Until fairly recently, the people we depended on lived nearby. Most human beings never traveled more than a few miles from their home. We lived and died in the same small group of people, typically, with one set of traditions and one language.

Among aboriginal societies it’s very common for the name of a tribe to be the equivalent of “the human beings” or “the people” in that tribe’s language. Out of almost 100 tribes listed on the native-languages.org website,[1] more than 30 define the name of their tribe in more or less that way — “the people,” “the original people,” “the best people,” (the “best people,” the Illiniwek from which the state of Illinois takes its name, now call themselves the Peoria, which means “backpack people”), or “the true people.”

Until recently we could afford the luxury of seeing our personal tribes as God’s chosen people. The Judeo-Christian Bible is, of course, full of these declarations. We consistently and systematically considered our local, tribal interests superior to the needs and interests of other people who spoke a different language and wore a different style of footwear.

To a surprising degree, our modern wars have been tribal wars. The Nazi movement, which catalyzed World War II, was explicitly a tribal movement designed to distinguish the Aryan race from other Europeans. Predictably, the people trying to distinguish themselves defined the “Aryans” as the original speakers of Indo-European languages and therefore, in their opinion, the “original people” of Europe.[2] The First World War’s proximate cause was the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian student inspired by the annexation of Bosnia by the Austro-Hungarians. A lot of Serbs lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the time. Princip evidently believed he was defending his ethnic heritage. The ethnic divisions of the Balkan States, including Bosnia Herzegovina, are cultural fault lines along which violence has often erupted. Like World War II, the First World War germinated in a tribal mindset.

A strong tribal identity must have been important to our survival. Durable ethnic divisions characterize human history in every part of the world. As our territories filled up and our communities grew closer together, though, we found ourselves trading with the strangers over the hill. Then our children began marrying within other communities. The next thing you know, it was hard to tell which tribe our grandchildren belonged to. Those grandchildren constituted the common interest between neighboring peoples.

As I write this my father and I are trying to heal a cultural rift in our own relationship. Day before yesterday he included me in a group e-mail to his siblings and several of my cousins. The email was a reprint of an open letter to President Obama written by a retired Proctor & Gamble sales executive named Lou Pritchett. In it, Pritchett repeatedly says to the president, “You scare me,” for a variety of reason, almost none of them directly related to actual public policy. The reasons Barack Obama scares Lou Pritchett — like my dad, a white guy in his 70s — range from the allegation that the administration wants to turn the United States into a “European-style country,” to the assertion that the president is, “culturally, not an American,” because he lived in his stepfather’s home country of Indonesia from age 6 to age 10. For better or for worse, I responded to all the recipients and suggested that my upbringing on the Mexican border and my subsequent Ivy-league education gave me a powerful sense of connection with the President, and that I resented the implication that either of us is “not an American,” culturally, ethnically, psychologically or otherwise.

After hurting my dad’s feelings and then — too late — considering his perspective, it occurred to me that Pritchett and my father were experiencing the anxiety of not recognizing their own culture. To my eyes, Barack Obama personifies the greatest virtues of our diverse, progressive country. But they cannot see him in that way. They see him as an alien presence.

President Obama’s mother married outside her tribe. The world saw the photos of the nation’s first “African American” president standing next to his grandmother, a tiny, elderly white woman from Kansas. Barack Obama’s Kenyan father was from a very different world than the one my father grew up in. Still, the president fits in today’s America, which more than ever is a “melting pot” of ethnicities and cultures. It may be hard for some Americans to see him that way, but on any city street in the nation he would blend right in, just another middle-aged African American professional in a suit. Americans, as a whole, identified with him sufficiently that they elected him. Today, he’s not only a member of the mainstream American “tribe,” he leads it.

Photo by Bryan Welch

[1] http://www.native-languages.org/original.htm. Retrieved August 15, 2009.

[2] Mish, Frederic C., Editor in Chief Webster's Tenth New Collegiate Dictionary Springfield, Massachuetts, U.S.A.:1994; Merriam-Webster. See original definition (definition No. 1) of "Aryan" in English, Page 66

Former Vice President Al Gore addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last Wednesday, telling them that America needs a climate bill this year, especially since there’s supposed to be an international negotiation in Copenhagen in December. Gore already has a bold plan — to reach a goal of 100 percent clean electricity within 10 years. And with President Barack Obama in office, this may be the year to go through with it.

On Gore’s Repower America website, you can find the detailed plan on how he believes America could reach this goal through use of plug-in cars, clean electricity and, of course, renewable energies. The first thing on the list — just like in Obama’s inauguration speech — asks for a little help from everyone. So, start by looking at the site, and then think about following the advice on the site by writing to your elected officials and telling them that you want the economic recovery package to focus on new jobs and clean energy. Like both Gore and Obama have said and continue to say, it’s going to take everyone to make the change that you want in our economy and environment. So, start now!

President Barack Obama signed an executive order Monday morning, asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider California’s request to create its own limits on automobile carbon dioxide emissions. The state’s goal is to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2016. To make that goal, automakers would be required to manufacture automobiles that get better mileage. While the state’s requirements would be stricter than any national standard, 13 other states may follow California’s lead.

