Commentary—

CT: Fastest Snail In The Environmental Race

By William A. Collins

Global warming,

Brings us grief;

Time to turn,

A brave new leaf.   

Connecticut, it seems, leads the other New England states and eastern Canadian provinces in the glacially paced race against global warming. You could have fooled me. Most Nutmeg office buildings are so cold in summer that you need a sweater. And many supermarkets feature open freezers so we’re spared the enormous inconvenience of opening a door to pluck a product.

Highways, too, brilliantly camouflage our reported ardor to clean up CO2. Their massive autos and endless semis suggest that our alleged dedication to clean air is a trifle compromised. And auto ads on the TV and in the newspaper that tout only SUVs and muscle cars make you wonder about our priorities.

Indeed the claim that we are the most environmentally conscious state in the region makes one dread the thought of those others. But at least we have taken a few nibbles of the conservation apple. Last year the legislature adopted the California Clean Car standards, and now it’s going after black soot from diesel engines. There’s also a schedule requiring state utilities to buy ever more wind and solar power.

And perhaps more hopeful yet is an announcement from the business community. The developers of the huge office complex soon to rise on the Fairfield-Bridgeport line plan to make the place an environmental wonder. It contains a new train station and bus center, and it uses special energy-efficient materials and designs. Air conditioning will be reduced and storm water filtering increased. (Only later will we learn what temperature the operators keep the place at.)

But amid all this self-congratulatory back slapping, the Lung Association finds that Connecticut still has the worst air in New England. That’s hardly a shock. We’re the first trench along the path of the prevailing westerlies. They blow smoke up from those venom-spewing power plants in Ohio and West Virginia. We’re also the first trench facing incoming trucks on I-84 and I-95.

Nonetheless, even as we grouse about these external afflictions, our sophisticated Nutmeg society does not seem to have learned a great deal since Jimmy Carter put on his sweater in the White House, or LBJ went around turning out lights. Largely fueled by advertising, we have developed a lifestyle requiring big cars, cools summers, warm winters, and nearly human appliances. The rest of the world recoils at this excess.

Even a massively destructive hurricane season has not shifted our self-indulgent Northern values. We send bottled water to Louisiana and electricians to Mississippi, and maybe defer a visit to Florida. We also dutifully pray for the victims and curse the gouging oil companies.

What we don’t do is change our ways. Scientists may unanimously agree that a lot of global warming results from too much use of fuel, but the only thing that finally slowed SUV sales was a spike in gas prices. Still, one by one, each of us, can, if we choose, grab the tax breaks for a Prius and raise the A/C a couple degrees. That’s what world leaders like us are supposed to do.

(Columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.)