Re: Copenhagen’s Elephant in the Room
- From: bodhi <psychedelictourist@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:18:51 -0800 (PST)
On Dec 13, 10:02 am, bodhi <psychedelictour...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Copenhagen’s Elephant in the Room
December 11th, 2009http://freegan.info/?p=771
Rather than accepting the tempting conclusion of overwhelming futility
towards expressing any dissenting views about the present climate
talks in Copenhagen, I have decided to use this space for any and all
of its potential. and so, not so modestly, I propose ideas like this:
Recently in AM New York, one of our two free daily papers here in NYC,
the headline was “A World Divided: Nations struggle over best way to
stop global warming. To its left, one of the side headlines read,
“Gifts for the little women in your life.” The bitter irony hit me
like a sledgehammer — are they really that dim? Among all the
international media hype about these talks (which hasn’t really been
THAT much, considering the fate of all life on ear this at stake),
among the specifics (whenever they are rarely mentioned) of “renewable
energy,” “cleaner” technologies, and other “advanced” alternatives
that different businesses and empires are proposing, there’s one
question that’s so simple, so obvious, that no one (not even the guy
from Moldives, bless his heart) dares to broach:
What about consumption?
Why is it that we don’t question our need to buy more (and, we
believe, better) stuff every day — especially at this time of year —
even when our credit card bills are looming, and our closets are full
of things that we never use? Don’t you think there’s some correlation
between the facts that the U.S. and China together produce 40% of the
world’s greenhouse gases, and the U.S. is the world’s biggest economy,
while it seems like everything here is made in China? (Everything
from dollar-store knick-knacks to the high-tech iPhones, yes.) When
Canada has the Tar Sands oil fields — possibly the most
environmentally destructive project in the world — and China has the
Three Gorges Dam, where a nation is willing to destroy the homes of
millions of people for the mouth of more energy, we would be joking to
claim we could build enough geothermal, wind, and solar power plants
in the next 5-10 years (the window we have to turn around global
warming, according to NASA climate scientist James Hansen) to replace
all of these gigantic toxic power structures.
It’s time we start seeing every dollar we spend on new products as one
dollar too many. It’s come down to that. There is simply NO WAY our
global economy can continue this scale of production for the next 50
years and expect to be able to have enough resources left (and I’m
talking basic things, like clean air, water, and land) to survive
another generation. Take the example of oil. Everyone talks about
oil when the greenhouse gas issue comes up…. people talk about cars
and consider them inevitable for their lifestyles, and think wistfully
or sarcastically about the new hybrids. But look inside the interior
of that Prius, and what do you think it’s made out of? Derivatives of
oil, of course! Look at the pen in your hand — OIL! Your tube of
toothpaste, your lawn chairs, your insulation, your comb, even your
medicines, and you’ll find the same thing — OIL. The media isn’t
going to mention that when their broadcast tapes are made from oil.
Nearly everything we buy is made from, if not oil, than dead trees, or
some mass-produced monoculture crop that requires huge amounts of oil-
based pesticide and fertilizer as well as water, or mined from some
place that destroys its surroundings and will eventually run out.
So far, even in this short analysis, we’ve touched on two main sources
of greenhouse gases: oil emissions/production and direct industry
pollution. Then there’s the third - methane - as a result of
livestock waste — not for any fault of the animals, but because we’ve
bred BILLIONS of them, an increasing majority of which live in
intensive confinement — and there’s no way any environment can support
that long-term. The global agriculture industries have pushed
intensive meat production at a much higher rate in the last few
decades, causing even more production of a highly consumptive industry
that harms everyone from the workers to the land to the water, and
most of all, the animals themselves. And don’t forget the other major
source of methane, landfill off-gassing! We throw away so much crap
every day that it actually becomes more toxic over time; or else, the
trash incinerators end up burning a lot of plastic, which people
already know is a toxic thing to do.
So what are we supposed to do about this? Just sit and sulk, from
Copenhagen to Christmas? No, actually, the unthinkable IS possible.
There is a way we can all contribute. It all comes down to two words:
BUY LESS.
We have to learn to leave well enough alone. If we have something
that already works, why get a new one? If it’s broken, seek out that
old appliance repair shop before it goes out of business — it might be
a simple fix. Shoe repair shops can be very affordable. Ask your
grandmother how to sew and knit. Imagine how happy your loved ones
would be if you made something new and beautiful out of some old
clothes that needed repair! You could go the tech route and fix your
friend’s old laptop, upgrade it to run really well, and decorate the
front, to make it a truly unique piece. Make it easy to reuse. If
you want some new clothes, music, toys, or furniture, scour the thrift
stores or garage sales for the most enjoyable, unique pieces, and find
something special. Find some music from previous generations, that
costs next to nothing on vinyl or cassette, and convert it to CD or
digital files. Learn how to fix your mp3 player! Teach the skills
you’ve learned to your friends and family. The internet is such a
vast resource that we can learn how to do almost anything.
Our production is so bloated right now that we have enough right here,
already, to satisfy our needs for the foreseeable future. If we can
rely on what we have, we can cut down on the never-ending waste stream
of industrialized nations like ours, survive better on less money
while incurring less debt, and finally reclaim the creative skills we
have neglected for most of our lives. Sure, all the media will say
that “consumer spending is down,” that this is hurting the economy —
but on the long term, this is the only thing that will save us. We
have to consider the impact of every purchase, every material that our
possessions are composed of, the transportation and the labor involved
in every facet of every last thing that we buy, and realize that THIS,
from global warming to habitat destruction to species extinction - is
what is destroying our planet. It may look pretty pretty good to us
right now, but by the time the effects of global warming really kick
in, it will be too late to reverse. The global warming symptoms that
we’re seeing now are from the pollution of 50 years ago - when our
global population was a small fraction of what it is now. Global
warming WILL get worse — but if we don’t radically change our
lifestyles right now, our fate will be inevitable.
-------------------
namaste;
bodhi
there is a way
:^)
Make A Difference Monday #3 (Gettin Our Al-Gore on)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUIpms3RVh0&feature=fvhl
namaste;
bodhi
.
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