The Late, great Dennis Weaver believed in a world where we could have “Prosperity without Pollution”. Dennis understood that our economy and our ecology are two sides of the same coin. In order to have a strong sustainable economy, we need to have a strong, healthy, sustainable natural resource base. I have said before and will say it over and over again until we all start to see it is a simple truth that we must all learn to recognize- the world can be a better place, well served by its elected leaders and the industries we all rely upon. We can do this without having to destroy the natural resources we must have to supply industries and sustain ourselves.

When I say that the world can be a better place, I am speaking as an optimist. I look at the world today, as bad as we have made much of it through war, poor resource management and man’s general inhumanity to man; I also see that we have wiped out or learned to treat and control many diseases that, in the past, equaled a slow painful death. I see how over the last fifty or so years, millions upon millions of people have received food and clean, life-giving water. Just a few short decades ago these same people would have faced devastating famine and drought. As humans go, for all our failings we have not done too badly. We have a long way to go, as a race, but we have made great strides in doing what is right. This tired old idea that we have to sacrifice the economy to have a healthy environment; or, to create jobs and economic growth, we have to destroy the natural resources we depend on for everything, just isn’t so. Folks, it don’t matter how you cook it, you just can’t eat cash.

We have to look at how we relate to the earth in a new way. For too long we have had these two horses- economic development and environmental protection - pulling in opposite directions. It is way past the time that the worlds of business and environmentalists started working together and pulling in the same direction.
We have what it takes to make this happen. Through realistic renewable energy goals we will see economic growth throughout the entire United States, not just in a few urban areas. We will see our country’s dependence on foreign energy resources diminish. We will see a more prosperous society built on self-reliance. With good agricultural policies and trade that does not totally destroy the small farmers and producers around the world, we can create a healthy global economy that is fair and equitable to all people.

The first step in making these things happen is to change “politics as usual”. When politicians are beholden to special interest groups and high dollar campaign contributors, you just can’t expect ’em to actually do anything other than what they have been paid to do, never mind what they have been elected to do. There won’t be an easy fix and not a quick fix by any means. These kinds of ideas require from all of us a much higher level of participation in our governance. It means much, much more than just going out and voting on Election Day. It means really knowing what you are voting on and why. It means standing up for what we believe in, yet not being so blind we would sacrifice what is good for what is perfect. It is time to start looking for candidates who can and will live up to the original ideas of the founding fathers.

All these ideas sound great and high and mighty, but they are only words floating in the world of the Internet unless we act upon them. Sharing ideas and having meaningful discussion is vitally important; however, even more important is acting upon those ideas.

That is part and parcel of what BidForGreen is all about. Knowledge is only useful when it is shared and acted upon. Take time, visit here often, contribute your ideas and thoughts, and share with others your knowledge so that we may all act together to bring about that paradigm shift of “Prosperity without Pollution”.