The Edge of Tomorrow - Matt Konfirst - Words

12-year old Severn Suzuki at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us: not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share – not to be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

You are deciding what kind of world we are growing up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying “everything’s going to be alright,” “it’s not the end of the world,” and “we’re doing the best we can.” But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities?

My dad always says, “You are what you do, not what you say.” Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you. Please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you.

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.

Theodore Roosevelt (1886)

Like all Americans, I like big things; big prairies, big forests and mountains, big wheat fields, railroads, and herds of cattle too, big steamboats, and everything else. But we must keep steadily in mind that no people were ever yet benefited by riches if their prosperity corrupted their virtue.

Thomas L. Friedman (from Hot, Flat, and Crowded)

What kind of America would you like to see – an America that is steadily outsourcing more and more blue-collar, labor-intensive manufacturing jobs to China, or a green America that is building more and more knowledge-intensive green-collar technology jobs – for making green buildings, vehicles, and power sources – which are more difficult to outsource and will have to be the industry of the future, as fossil-fuel energy supplies dwindle and world population grows?

What kind of America would you like to see – an America with more and more urban sprawl devouring more and more open lands, or a green America where cities start to grow upward rather than outward, where mass transit becomes the norm rather than mass traffic jams, and where the only new buildings are green buildings?

What kind of America would you like to see – an America where government relaxes energy and efficiency standards on cars, buildings, and appliances, prompting our industries to get innovation-lazy, or a green America where the U.S. government imposes steadily higher efficiency standards, forcing a constant flow of new thinking around materials, power systems, and energy software, making us the most energy-productive country in the world?

What kind of America would you like to see – an America where there is no national goal, or a green America, where inventing a source of abundant, clean, reliable, cheap electrons, which could enable the whole planet to grow in a way that doesn’t destroy its remaining natural habitats, becomes the goal of this generation – inspiring young people to go into math, science, biology, physics, and nanotechnology?

What kind of America would you like to see – an America that is spotlighted as the last holdout at international environmental conferences, earning the world’s contempt, or a green America that is seen as the contry most committed – by example – to preserving our environment and the species that inhabit it, earning the world’s respect?

Aldo Leopold (from Round River, 1953)

If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.