Well it happened last Friday. Our EPA declared that CO2 is a "dangerous pollutant". While it came as no surprise, given the political and cultural tenor of the times, it still came as a shock when announced. Something like watching a train going off the tracks; at some point it becomes inevitable and you know that it will happen, but when the crash finally comes it still stuns you.
How did we come to this? The enormity of this decision confounds the senses. Not only was CO2 declared a dangerous pollutant, but so was methane (as well as nitrous oxide and various fluorocarbons). Taken to its logical conclusion, this gives the EPA the legal authority to regulate every aspect of our lives. It not only gives the legal authority; but, in fact, mandates that it be done. It is the law and is taken seriously. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is everywhere, in enormous quantities. It is essential to life and part of everything that we do. While the action is regarded as a means to chastise the energy industry, it will be a case study for future generations on the Law of Unintended Consequences.
But to ask the question again, how did we come to this? Is our whole culture on drugs? I suspect that most of our senior policy makers were at Woodstock, but this action gives evidence that they never left. There is an Alice in Wonderland quality to this whole thing that reeks of mind altering substances. Either that or we have turned over our future to the Three Stooges.
We voted for "Change". And we got change. But what is the change that we are getting? Who is making the decisions? What is the basis of the decisions that are being made? Make no mistake. Once made these decisions will be with us for the rest of our lives and our children's lives, for good or ill. The changes themselves are so bizarre that one is left with only two choices.
If people take actions that are counter to all common sense, facts and cultural norms, our first thought is that they are in fact buffoons. US energy and environmental policy is now being made by the Three Stooges. Imagine for a moment if you will, Carol Browner as Mae West and Ken Salazar as W.C. Fields. Perhaps our Governor, Bill Ritter, might be thought of as the Masked Bandit. Then watch their last movie together, "My Little Chickadee". At least it will provide a humorous counterpoint our current situation. As funny as it is, I do not think that those driving policy today to be buffoons. They are smart and dedicated people, with a record of accomplishment that gives the lie to that pleasant fantasy.
Instead, we are left with the other option. A much more dangerous and potent possibility. That is that they are people of faith. They are true believers. People of faith see the world differently than does the common man. Their faith gives them power. Whereas a simple policy maker might be persuaded to see reason if given a luxurious suite at the Super Bowl, a person of faith sees only utopia and takes delight in scourging the weak one who might be tempted by that suite. They are blind to the simple pleasures and failings of the rest of us. People of faith have been called to make this a better world, and if it takes suffering to make it a better world, so much the better. More importantly, they are indifferent to our suffering. It seems to be a truism that people of faith often love the masses, but have no sympathy for the individual.
We are now called to worship Mother Earth, sometimes known as Mother Nature. We tend to think of her as a kind and nurturing soul, in contrast to the harsh patriarchal God of Abraham. But a wise man (Tennyson) who came before us described her true nature "Nature, red in tooth and claw". But we will learn and our priests will see that we are made to suffer, in order that we are worthy of paradise.
An earlier generation, one more familiar with societies that tried to create paradise here on earth, had a saying about the environmental movement. They said that "the green tree had red roots". They were engaged in a great struggle lasting across generations with totalitarian movements. They recognized that the environmentalists shared a history and a world view with those who had created paradise in Russia, in China, in Cuba.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Cold Harbor
As I shared some time back, our conference rooms at ForeRunner are named after historical events. I chose the names to remind me of what I felt to be important lessons. Leadership of a company, or any other group of people, is a daunting task. Since there are so many opportunities to lose one's self in the fog, I felt it necessary to remind myself of certain basic themes I felt important if I was to become the manager I wanted to be. One of those ways was to name our conference rooms as reminders of what I needed to remember.
And so we have a conference room named Cold Harbor. I admit one of the reasons for the selection is simply the name. The dissonance of the name appeals to that melancholy which is such a large part of me. But it was really the events that transpired there some 145 years ago that drew me to name it so.
Early June of 1864. US Grant, the future president of the United States has assumed supreme command of the Union Army and has been hammering Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia for a long month. Beginning at the Wilderness, and following at Spotsylvania, Yellow Tavern, North Anna and many more, the two armies have slammed into each other with a sustained fury. The Rebels, under Lee, have always been heavily outnumbered, usually by 2 or 3 to 1, but have consistently defeated Grant and his army. Grant is seeking to break through Lee's army to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital.
Grant's army has sustained heavy casualties. He has already lost nearly as many men as Lee had at the beginning of this campaign, yet the industrial might of the North continues to supply him with inexhaustible supplies of fresh men and equipment. Yet Lee and his men continue to defeat him again and again. The roads between the front and Washington DC are jammed with both ambulances hauling the wounded back and columns of fresh faced reinforcements coming down to be thrown into the meat grinder that is the front. The Northern newspapers are screaming in large headlines at the horrific losses of men and treasure. Now the maneuvering armies confront one another once more near a small town called Cold Harbor, directly north of Richmond. The Rebels get the first and dig in, throwing up walls of tree branches and earth walls.
