So, Who Watches the Watchmen?

I am currently simultaneously reading the Alan Moore classic graphic novel, The Watchmen and Thomas Friedman's new book, Hot, Flat and Crowded. While the two are very different - one's a graphic novel about super heroes and masked adventurers, and the other is about our planet's downward spiral - I can't help but draw some parallels between the two.

In The Watchmen the planet is facing a serious threat as the Soviets invade Afghanistan and Pakistan and turn their eyes on the U.S. (the story is set in New York in the 1980's). Crime runs rampant through the streets of New York and the government has made vigilantism a crime, outlawing masked adventuring. Most of the characters in The Watchmen actually are not super heroes, but masked adventurers. Essentially just ordinary people wearing costumes, fighting crime. Dr. Manhattan is the only actual super hero and is the U.S. Department of Defense's key weapon against the Soviets. One of the masked adventurers, The Comedian, is also a contractor for the government, but the others have been exiled, imprisoned, or killed. The masked adventurers (or "crime fighters") were drawn to the unusual occupation's mix of romanticism and idealism. Lacking any actual super powers, they donned costumes and weapons, much like Batman. They saved children from burning buildings, tried to stop riots, and attempted to bring offenders to justice. Hiding behind their masks and capes, they had a lot of power. This power, as power often does, brought some of the crime fighters down to a different level. A level low enough to cause them to think they were actually above the law, and basic human decency. Citizens were tired of vigilantly justice and wanted their uniformed cops back.

In the real world, and also Friedman's book, the planet is facing several serious threats - and no, I am not referring to terrorism. Yes, terrorism is a threat, however I do not think it is the biggest threat we face. In The Watchmen the characters feel a sense of helplessness as they come to terms with the Soviet threat and the possibility of nuclear war. We too are facing a nuclear war: but instead of a possibility, in our case it is a certainty. However, the war is not waged with weapons, but instead with years of over-consumption and it's destruction to our economy and the environment.

Currently the two biggest problems we face are the economy and the environment. BOTH of these problems are attributed to our lifestyle of consumption. We buy lots of things that we can't afford, so we take borrow against the house we're already paying a mortgage on, we charge to multiple credit cards, we take out bad loans, we cash in our savings...wait? Savings! HA! Well, as Friedman discusses and as we should all already be aware of, the stuff we buy has to be made. Making stuff uses resources. Resources are actually in the stuff and resources as energy to power the process of making the stuff.

In May of this year I kept a daily blog entitled "30 Days to a More Sustainable You" in which I challenged myself, and anyone else, to keep track of everything they bought and everything non-eco-conscious they did for thirty days. My goals in doing this were to save my own money, and to make the point that you can be eco-savvy and financially responsible without changing your lifestyle too much.

I was wrong.

Scientists believe that in just FIVE YEARS the Arctic may be ice-free in the summertime. This is a big deal. I realize there are more pressing issues out there like abortion and keeping homosexuals from marrying each other, but the status of our planet is kind of a big deal too. Our planet is very, very sick and it's our fault. As human beings and shepherds of the planet, we have failed. That said, it's not too late. We can still do something to change the course - but we have to change our lifestyles.

The White House has proposed a $700 BILLION bailout to help save our country's struggling financial institutions. Again, this is our fault. Financial institutions deserve the lion's share of the blame, for taking such huge risks for the sake of greed. However, we also take some of the blame for taking out loans we could never afford in the first place. Again, it's not too late to save ourselves. We just have to do something about our lifestyles.

Maybe the best thing to ever happen to the environment is the current economic disaster. When fuel prices were higher earlier this summer, car dealerships couldn't give SUVs away. Like Friedman argues, if something is cheap and abundant, consumers will buy it. Gas in Europe is very expensive, so people drive small cars. Gas in America has always been cheap, so people drive Hummers. Why do economic factors drive every decision? Why can't we just drive Priuses because we care about our CO2 emissions, and not because gasoline is expensive?

Why is saving the economy not a political issue but saving the environment is?

Sometimes I think maybe environmentalists feel a bit like the young, idealistic masked adventurers - out fighting for a society they want to help and change, but the society doesn't care. Why? Because regulations are bad and concern that the next generation may not have a planet should not come in the way of building things? The puppeteers of the financial market seem to be the powerful Watchmen: the faceless vigilantes who have more power than our elected officials. Maybe it's time to kick those Watchmen out and allow some idealism to penetrate our national psyche.

After all, who has been watching the Watchmen? Apparently not our government.

Let's take matters into our own hands. Change your lifestyle. Consume less. For our pocketbooks and our planet.

Get a mask.