Posted on 11/09/2003 11:13:13 AM PST by FairWitness
After stepping down as the last president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev went from red to green. In 1993, he founded Green Cross International (www.globalgreen.org), devoted to improving the environment worldwide. On a recent U.S. visit, Gorbachev, 72, told us his passionate environmentalism began as a child, when his family's crops were ruined by dust storms from poor land use. "When I became a political leader," he said, "I saw how badly nature was suffering. Technology has resulted in a major conflict between man and nature."
Gorbachev cited a lack of fresh water as the most pressing global issue. "Two billion people don't have access to clean water," he said, "and a result is infectious disease. In the Mideast, the situation is so bad, we may see a conflict even worse than what we're seeing today -- over water."
His second major concern is global warming, and he challenged President Bush to support the Kyoto Protocol on pollution. Gorbachev noted that the President created a commission to study the protocol's scientific findings. "Now he has that report," Gorbachev said, "and the report confirms that the science is serious. The President should respond."
Because two billion people dont have access to fresh water, we have many diseases, particularly infectious diseases, says Gorbachev. The Middle East has a water crisis, so does Central Asia and the former Soviet Republics, as well as Argentina, parts of Latin America and even Los Angeles, which has to bring water from several hundred miles away. Water is just like air; people need both. And two-thirds of fresh water is used for irrigation. We need investment in order to improve the infrastructure systems to ensure that water is not wasted. Major investment is needed to speed work on desalination [removing salt from seawater]. We also need to preserve forests and plant cover. Forests are actually preserving water."
And, ever the politician, Gorbachev also has strong views on U.S. foreign policy, particularly with regard to Americas embargo of Cuba. When I was president [of the Soviet Union], I made suggestions to my U.S. partners to improve relations with Cuba, he says. I believe Cuba is a healthy nation. It is a good country, in terms of education and health care. We should close the book on this chapter in history. If this embargo is lifted, wide-ranging prospects for cooperation will open up. I've urged President Bush to do a good thing for Cuba and the U.S. by lifting the embargo. It will improve his standing in America and in the world."
For more information on Green Cross International, visit the group's Web site.
"Technology has resulted in a major conflict between man and nature."
And only more technology will solve the indicated problems.
The United States, as the largest industrialized nation on earth, has the most to lose economically from the green weeny movement, Kyoto would do serious harm to the U.S. economy and Gorbachev knows this as well as anybody.
Gorbachev still has the old Soviet, Communist heart and still seeks to spread the Communist mentality througout the world. In fact, Gorbachev is fully supportive of the "United Religions" movement for a one-world religion that combines all religions, (and thereby destroys all religions). Here is a quote from Gorbachev's Green Cross web page:
"we need a new system of values, a system of the organic unity between mankind and nature and the ethic of global responsibility."
Another Gorbachev quote:
"I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos. Look at the sun. If there is no sun, then we cannot exist. So nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals."
"I am now, just as I've always been, a convinced Communist." -
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