What Would Constantine Do?

Three centuries of persecution came to an end for early Christians when Constantine interpreted his vision of the cross as a sign of victory in an upcoming battle, and voila! Christianity became legalized in the Roman Empire. I wonder how Constantine might be affected by his vision of what’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico right now. Bryan Walsh writes in this week’s issue of TIME, “The next step is to put in place truly comprehensive energy and climate legislation, laws that could slap a price of some sort on fossil fuels while channeling serious funds toward clean-energy research and deployment. Whether in the form of a tax, cap-and-trade or some other mechanism, pricing carbon has long been a nonstarter in Washington, but that needs to change.”

We lived through the oil shortage of the early 70s, watched the Exxon Valdez fiasco in 1989, and are now witnessing the horrific events as they unfold in the Gulf of Mexico. And yet, I’m still driving around in a car that uses gasoline, still consuming electricity that is generated by fossil fuels (although Las Vegas does benefit some from the hydroelectric generated at Hoover Dam), and still behaving like I’m the only one on the planet who is deserving of all this. When are we going to wake up? When are we going to grow up? When are we going to evolve into enlightened, rational creatures that are created a little lower than the angels? I guess we need a sign.