I would like to wish a very happy Independence Day to everyone, both here in America and abroad, as I know we have many international regulars here at The Gralien Report. May the spirit of peace be with you, and may liberty’s little flame keep burning inside you all your days.
I woke up this morning feeling rather patriotic, for obvious reasons aforementioned, and instead of donning a star-spangled necktie or slicing into a big slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie (yet, anyway), I felt the urge to see what other Americans are doing to celebrate their independence. What I found was more than a mere hint of urgency, and maybe even a bit of a preoccupation, with economic and environmental concerns; a kind of “neo-patriotism” for the modern era. In the midst of celebrating this patriotic holiday, folks are nonetheless keeping their minds wrapped around rising fuel costs, global warming, and personal sacrifice. I’ll have to share a few of these with you, and then finally we’ll take a slightly paranormal look at the lovely lady of liberty to whom I’ve already alluded.
Always with one eye kept toward the energy crisis, and even in the “heat” of the political season, Time Magazine’s Joe Klein has decided he’ll show his patriotism by cutting off his air-conditioner. “For the good of the country, we should be sweating,” he said in an editorial this week, where he tosses attractive numbers at us like a savings of 20% on your air conditioning expenses by raising your thermostat a mere five degrees. He goes on to later describe President Bush’s failure to address energy and fuel conservation “one of the great failures of his presidency,” and notes that Barack Obama and John McCain have both addressed the matter in recent campaign stops. “I’d like to see both candidates call for an immediate 5 degree F adjustment,” Klein says, “just to get the conservation ball rolling – and because it would be a ‘personal virtue’ for each candidate to ask it of us.”
“Personal virtue” seems to be a key concept this Fourth of July holiday, as well as this election season in general. Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain, who visited my home town of Asheville, North Carolina this week, noted recently that “The good citizen and patriot knows happiness is greater than comfort, more sublime than pleasure. The cynical and indifferent know not what they miss. For their mistake is an impediment not only to our progress as a civilization but to their happiness as individuals.” Not unlike Joe Klein’s more mundane suggestion to cut down our air conditioning and sweat a little for the common good, McCain suggests that maybe a little self-inflicted discomfort would help us be better Americans. This theme of virtue and sacrifice not only seems to be aimed at this campaign year’s focus on similar concepts, but also maybe as a bi-product of the reality that Americans today are learning to “do without and move on” in response to economic constraints, especially the ever-rising gas prices.
(I must note briefly that I just heard today’s first fireworks in the distance; it’s 10:28 AM EDST here on the East Coast… starting early, eh?)
On the other hand, in recent months Democratic nominee Barack Obama has turned his sights toward vehicles and gasoline in a different way; stating that in his energy plan, automobiles must contain a lesser amount of the carbon contributing to global warming, and enough to make “the same impact as taking 32 million cars off the road”. “I believe we still have a chance,” Obama says, “to pass on a planet to our children that is cleaner and safer and more prosperous than we found it.”
Elsewhere this month, best-selling author and journalist Chris Mooney discussed in an article for Wired Magazine a different approach to combating global warming: injecting sulfur dioxide straight into the atmosphere, taking an approach to the problem commonly blanketed under the term “geoengineering”. “Some people think geoengineering proponents are these wild-eyed radicals, but the scientists I talked with are about as mainstream, nuanced, and restrained as they come,” Mooney said. The essential idea here is that the sulfur dioxide component, once in the atmosphere, may undergo chemical reactions to form a particulate known as aerosol, that is, droplets of water intermixed with sulfuric acid. This mixture has the ability to both absorb sunlight, as well as reflect some of it back into space. Scientists like Ken Caldeira say that back in 1991 when the volcanic Mount Pinatubo erupted over the Philippines, 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide was blown into the atmosphere, which caused the global average temperature to decrease by half a degree Celsius, resulting in less “summer melt” atop the Greenland ice sheet, among other things.
So what does all this have to do with Lady Liberty? Very little in a physical sense; but still, as I sat pondering “liberty and justice for all” this morning, the Statue of Liberty was the first clear image that came to mind. She has remained, in a symbolic sense, the poster-girl for American grit, as well as moving forward and perseverance even in times of trouble, and with this year’s many instances of mildly bittersweet, yet hopeful patriotism that I’ve described above, she seems to be a fitting symbol for us to bear in mind.
So in conclusion, and in maintaining the jovial, even mischievous spirit that the Fourth of July can bring with its lovely drunken neighborhood cookouts and backyard fireworks displays, I’ll leave you with my favorite representation of the Statue of Liberty of all time, which was during the climax of Ghostbusters II, where Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd and the gang coat her insides with positively-charged ectoplasm, and then by blasting Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher”, bring her to life to go fight the evil entity “Vigo the Carpathian”. Her massive, golem-like awakening and wading through the New York Harbor will forever be imprinted in my mind as one of the most impressive paranormal feats of film. It’s too bad they had to decapitate her in January’s release of the film Cloverfield. Sorry guys, not nearly as impressive. 
So with due reverence, multitudes of respect, and a heapin’ dose of American Pride, I again wish everyone the very best on this Fourth of July. Whether or not you turn your air conditioners up or down today, or even attach small amounts of sulfur dioxide to any rockets you fire this evening to try and lessen the impacts of global warming, do keep in mind the nature of the holiday: the perseverance of the American dream, and our duty not so much just as citizens, but as humans living here together, to look out for one another and have a great time in the good spirit of joy.
And now… in the words of actor Bill Pullman in the film of the same name, “Today is the day we celebrate our Independence Day!” Let’s go celebrate.