Mark Mykleby, a friend of Thomas Friedman who works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Office of the Chairman, published a letter in “his hometown paper, the Beaufort Gazette in South Carolina,” about the BP oil disaster. Friedman liked the letter so much he republished it in his column.
This isn’t BP’s or Transocean’s fault. It’s not the government’s fault. It’s my fault. I’m the one to blame and I’m sorry.It’s my fault because I haven’t digested the world’s in-your-face hints that maybe I ought to think about the future and change the unsustainable way I live my life. If the geopolitical, economic, and technological shifts of the 1990s didn’t do it; if the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 didn’t do it; if the current economic crisis didn’t do it; perhaps this oil spill will be the catalyst for me, as a citizen, to wean myself off of my petroleum-based lifestyle.
‘Citizen’ is the key word. It’s what we do as individuals that count.
For those on the left, government regulation will not solve this problem. Government’s role should be to create an environment of opportunity that taps into the innovation and entrepreneurialism that define us as Americans….
Here’s the bottom line: If we want to end our oil addiction, we, as citizens, need to pony up: bike to work, plant a garden, do something. So again, the oil spill is my fault. I’m sorry. I haven’t done my part. Now I have to convince my wife to give up her S.U.V.
I’ve got a question for Mykleby. Does he think folks who live in New York City are more patriotic or better citizens than the folks in South Carolina?
After all, almost nobody who lives in New York City owns a car let alone an SUV. They don’t live in oil-guzzling McMansions. And they have a much smaller carbon footprint.
Actually, it’s worse than that. If Mykleby thinks the “terrorist attacks of September 11″ is one of “the world’s in-your-face hints” to “change the unsustainable way I live my life,” then isn’t he coming scarily close to saying that New Yorkers sacrificed blood because of South Carolinians oil addiction? And what does it say about South Carolinians that nine years after New Yorkers’ terrible sacrifice, South Carolinians are still guzzling oil?
If you asked Mykleby these questions, he’d probably say, give me a break (or something more colorful). New Yorkers didn’t pony up, it’s just really easy in New York City to get around without a car.
And that’s the point that a lot of very sincere, patriotic folks like Mykleby — and many touchy-feely environmentalists — aren’t willing to face. If most folks live in communities where it’s hard to get around without a car, telling them it’s their fault and they need to pony up is pretty much guaranteed to get us nowhere. That’s the reason nine years after 9/11 we are still hopelessly dependent on oil.
What we do as individuals does count. But it’s as citizens deciding to fight together for a common future — e.g., creating 20-minute neighborhoods — not as individuals deciding whether or not to bike to work, that will determine whether we continue to be addicted to oil.
