It Can't Be Done, Can It?

One of the biggest arguments you hear these days from people at least willing to agree that there are serious environmental and social problems is that that the issues are too big and there isn't enough time. And while it certainly seems from watching the news or listening to the radio that slowing the release of CO2 or eradicating poverty is just to difficult I'm reminded that we have faced other worldwide crises before.

The biggest hurdle in many peoples minds is that since these, and other issues, took decades to develop to this point it will take just as long or longer to solve. Or that we aren't strong enough to shoulder the burden. To put this into perspective let's look at the events surrounding our entry into World War II and how long it took us to respond. The first date is one that everyone knows: December 7, 1941 and the attack on Pearl Harbor. In response,one month later, President Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address on January 6, 1942, called for the production of equipment and material for the war effort. One month later all civilian automobile production ended and factories began making the necessary planes, tanks and munitions to fight a global war on two fronts against better prepared adversaries. Total time elapsed to meet the challenge: two months.

Now, when people say we don't have the time, money or political willpower to tackle many of today's issues, remind them that it only took us two months to mobilize the entire auto industry to face that challenge. Funny that while the government actually owned both General Motors and Chrysler recently we didn't ask them to do anything at all. I know that I would have had a few suggestions for them.