How to Improve Our Country

A friend and I were engaged in a bit of fanciful wishful thinking the other day when he asked me how I would improve our country with a hundred million dollars or so. I quickly ran down the list of national problems we are rapidly leaving for our grandchildren. A hundred million wouldn’t do much for the national debt, so I scrolled down to our utter dependence on fossil fuels.

I’m not concerned that our oil and coal reserves will run out in my lifetime, but the supply is finite and will eventually be depleted. In the long term, we have only four inexhaustible sources of energy. Hydroelectric is approaching its limit. There are only so many rivers to dam. Geothermal is very limited but has some potential. Wind is a product of the earth’s rotation and uneven heating. The last time I checked, an interruption of the earth’s rotation would create problems such that there would be no one left on Earth to care about energy. We are just beginning to tap the energy available in sunlight. An influx of cash for research could help power future generations.

Development of new energy sources requires scientists and engineers that our schools are not producing. Our public schools do a wonderful job for students with special needs. Our schools are to be commended for educating every student to a minimum level. Our high school graduates are uniformly prepared for community college and liberal arts degrees. The brightest students, however, are too often left to fend for themselves. We have too few programs to challenge the very bright kids in math and science. Future scientists and engineers need to be in special programs that develop their potential. If nothing else, a hundred million dollars would fund a thousand engineering degrees.

As the world population grows, we need to change consumer habits. Although the volume of non-biodegradable waste generated by the United States is huge, we are no longer the biggest contributor to the global trash dump. China has surpassed us, and as other countries become more “modern”, their discards grow at an exponential rate. A hundred million might not be enough to impact the growing volume of discarded plastic in India, but it would be a great start for an American ad campaign. The recent ban on plastic drinking straws by some west coast cities is a start, but the impact of straws is a drop in the bucket compared to the volume of discarded plastic shopping bags. There is no reason we cannot follow the lead of many European countries and require shoppers to bring their own bags. If I forget my reusable bags at the Safeway checkout, I should be required to purchase new ones. When that happens a couple times, I will remember my bags. We already have an alternative for plastic soda bottles. Over 90% of aluminum beverage cans are recycled. Lets put our money where it does the most good.

Those are just a few worthwhile projects that could use an influx of cash. We could try to find an actual solution to the homeless problem, or we could fund research to help feed our growing planet. We could support efforts to develop degradable plastic or safe pesticides. We could even reward innovative entrepreneurs. One thing, however, that I would not spend our money on is a team of special prosecutors to investigate something that our President may or may not have done, and even if he did, may or may not be illegal. There are too many more important demands on our money.

(Frank Watson is a retired Air Force Colonel and a long time resident of Eastern Washington. He has been a free lance columnist for over 18 years.)