Americans don't pay much attention to environmental issues

Hear the lament of Jeff Goodell, who pierces the heart of apathy with his words: “Americans don’t pay much attention to environmental issues, because they aren’t sexy. I mean, cleaning up coal plants and reining in outlaw frackers is hugely important work, but it doesn’t get anybody’s pulse racing.” In these lines, there is both sorrow and rebuke. He reveals the strange blindness of humanity—that we chase glitter and spectacle, yet ignore the quiet, grinding labors that protect the air we breathe and the water we drink.

The meaning of this saying rests in the truth that most acts of preservation are not dramatic, but hidden and unglamorous. To shut down a polluting coal plant is not as thrilling to the eye as building a monument. To regulate reckless frackers who tear open the earth for oil is not as electrifying as tales of conquest or wealth. Yet these humble deeds matter more to life itself than the banners of glory. Goodell shows us that while the earth cries out, many turn their heads, for the work of healing does not dazzle. But wisdom calls us to see that the unglamorous is often the most vital.

History itself testifies to this truth. When London suffered the Great Smog of 1952, thousands perished silently in their homes. It was not war, nor revolution, but the burning of coal that darkened the city like a plague. The politicians who fought for clean air laws were not hailed as heroes in their time, for their work lacked spectacle. Yet their victory—born from regulation and the cleaning of smokestacks—saved untold lives for generations. What seemed dull in the moment became salvation in the long arc of history.

Likewise, in modern times, those who toil against the dangers of hydraulic fracking often stand uncelebrated. Their work involves endless studies, lawsuits, and public hearings, not the glory of grand speeches or shining monuments. Yet when aquifers are saved from poison and earthquakes are prevented by restraint, these quiet warriors become the unseen guardians of communities. Here again, Goodell’s words ring true: the great labors of the age are not always those that stir the heart with glamour, but those that keep the foundations of life intact.

The deeper lesson is that our hearts must learn to be stirred by what truly matters, not by what merely excites. The ancients understood this. Farmers who labored in the fields were never hailed as heroes like the warriors, yet without their toil, no empire could stand. In the same way, the “unsexy” work of conservation—cleaning rivers, enforcing laws, closing toxic industries—is the modern farming of life itself. Without it, no civilization will endure. To ignore these labors is to build castles on sand, doomed to collapse when the earth can bear no more.

For us, the call is clear: do not be lulled by glamour. Pay attention to the invisible labors of environmental repair. Support those who clean the skies and protect the waters. Give honor to the policymakers, scientists, and activists who battle quietly against pollution, even when their work lacks spectacle. Let us change what excites our hearts, so that the saving of a river is as stirring as a parade, and the closing of a coal plant is as triumphant as a conquest.

Therefore, take practical steps: read beyond headlines, seek to understand the struggles of those who fight against pollution, support clean energy initiatives, and remind others that the true drama of our age is not in spectacle but in survival. Speak of environmental victories as victories indeed, for they are battles won on behalf of life itself.

So remember Goodell’s words: “Cleaning up coal plants and reining in outlaw frackers is hugely important work, but it doesn’t get anybody’s pulse racing.” Let them awaken your conscience to the quiet heroes of our age. For the fate of the world does not depend on the dazzling, but on the diligent; not on the spectacular, but on the steadfast. If we can learn to celebrate the humble work of healing, then perhaps the earth will yet rejoice, and future generations will inherit a world renewed.