How many candidates are not talking about banning fracking, and why?

[PatrickforO]

7. I've been thinking about this a lot.

I drive a mid-sized SUV that came off the line in 2004. It uses premium unleaded gasoline and gets around 18 miles per gallon.

I live in a house that is powered by electricity and natural gas, and drive to work on roads made with asphalt, a petroleum product.

When I remember, I use canvas grocery bags, because plastic is petroleum based. I've quit drinking anything out of plastic bottles, but most of the products you buy at the supermarket are encased in plastic. To their credit, Kroger is now selling its half and half in cardboard cartons (with plastic spout) rather than plastic bottles, but still, plastic is ubiquitous.

I primarily eat meat, vegetables and fruit, but also have bread because...bread. I drink coffee. I TRIED to be a vegan. I really did, but I just cannot do it. I admire those who can, but man, it got to the point where I was dreading nourishing myself with that stuff. No offense to vegans - I admire you, but it isn't for me.

I wear clothing that is probably made in sweatshops and shop at Kroger because I support unions. I stay away from Walmart for the same reason, and do shop at Costco, which treats its own employees well, but bargains so hard with suppliers they have to cut their labor costs (the REAL capitalist trickle down).

I shop at Amazon and have a prime membership, but have found you really have to shop on Amazon because sometimes the products they send aren't quite the same quality as you would buy in a store.

So why the soliloquy?

Because without a strong policy direction and public funding, we will continue in America to make up around 5% of the world's population, yet consume 24% of the world's energy. It's just unsustainable. And yet, as individuals we have some ability to conserve, but it is way too little, and the very nature of our society and our economy forces waste.

I mean, I am proud of my state because Governor Polis really is issuing policies that will reduce Colorado's carbon footprint. Many states are moving forward in this vein, but some are not. Industrial cities in China and India are so polluted people can barely breathe. There's plastic waste at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, for God's sake.

I was talking with a friend yesterday about these things. It may be the human species will not survive because of capitalism. It really may. We simply have not grown up yet. We have not been able to get rid of greed, and our whole culture has been seduced by lust for power and wealth. So the few are continually ripping off the many and the political dialog in the US is debated within a very narrow range, with the Democrats being left of center and the Republicans being right of center in this narrow range of debate.

We have not grown up and realized we can organize ourselves around human need and not greed, and be good stewards of this planet instead of raping it. We could actually have an earth where everyone has enough and we consciously lower our birth rates so that population levels out and then decreases.

Are we mature enough for the tasks that must be accomplished? Or will we go into that dark place in natural history filled with has beens? Species that had their shot and were selected by evolution for extinction.

Because make no mistake: this earth will abide. Mother nature will be fine if we go extinct. In fact, we are the ONLY species of which it can be said that if we go extinct, all other forms of life on this planet would be better off.