Editorial - Symbolic gestures

Yesterday, Sunday, April 22, was Earth Day. In Cebu City, people came out on bikes and on foot in a symbolic recovery of streets from polluting motor vehicles. Last March 31, Earth Hour, people turned off power for an hour in symbolic freedom from electrical dependence.

 Note that in both instances, the word “symbolic” is used as qualifier. This means that while both activities are valuable, they are so only in a limited sense. In the larger scheme of things, they are, sad to say, almost utterly meaningless.

 Saving the earth in a more practical sense involves entire countries acting together in meaningful endeavors that truly make a dent in stopping, or at least slowing, the planet’s march toward demise from human abuse.

Unfortunately, that is not what is happening, despite the great efforts being exerted in global conventions involving scores of the world’s countries. And that is because the world’s great powers, and the world’s greatest polluters, continue to hedge and refuse to come on board.

            Global protocols can only be truly effective if those for whom the protocols are meant for in the first place finally acquire the political will to accept their responsibility to the rest of the world. That is easier said than done, however. In the United States, for instance, they have a president whose power is projected way beyond its borders. That power cannot be undermined by any lack of support at home.

 But that support can easily fly out the window the moment the US president parlays global responsibilities with American interests. As compelling as global responsibility might be, no US president will ever be ready to tamp down on American dependence on polluting power sources. And that is just the United States. There are also China, Russia and the other giants that simply cannot be talked into compliance even by the most compelling logic. And that pretty sums up why small nations like ours are left with nothing to do but stage symbolic gestures.