Putting Our Money Where Our Complaining Mouths Are

Frank Komola retired in 2012 following a 23 year career at UPS. He belongs to the retirees chapter of Local 25, International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Boston. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Haverhill.

Frank Komola retired in 2012 following a 23 year career at UPS. He belongs to the retirees chapter of Local 25, International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Boston. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Haverhill.

When it comes to taking care of mother earth, and trying to reverse or at least slow down the damage we are inflicting on the planet, I am not sure that progressives are as committed to the cause as they make themselves out to be. I suppose in the current political climate we should be grateful just for the admission that there is, in fact, an environmental disaster taking place, but I don’t think that is enough by a long shot.

Recently, General Motors introduced an automobile that is a rechargeable electric vehicle. It breaks the previous barrier to attracting new buyers when engineers developed a rechargeable battery that could travel 238 miles on a single charge, beating the old limit of around 95 miles. But, sales haven’t exactly shot through the roof as you might expect, while sales of pickup trucks fueled by carbon monoxide creating gasoline soar to new heights. While sales of trucks are high, their miles per gallon numbers are low which tells me that people aren’t as concerned about air pollution as they might lead us to believe.

Electric vehicles aren’t cheap either, and as much as we say we want cleaner air, not many of us are willing to pay for it. Apparently, many of us aren’t willing to put our money where our beliefs are. And quite honestly, if  the cost of solar energy panels weren’t now becoming affordable, and the cost of conventional energy weren’t continuing to rise, our wallets would win out over our supposed love and concern for Planet Earth.

A lot of products marked, “organic,” in grocery stores and farm stands don’t do as well as conventionally grown produce, in spite of what conventional growing methods have done to our soil and water. High prices are again to blame for why the public hasn’t embraced this important way of improving the world we live in.

We talk a good story, but much like the radio station that carries my column, and brings the news of Haverhill that residents are always saying isn’t provided by the supposed local paper, we don’t want to put our money where our complaining mouths are.

Instead of patting ourselves on the back for how much we care about these issues, maybe we should start being a little more honest with ourselves, and admit that the only thing that really talks in this and many other cities and towns is money, and the less of it we have to spend the better.

For most of us, it’s really the ONLY thing that matters!