For two days the Union Army probes the Rebel defensive line, learning just how strong this line is. In late afternoon of the second day, Grant orders a massive assault for the next morning. The men in the Union lines are no fools, even though they know this is to be a fool's errand. An atmosphere of doom pervades the Union ranks. Over the past two days they have tramped through fields containing long unburied bodies, now skeletons, dead soldiers from a battle fought here two years before, Gaines Mill. They have seen the impregnable defence lines they face.
That night, many of the Union soldiers write their names on slips of paper that they pin to the back of their uniform. This is so that they can be identified when their bodies are carried from the battlefield the next day. In fact this is the origin of the dog tags our soldiers wear today. And so the next morning, they obey their orders and move forward in their long lines. Unbelieving rebels behind their walls watch the foolish advance. The guns fire and it is soon over. Union soldiers in their thousands lie dead and wounded before the walls of the Rebel line. In a final insult, for two days Grant refuses to request a truce so that he can pick up his dead and wounded, as he does not want to admit that he has again lost the battle. The wounded moan and cry for water, often dying on the ground between the two lines during the two day wait. The dead do what comes naturally in the summer heat, contributing to the horror of the scene.
Accepting the gift of leadership entails responsibility. The decisions that managers and leaders make have consequences. But the immediate consequences of those decisions are often escaped by those that make them. As the organization becomes larger and more impersonal, this becomes more and more the case. Whereas US Grant became President of the United States, with his portrait on the $ 50 bill. It was Private John Doe who felt the fear of the march into flashing guns and the pain when that metal tore his body apart.
While it may not seem fair, it is the way of the world. Some must lead and some must follow, if we are all to prosper. Yet it behooves those who lead to respect and care for those who follow. We who lead are ever in danger of belief in our press clippings. We are ever in danger of being captured by our emotions. Leadership has consequences. If we want to be good leaders; even more importantly, if we want to be decent people, we will remember that.
And so we have a conference room named Cold Harbor. I admit one of the reasons for the selection is simply the name. The dissonance of the name appeals to that melancholy which is such a large part of me. But it was really the events that transpired there some 145 years ago that drew me to name it so.
Early June of 1864. US Grant, the future president of the United States has assumed supreme command of the Union Army and has been hammering Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia for a long month. Beginning at the Wilderness, and following at Spotsylvania, Yellow Tavern, North Anna and many more, the two armies have slammed into each other with a sustained fury. The Rebels, under Lee, have always been heavily outnumbered, usually by 2 or 3 to 1, but have consistently defeated Grant and his army. Grant is seeking to break through Lee's army to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital.
Grant's army has sustained heavy casualties. He has already lost nearly as many men as Lee had at the beginning of this campaign, yet the industrial might of the North continues to supply him with inexhaustible supplies of fresh men and equipment. Yet Lee and his men continue to defeat him again and again. The roads between the front and Washington DC are jammed with both ambulances hauling the wounded back and columns of fresh faced reinforcements coming down to be thrown into the meat grinder that is the front. The Northern newspapers are screaming in large headlines at the horrific losses of men and treasure. Now the maneuvering armies confront one another once more near a small town called Cold Harbor, directly north of Richmond. The Rebels get the first and dig in, throwing up walls of tree branches and earth walls.
For two days the Union Army probes the Rebel defensive line, learning just how strong this line is. In late afternoon of the second day, Grant orders a massive assault for the next morning. The men in the Union lines are no fools, even though they know this is to be a fool's errand. An atmosphere of doom pervades the Union ranks. Over the past two days they have tramped through fields containing long unburied bodies, now skeletons, dead soldiers from a battle fought here two years before, Gaines Mill. They have seen the impregnable defence lines they face.
That night, many of the Union soldiers write their names on slips of paper that they pin to the back of their uniform. This is so that they can be identified when their bodies are carried from the battlefield the next day. In fact this is the origin of the dog tags our soldiers wear today. And so the next morning, they obey their orders and move forward in their long lines. Unbelieving rebels behind their walls watch the foolish advance. The guns fire and it is soon over. Union soldiers in their thousands lie dead and wounded before the walls of the Rebel line. In a final insult, for two days Grant refuses to request a truce so that he can pick up his dead and wounded, as he does not want to admit that he has again lost the battle. The wounded moan and cry for water, often dying on the ground between the two lines during the two day wait. The dead do what comes naturally in the summer heat, contributing to the horror of the scene.
Accepting the gift of leadership entails responsibility. The decisions that managers and leaders make have consequences. But the immediate consequences of those decisions are often escaped by those that make them. As the organization becomes larger and more impersonal, this becomes more and more the case. Whereas US Grant became President of the United States, with his portrait on the $ 50 bill. It was Private John Doe who felt the fear of the march into flashing guns and the pain when that metal tore his body apart.
