Jimmy Carter's Malaise Speech in 1979...
Carter's speech focuses heavily on The Energy Crisis... much like President Obama's urge to American's to conserve energy today... We all need to be mindful, conserve and not be wasteful. Our irresonsiblity and carelessness only contributes to a much bigger problem. We can expect clean energy alternatives in the future and a rise in the cost of fuel, etc. to incentivise clean energy alternatives. Carter's speech is a reminder that there has been an ongoing growing problem. What will our future generations face if we continue on this path of carelessness and wastefulness? I'll be 29 years old in June... what will our world be like when I'm an old lady? The least we can do is educate ourselves and be mindful, understand the bigger picture and how our actions today will impact our future. We should all be mindful of our own personal consumption and waste. Think about our environment, we cannot afford to continue to be careless. There is a future consequence to our convenience today. Consider this when you purchase plastic and paper plates, utensils, paper towels, throw away mops, wipes, disposable air fresheners, soap bottles, disposable everything! We need to be responsible and make an effort to conserve energy. Electricity and water; don't leave water running carelessly or your AC running on a cool day or when your not at home, or your tv on when your not watching it. Buy a ceramic spill proof coffee mug and ask that your coffee or tea be poured into it rather than using a disposable cup. These are some of the little things we can do to help conserve.
Excess and Materialism (things), should not be our priorities...
I hope that the following excerpts from Carter's speech will be an inspiration and reminder of the very real problem we face today:
"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose"
"The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world".
"As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning"
"These changes did not happen overnight. They've come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that were filled with shocks and tragedy"
"There will be other cartels and other shortages. American wisdom and courage right now can set a path to follow in the future."
"Little by little we can and we must rebuild our confidence. We can spend until we empty our treasuries, and we may summon all the wonders of science. But we can succeed only if we tap our greatest resources -- America's people, America's values, and America's confidence."
"Our Nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices. We often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our Nation's strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives."
"All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our Nation and ourselves. We can take the first steps down that path as we begin to solve our energy problem."
"Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this Nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our Nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny."
READ the complete speech, click HERE.
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