You've been an environmentalist for almost 40 years. Have you seen an increase in awareness and concern among the American public in that time?
There's tremendous awareness now. Probably a thousand-fold increase in awareness of an issue like global warming, of how our use of fossil fuels affects every nook and cranny on Planet Earth. Now most people are very much pro-environment, and they just cannot believe that politicians aren't doing all they can to protect it. But the truth is, they're not.
Since 1970, when I started as a volunteer for Friends of the Earth, I've seen Republicans and Democrats come and go, from when Nixon was president to George Bush Jr. We're a bipartisan organization. But I would say that George Bush Jr. is the most anti-environmental president we've ever had in that time. Nixon, in contrast, appointed people to environmental agencies who really cared about what they were doing. Under his regime, major laws like the amendment to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, were signed into law. There was a much more bipartisan approach. Whereas Bush Jr. has failed to enforce basic pollution laws, and he's tried to prevent states that wanted to do more from doing so. He's even gone against standards that would make our use of energy more efficient, which is very surprising. At the environmental agencies, he's appointed some people into positions of authority who don't even believe in the constitutionality of environmental laws. Public lands have been devastated by oil and gas leasing. Some of the worst coal mining -- mountaintop mining -- has continued. The EPA has failed. Again and again, the EPA has to be ordered by the court to comply with the law. A big failure. The United States, by the way, used to be the world leader in environmental quality, with those pioneering acts during the Nixon administration. Other nations looked up to us at that time. And now we've gone from being the environmental leader to a country that's despised. Other countries look at the United States as arrogant, the biggest greenhouse gas polluter, and disdainful of the impact of that pollution on other people worldwide.
The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world's population, but produces 25 percent of C02 greenhouse gas emissions. And it's one of the few countries not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol [to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change].
Right. Now that Australia has signed it, we're really out there like a sore thumb. It's tragic to see that leadership we once had just be turned on its end. Now it's not leadership, it's like an anchor slowing down the progress of the rest of the world, which is trying to move toward clean energy. The oil, coal and gas guys are running this administration.
Final question: What would golf be like in a perfect world?
You'd be playing on an organic course. The maintenance equipment would be charged by solar power. Recycled water would be used for irrigation, and used efficiently and sparingly. There'd be a great variety of wildlife habitats. This idea that you've got to make everything look like a miniature golf course with a green carpet is crazy. It's the same problem that we see with these lawn fetishes -- all the water and chemicals and energy that are used for a lawn that just sits there. So let's get back to the rugged qualities of the game. People ought to read the history of golf.
We've not been very good stewards of the earth as a species. We should be a blessing to the rest of life, not such a curse. The whole idea of living with and appreciating and understanding our surroundings is something we need more of. We have this incredible nature-deficit disorder worldwide. We're sitting all day in front of a computer in an office and not getting out for a walk in the woods. Golf is a great opportunity to be outdoors. It should be a fun, interesting, great walk out there; a healthful, salubrious experience.
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