Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 9:55 am:

quote:

For most of my life, I've felt like many metro Detroiters. With high crime, a fragile economy, and poor public education, we have more critical things than the environment to worry about. Environmentalism, I thought, is the purview of young, childless liberals, who don't have to think about life without Pampers or minivans.

But now I know I was being shortsighted. Detroiters, of all people, ought to know the importance of environmentalism. Because of poor air quality, metro Detroiters --including our children -- are suffering from high rates of asthma and other environment-related diseases. Our beautiful lakes are polluted. And, our economy wouldn't be so fragile if auto manufacturers had been leading the way toward environmentally friendly technology.