'Either capitalism lives or Mother Earth lives' ... delegates wave flags at the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, near Cochabamba, Bolivia, on 20 April 2010. These guys get it. by Dado Galdieri/AP

It’s hard not to feel bad for the people who live in the Gulf of Mexico.  Not only has Big Oil lured them into environment-destroying jobs, thus crushing their souls, but the BP oil leak’s lingering effects is still harming the fishing industry in the area.  In 20 years the entire Gulf coast could be deserted except for the tourism businesses that remain. But what will tourists go there to visit?

Worst of all, it’s still dangerous to peoples’ health, in a big way, to live near that Gulf of Mexico water.

(Newser) – Researchers have detected a 40-fold increase in potentially cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons off the coast of Louisiana’s Grande Isle. The study is especially scary because it only measured PAHs that could seep through a biological membrane, the Huffington Post explains. “This is a measure of what would enter into an organism,” says one professor, “and that means they can essentially be uptaken by organisms throughout the food chain.”

A 40X increase in cancer-causing chemicals!  How is that acceptable? It’s “acceptable” because so few people know about it.

People need to make a connection between their environment and fossil fuel use and the dangers involved.  It goes beyond mere “pollution” that we generally think of as more of a nuisance than anything else.  Abusing the environment and over-dependence on fossil fuels by large corporations is leading to life-threatening situations all over the world.  The media needs to cover all of this much better than they are. If there is mercury in the lakes and rivers, and cancer-causing chemicals in ocean water, where are we supposed to turn for safe, clean water?  These are big issues the public needs to be aware of, to weigh in on.

Sometimes we do need governments to protect the basics of life, and that’s why EPA action on regulating CO2 from coal-powered power plants is so necessary.  This is scheduled to happen early next year.  But nothing will change until we change our fundamental economic system that is based on growth, consumption, and waste. What steps are governments taking?

“Six weeks from now, in Cancun, Mexico, the world’s nations will gather under the auspices of the United Nations (the UNFCCC) to again discuss how to alleviate climate change. They’ll try to pick up the broken pieces from last December in Copenhagen, where we witnessed tortured dances by government leaders trying to avoid the realities of our time, and the profound conundrums we face as a society. They accomplished nothing, and may reprise that performance in Cancun.

Take the case of President Obama. He generally signals a serious desire to address climate issues, but, like the leaders of all the developed industrial nations, has been caught in a terrible dilemma. [...]