The Sky is Falling (right now)

Ok, I didn’t want to get all Chicken Little on you guys, but I cant hold it in ANY LONGER.
We are in scary times my friends.
Last week I was at a seminar with the chairs of the Oregon and Washington State Transportation Commissions where the message that our states (and nations) transportation infrastructures are in DIRE straights was reinforced in my mind. I hear and feel peoples concern about the price of gas at the pump and am conflicted about telling people that the price should and will only go up. The price SHOULD go up because we desperately need a higher gas tax (that’s right, I said it) but it WILL go up because it is controlled by terribly greedy oil companies. I don’t have the answer for how to remedy this or how to make it fair, because oil tycoons are clearly not going to grow a conscience or lose their insatiable appetite for money any time soon. BUT - I can tell you why you should support gas taxes and that is because the roads and bridges you use everyday are not free. They don’t come from the Transportation Fairy and the Transportation Fairy doesn't maintain them with magic. They come from tax dollars and if you like using safe roads and safe bridges, if you like your emergency vehicles and freight to move smoothly and quickly and if you don’t like sitting in gridlock everyday, then you will need to fork over the funds necessary to maintain all of those things and the only way you are paying for them currently, is at the pump. And the tax you pay at the pump hasn’t gone up in many, many years (not even to accommodate inflation). People don’t see or realize it, but our transportation infrastructure is the skeleton of our nation and we depend on it in so many ways that it baffles me that it is such a low priority on everyone’s list.

This morning I was at a breakfast seminar with Maude Barlow about the coming (and CURRENT) global water crisis and peoples RIGHT to water. I think that most people agree that access to water is and always should be a a human right and not a commodity to be sold. MOST people would agree to that, but corporations and the incredibly heartless and greedy see water as blue gold and are already mining and selling it at a devastating cost to the rest of the world. As water is absolutely crutial to survival, I could go on and on about this issue, but instead I will only ask that you pay a visit to FoodAndWaterWatch.org, stop drinking bottled water and become aware of what is happening with this crisis as it is just as important as global warming.

We all know that these are among a LONG list of issues that must be addressed, but the solutions can only start once awareness of the problem has been spread.

Email or call me to discuss.

xoxo