While it may not seem fair, it is the way of the world. Some must lead and some must follow, if we are all to prosper. Yet it behooves those who lead to respect and care for those who follow. We who lead are ever in danger of belief in our press clippings. We are ever in danger of being captured by our emotions. Leadership has consequences. If we want to be good leaders; even more importantly, if we want to be decent people, we will remember that.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
An Arrogant Crow
My wife and I spent her Spring Break in Southern California. I admit I am fond of California. I wouldn't want to live there, but it is a great place to visit. Its a bit like going to the Kingdom of Oz, even though it bears more resemblance to Girls Gone Wild than Judy Garland. But it is a land that lives in the midst of fantasy; but when we look behind the curtains we don't see the kindly old Wizard, but instead the Terminator.
My wife likes to take walks and I like to be with her, so I tag along. One morning we came upon a large well fed crow drinking from a puddle alongside the sidewalk. As we walked closer and then passed this bird, it showed absolutely no fear and gave us no more than an irritable stare. Much to my wife's annoyance, I passed into silence as I pondered what I had just seen.
How far we have come. Wild creatures, once known as vermin, that show no fear of man. Crows, prairie dogs, coyotes, et al. once feared us, and with good reason. We earned our reputation that Darwinist's of an earlier generation gave us, i.e. Killer Apes. But that was before Walt Disney taught us that rodents are just like us, only cuter. And then we discovered that we are hurting Mother Earth. All 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of her are in danger and needs saving. As I said, we have come a long way baby.
But the fact is that earlier generation named us well. We are Killer Apes. We did not build our present civilization by being nice guys. It is no accident that wild animals no longer carry off our children for an easy meal or that rodents do not carry culture destroying plagues. Of course, we have changed and aren't like that anymore.
Ok, so what is the point? The point is that the environmental movement in the United States is probably coming to a reckoning in the next few years. The charming vision we now have of Mother Earth has joined apple pie, the flag, school teachers and emergency responders as icons we all love and respect in our culture. Yet since the beginnings of Western Civilization some 3,000 years ago, we have battled nature. We have seen nature as something to be battled or used, an opponent to test our mettle against.
So far, the environmental movement has not caused Joe the Plumber any pain. But now we are at the tipping point. Carbon control legislation offers enormous costs with no gain. Saving Mother Earth is now going to cost, its going to cost a lot. A fuzzy dreamy consciousness lies at the heart of modern environmental consciousness. We believe it because it makes us feel good about ourselves, and it doesn't cost anything. We get to have our cake and eat it too.
That is probably going to change. Western Civilization has always been about bigger, better, faster, cheaper. We will be pragmatic, we always have been. But we are also pretty ruthless when it comes to improving our standard of living. Maybe that crow will show a little respect next time we meet.
My wife likes to take walks and I like to be with her, so I tag along. One morning we came upon a large well fed crow drinking from a puddle alongside the sidewalk. As we walked closer and then passed this bird, it showed absolutely no fear and gave us no more than an irritable stare. Much to my wife's annoyance, I passed into silence as I pondered what I had just seen.
How far we have come. Wild creatures, once known as vermin, that show no fear of man. Crows, prairie dogs, coyotes, et al. once feared us, and with good reason. We earned our reputation that Darwinist's of an earlier generation gave us, i.e. Killer Apes. But that was before Walt Disney taught us that rodents are just like us, only cuter. And then we discovered that we are hurting Mother Earth. All 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of her are in danger and needs saving. As I said, we have come a long way baby.
But the fact is that earlier generation named us well. We are Killer Apes. We did not build our present civilization by being nice guys. It is no accident that wild animals no longer carry off our children for an easy meal or that rodents do not carry culture destroying plagues. Of course, we have changed and aren't like that anymore.
Ok, so what is the point? The point is that the environmental movement in the United States is probably coming to a reckoning in the next few years. The charming vision we now have of Mother Earth has joined apple pie, the flag, school teachers and emergency responders as icons we all love and respect in our culture. Yet since the beginnings of Western Civilization some 3,000 years ago, we have battled nature. We have seen nature as something to be battled or used, an opponent to test our mettle against.
So far, the environmental movement has not caused Joe the Plumber any pain. But now we are at the tipping point. Carbon control legislation offers enormous costs with no gain. Saving Mother Earth is now going to cost, its going to cost a lot. A fuzzy dreamy consciousness lies at the heart of modern environmental consciousness. We believe it because it makes us feel good about ourselves, and it doesn't cost anything. We get to have our cake and eat it too.
That is probably going to change. Western Civilization has always been about bigger, better, faster, cheaper. We will be pragmatic, we always have been. But we are also pretty ruthless when it comes to improving our standard of living. Maybe that crow will show a little respect next time we meet.
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