There was a time in my younger days when the argument had been put forth that the Earth itself was an organism. A new term, Gaia, was coined to convey this concept. One of the most cogent arguments I remember from those days was this one:

If you were to question a butterfly that was sitting on the branch of a redwood tree, and ask it if the tree was alive, the butterfly would say:

“Of course not! I’ve been sitting here my entire life, and it hasn’t changed one bit!”

I was reminded of this story on Thursday when the bridge collapsed in Minnesota, and the concern immediately surfaced in the media about the safety of other structures around the country. There has been talk lately, especially during election campaigns at all levels of government, about our crumbling infrastructure and what to do about it. I fear that not enough will be done about this problem, for the reason hinted at in the story: The bridge close to my house has been there my entire life and will always be there.

The Minnesota incident may be the harbinger of things to come, unfortunately. For too long, concrete and steel has been considered to be ‘permanent’ when, in fact, it is subject to corrosion and degradation just like everything else. As Buddhism teaches, nothing is permanent.

Media pundits are quick to quote hundreds of billions of dollars as the required funding to ‘fix our infrastructure’, but I question both the ability of anyone to assign a price tag to that endeavor. It would likewise be impossible and ludicrous to create one agency to manage such an effort, it will instead rely on much more locally managed projects. But how to fund it? I would suggest a gasoline tax, and a steep one at that. Remember the argument I made late last year about raising gas taxes? We know gasoline will be more expensive every year, as environmental costs increasingly get added to the price, and supply issues cause increases. Some argue that increasing costs will drive a few consumers to find alternatives, and for this reason, tax increases are justified to reduce consumption. My argument was, if we know that increased prices will change the habits of some and fund recovery efforts when the situation is dire, then let’s raise the funds now and create the transportation infrastructure of the future today.

Do you, like me, worry about an earthquake, but only when you are stopped at a red light while sitting under an overpass?

no link to an article, this one's my own fault