“Land, water and vegetation are just that dependent on one another. Without these three primary elements in natural balance, we can have neither fish nor game, wild flowers nor trees, labor nor capital, nor sustaining habitat for humans.” ––Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling (1876-1962), two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist
I’m often asked why my writing and radio show, anchored in arts and culture, frequently strays into broader topics, like the environment. By taking a broad sweep of the cultural brush, it helps me and, hopefully, my audiences better understanding how everything ties together.
The greater our awareness of our surroundings — our environment — the greater our abilities to follow a basic creed, to make this a better world. In an interview, Micaela Preskill, Midwest States Advocate for the E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) organization, addressed two issues often seen as one or the other: economy and environment.
“When you look back at the process [recent debt ceiling debate], it’s highly alarming because essentially Republicans in Congress were willing to gamble away the clean energy and clean economy incentives that were passed last year that are revolutionizing our economy,” Preskill said. “They were willing to gamble all of that away in the name of politics to raise the debt ceiling.”
E2 is national, nonpartisan organization proving economic and environmental issues can, and must, be two sides of a winning coin for everyone’s future.
“The good news is that Congress took a huge step in the right direction at the end of last summer,” Preskill added. “Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which is, hands down, the most ambitious piece of legislation the U.S. has taken to invest in clean energy and clean economy. We are already seeing the impacts of that law on the ground in places like Iowa. We [E2] have been tracking large scale clean energy projects since the law passed. We’ve tracked about 180 new projects bringing $81 million in private investments to the country.”
It’s short-sighted to push the environment and the economy into conflict. Those espousing capitalism claim that environmentalists impede their right to industry, while environmentalists can be perceived as anti-business.
Preskill addresses this, continuing that “E2 is a network of business leaders who do business in all 50 states, in all aspects of the economy, and our members understand that the environment and the economy are inextricably linked.” Not only does investing in clean energy build the economy by creating new jobs, it also allows us to avert “the rising cost of inaction by not acting on climate change.”
Collaborating to reduce climate change is the sensible course. If America’s economy embraces the teaming of economic growth coupled with environmental healing, efforts become sustainable for a better future.
“There are already more than 3.2 million clean energy jobs in this country — about 30,000 in Iowa,” Preskill said. “That’s before Congress enacted the Clean Energy Reduction Act. Those jobs are about to skyrocket.”
Denying this doomsday express of environmental problems barreling down the tracks at us is foolhardy. Younger, more nimbly proactive generations can tip the balance toward a recovering environment.
Still, action is needed now. Contact local, state and congressional leaders to express your desire for leaving this a better world for future stakeholders. If our country’s leaders listen to what the majority of its citizens want, then the artists, creatives and other contributors to our aesthetics will have an environment where they can flourish for generations to come.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s July 2023 issue.
