What's the problem?

So, once again it seems like the US government is going it alone and sticking to its 'oil over environment' policy. We can hope otherwise, but there seems to be good evidence to suggest that they will once again attempt to derail any G8 commitment to policies in aid of the environment.

I'm wondering if someone could please explain to me why "The US still has serious, fundamental concerns" about saving the planet?

Perhaps someone might try to explain it to me in a way that addresses real-world concerns like what difference will it make if gas prices and taxes stay low after the populace of those cities are submerged under rising oceans. Or when our children have to wear masks to school because the smog is too strong, or that many other lives will be lost to unpredictable and rapidly changing weather patterns induced by global warming, or that our children will live in a world devoid of much of the life we currently take for granted because climate change, combined with human encroachment, will make many wildlife habitats unlivable.

But I don't suppose the person explaining this to me (or to anyone else) would be one of those from the US administration because I suspect they don't learn much about shepherding the world for the good of humanity in their 'next ruler of the world' private school systems.

Something that always gets me, however, and the hypocrisy of it is truly overwhelming, is this: what is the powerful religious right lobby doing about the environment? According to the bible, God gave the Earth to humanity to watch over and the animals to shepherd. As I read it, that doesn't mean sacrificing them in the name of power and money. So where's the voice of the religious? That should be one of the strongest voices in favour of environmental responsibility but...it's completely silent. They foam at the mouth over stem cell research (and most don't even know what it means), they are willing to blowup hospitals and kill doctors over the destruction of one fetus but they don't say a single word about the countless genocides happening constantly all around us (genocide more accurately refers to the extermination of a species rather than of a race or culture). If you're one of these people, maybe you figure that God will take care of it and if he wanted it different he would fix it? If so, think on this...maybe the environment is a test for humanity. Surely not all tests were announced in the bible (although I'm sure if someone tried, they could find evidence..). If we fail this one, what does it say about us? Would we truly be worthy to enter paradise, having made our own world a hell?

Regardless, all we can hope is that something will wake up the American administration before it's too late.

EH Rydberg