Time to reinvent life as we know it

While we may feel like we were side swiped by the coronavirus and the disarray that the shelter-in-place order has caused us economically and socially, we should have known better. The signs were all there. Looking at the big picture, we have grown so big, so quickly, that we lost sight of what’s important.

Since the colonial times, America has been the pillar of innovation and entrepreneurship because it was founded by true pioneers. Our ancestors came to the United States to improve their lives; when they first arrived, they all faced discrimination, poverty, and uncertainty. It was those brave souls who came from the Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America who formed this incredible nation.

These wise and brave people built homes, started businesses, grew vegetables, and raised livestock. It’s their ingenuity that improved and increased production to make our lives better. The Industrial Revolution brought the cotton gin and the printing press. America was the leader in producing the biggest and the best, and we became a superpower. BUT, that was the beginning of the end.

Although we are grateful for the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, and the refrigerator, we lost sight of the value of the well being of individual people. Businesses grew into large corporations with shareholders who demanded bigger profits with little regard for how their products might harm consumers or the earth. Just over the past 100 years, corporations have exploited marketplaces by choosing profits over the safety of the very people they sold their good to. Here is just the tip of the iceberg:

1. PLASTICS
Made from petroleum, plastic is in or used to package just about everything we buy. We produce so much plastic waste that landfills are closing and oceans are drowning in single-use plastics.
2. MEATS and DAIRY
Our livestock are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to bump up sales and minimize labor. We now face antibiotic resistance, which will cause a horrifying pandemic when people die from illnesses that used to be cured by antibiotics.
3. VEGETABLES and FRUIT
Corporate farmers use pesticides that have known carcinogens. Companies like Bayer-Monsanto face major lawsuits against them for their Roundup weed killer that has caused cancer in thousands of people. They also grow GMO plants to produce larger vegetables by altering the genetic makeup of the plants.
4. ENERGY
We have viable energy solutions (solar, hydrogen, wind, geothermal, etc) ready to go but oil and gas companies control the auto and energy industries. They want to use up all of the oil (pumping for gasoline) and gas (fracking for methane) to make billions of dollars instead of using clean energy like solar, hydrogen, and others. They are the major contributors to the Climate Crisis.

We have become complacent over the past 70 years. Life was good but we weren’t watching the captain steer the ship. We got lazy, we got fat, we got self absorbed. Maybe the coronavirus and the climate crisis coming to a head at the same time is exactly what we need to become the pioneers our forefathers once were.

Those of us who are strong, innovative, and entrepreneurs will once again overcome these obstacles and reinvent the way we live. Our students and college graduates have an opportunity to force change and unite together. I hope that they will find solutions that respect human rights and the earth. It’s time to help our neighbors, produce healthy foods, use less energy, and heal our bodies.