In his address on the executive order, he said, “I want to be clear from the beginning of this administration that we have made our choice. America will not be held hostage to the dwindling resources, hostile regimes and a warming planet.” Along with the EPA request, Obama asked that automakers enhance their fuel efficiency standards nationwide for 2011. He also is looking for more ways that federal agencies can save energy.

According to Union of Concerned Scientists President Kevin Knobloch, "This is the first of a number of campaign promises President Obama needs to fulfill when it comes to bolstering our economy and protecting the environment. Cleaner cars will strengthen our domestic auto industry. Cutting emissions from the transportation sector is critical to avoiding the worst consequences of global warming. By directing the Department of Transportation to revisit federal fuel economy standards, Obama has an opportunity to make even greater gains in cutting our oil consumption and saving consumers money at the pump.”

You can watch more of what Obama said in the video below.

President-elect Barack Obama has asked Americans to participate in a national day of service on Monday, Jan. 19. The day coincides with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and comes one day before Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.

Politicians and celebrities are lining up to appear at high-profile community service events, but the most important people involved in Monday’s happenings, however, will be you, the volunteers.

Search USAservice.org’s national registry of Monday’s community service events to discover projects taking place near you. If you’re interested in organizing an event for your own community or nonprofit organization, check out these resources and tips to help you get started. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated in 1986, and Congress pronounced it a day of service in 1994. Thanks to the attention it has received from Obama and his inaugural committee, this year’s day of service will likely bring out record numbers of volunteers. We hope you’ll be one of them!

Environmentalists are on President-elect Barack Obama’s side. Twenty-nine environmental and conservation groups recently provided Obama’s transition team with a 391-page plan for federal action on the economic, climate and environmental crises. Their plan coincides with many of Obama’s ideas about creating a green economy, but it’s their knowledge and expertise that will help the new administration overcome some of the challenges it faces. In a teleconference on Nov. 25, leaders from the groups spoke about the plan and the priorities that they believe must be addressed … and fast.

Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters, argued that “The solution to our problems is a new green economy. The last thing you want to do is delay it: It’s not just bad for the planet, it’s bad for the economy.”

While these environmentalists support Obama’s vision, they believe that at the center of his economic recovery strategy needs to be three specific goals: to cut carbon emissions, to create clean energy and to end America’s dependency on oil. In order to accomplish these goals, the group supports the cap and trade system that will put a price on carbon and limit emissions. They also support Obama’s push for clean renewable energy to cut oil dependency and create millions of paying green-collared jobs. And they agree with promoting hybrid cars and other fuel-efficient cars to create ways for Americans to travel further on a gallon of gas.

For this economic opportunity to be successful, though, the group believes certain initial actions must be taken. For example, the group states that in the first 100 days of Obama’s presidency, the new administration needs to stop any midnight policies made by the Bush administration before any more environmental damage is done. The Obama administration also needs to place strong environmental leaders with the same values of the president and the environmental community in the proper administrative positions. The group also believes that unbiased science should play a primary role in creating effective environmental policy.

The detailed plan includes many other ideas to help guide the Obama administration in environmental stewardship, including the restoration of natural resources. But after eight years of environmental neglect, the new administration will have a lot of cleaning up to do. The next four years should definitely be interesting, to say the least.

For more on Obama’s environmental policy, read Obama Addresses Fight Against Climate Change and Obama’s Changing Climate Change. Or share your thoughts or suggestions about how the Obama administration can improve the economy, climate and/or environment in the comment section below.

Welcome to a new chapter in climate change! On Tuesday, Nov. 18, more than 600 climate change leaders from around the world gathered at the Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles to discuss climate issues and prepare for next month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.

While President-elect Barack Obama did not attend — “the United States has only one president at a time” — he addressed those in attendance through a short video, still promising to establish a federal cap-and-trade system, reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, and invest $15 billion a year for clean energy.

Of course it won’t be easy, but finally there’s going to be someone in office that refuses to ignore climate change: “Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.” And that’s reassuring enough — for now at least.

Read Obama’s Changing Climate Change for more information. Or watch Obama’s video below.

In a recent press release, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced that it is ready for President-elect Barack Obama — especially after the Bush administration ignoring international progress on climate change for the past eight years. Not only does Obama argue for progress, he says he wants to find a common solution to our energy, environmental and economic problems. To do that, he says he wants to build a clean energy economy which will create millions of new jobs, expand capital investment, stop the nation’s dependence on oil, and prevent global warming.

To start, Obama’s cap-and-trade policy would require all permits for emitting carbon dioxide to be auctioned off, with proceeds going towards clean energy, habitat protections, and other transition relief for families. Last month, six of the 10 Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative states in the Northeast raised $39 million doing just that, and if that price holds, the auctions could yield more than $500 million a year.

The soon-to-be President also has outlined plans to reduce global warming emissions by 80 percent by 2050. He’s pledged to make 10 percent of the nation’s electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025. According to UCS analysis, if just 20 percent of the nation’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020, it could generate 185,000 new jobs; gain $66.7 billion in private capital investment; give $25.6 billion to rural landowners for leasing their land for biomass and wind energy production; and create $2 billion in new local tax revenues. On top of that, consumer electric and natural gas bills would reduce by $10.5 billion in 2020 and $31.8 billion in 2030.

And when all of this happens, it would reduce global warming emissions in 2020 by 223 million metric tons a year — the same as taking 36 million cars off the road. Now, that’s a change I think everyone could handle.