destructive point of no return. And unless we admit there is something wrong, we will never be able to solve the ecological crisis. The article states that trends in increased carbon emissions are not a natural consequence of economic growth but rather deliberate efforts by businesses to win over consumers. This is evident in consumer products such as bottled water or computer accessories; things that are not a necessity of life but are not considered commonplace and a requirement of societal norms. The incredible rate at which America consumes is not sustainable now, and will especially not be sustainable with the world’s growing population. And also not with the economic growth of more and more countries as they become aware and envious of America’s success and large middle class. My stance on the question of is American culture a sustainability issue is a definite yes. Our consumer mindset has propagated to everything we do in our daily lives. Consumer culture encourages further use and exhaustion of fossil fuels because of use of cars, creation of roads, fueling people’s homes and businesses, and creation of products. The growing middle class had created this expectation that we can all continue to live and strive to live in our own suburban house and neighborhood with multiple vehicles, consuming excess food, products, resources, and space. Our cities are expanding beyond the scope of our natural resources due to the use of fossil fuels to build facilities to extend resources beyond their reach. Over abuse of such fossil fuels has led to depleting their reserves. Also, refining fossil fuels to create products like asphalt, plastics, and metals creates thousands of pollutants. These pollutants hinder the environments in which we find our resources, hindering their quality, and damaging human health and life. I believe that American culture, if we could identify the single problem behind sustainability, would be the culprit. Works Cited: Goldenburg, Suzanne. "US Cult of Greed Is Now a Global Environmental Threat, Report Warns | Environment | The Guardian." // The Gaurdian //. The Guardian, 12 Jan. 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. . Klein, Naomi. "Naomi Klein: Addicted to Risk | Video on TED.com." // TED: Ideas worth Spreading //. TED, Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. . Reagan, Ronald. "Ronald Reagan - Candidacy Announcement." // Reagan 2020 //. Federalism and the New Conservatism. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. . "Sustainability." // Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia //. Wikipedia. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. .