First off I have to say that I think Mr. Kennedy’s speech should have been the one that cost $200, not Clintons; I think considering the fact that Kennedy received a standing ovation and Clinton didn’t was testament to that. Both are doing amazing things for the environment, but Kennedy spoke with certain passion that I really took to.  Below will be my best regurgitation of his speech which was packed with details and facts and stats. One of the key reasons I can relate and respect Mr. Kennedy so much is his honesty about his connection to the wilderness. He states that Nature is not God, but that God communicates through Nature most clearly and powerfully, which is why all the great prophets went out in to the wilderness to allow the great teachings of the ages to come to them.

Near the beginning he remarked that he though of the US as a 14th province of Canada, a nice compliment to us Canadians; and that we must protect nature because it is the very infrastructure of community. He jumped in to the references to Kyoto, much like Clinton did, but made an interesting comparison to the Slave Trade Act. In Great Britain it made up 25% of the economy; they new it was immoral to continue with slavery but were scared to abolish it overnight as it would ruin the economy. When they did abolish it in 1807, there was an economical explosion, the slave trade was holding Britain back, and what followed was the launch of the industrial revolution. In more recent times, such as the 70’s, Iceland was one of the poorest nations, but they were one of the first to recognize the detriment of importing energy, so they kicked the habit, switch over to sustainable methods, and are now 100% sustainably energy independent. In ’96, Sweden was one of the poorest Nations, but moved to abolish carbon emmisions, which spurred entrepreneurs to come up with new solutions which boosted their economic standing to #6 in the world based on GDP. As Kennedy proclaimed “they reward efficiency and punish inefficiency while in North America we do just the opposite.”

The solutions are here, he claimed that the US has enough sunlight and wind to power the country easily, but it is tough to make prompt changes when the worst environmental government in history is in power. Kennedy went in to detailed account of just how corrupt the Bush government has been, and the key factor in this downfall has been the relationship of corporations with Government decisions. Thin Democracy as described by Frances Moore Lappe. As Jim Hightower stated “The corporations don’t have to lobby the government any more. They are the government.”   Corporations have a corosive impact if entangled with government interests. An example Kennedy used was that of the fishing license he takes out every year, and it now comes with a thick guide listing all the places that are illegal to fish in because of high levels of mercury in the fish, and so he thought to himself  “that son of a bitch George Bush”. Others in that situation, he went on to say, don’t seem to make the connection to Bush. The mercury levels in most of these lakes (go to the Waterkeeper Alliance for info, and here for mercury tests kit) is directly correlated with the over 400 illegally operating coal burning power plants who no longer have any responsibilities for their polluting actions, Bush has made that so. The regulations once in place over 7 years ago are no longer enforced. 

One example he gave (and the following below was copied from his recent article in Vanity Fair) to show just how corrupt things have been was the case of Phillip Cooney, “who was the chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. His job was to advise the president on the environmental implications of decisions that he makes. Cooney’s previous job had been as the chief lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute. His preoccupation during his four-year White House stint, according to news accounts, was combing scientific documents issued by the various federal agencies in order to remove damaging statements about the oil industry and the coal industry. He suppressed or altered several major studies on global warming in order to protect the interests of his former clients. After the Times revealed the alterations, in 2005, Cooney left his job and went to work for ExxonMobil.”

Kennedy also said that true freemarket capitalism would be good, and we should try it sometime; right now it is the polluters who are getting rich by making others poor. He stated that 80% of republicans are actually democrats who don’t know what’s going on. He recently did a speech in Alberta for a bunch of oil execs and received a standing ovation (he said that could only happen in canada) and he had people come to him and ask how come I never heard of this before?? Well that answer opens up a new can of worms, media.

In ’88 Regan abolished the Fairness Doctrine which enforced media to use airways to serve public interest, and always tell both sides of the story so citizens can then go on to make rational decisions on critical issues. Now all major media in the US is controlled by just five major corperations, and they alone decide what is broadcast, and these are the same corperations that buy their way in to government policy making.  “There can be no true democracy with an uninformed public”, Kennedy said, and the media channels today ensure that the public remains ignorant. He also shared the obvious fact that “we as a people know more about Brad and Jennifer than that of issues that matter. We are the best entertained and least informed nation.”