Really…is all the medias focus on ‘ecoliving’ REALLY going to save the planet?
In Vancouver ‘EcoDensity’ is a catch phrase being used by our City. They want us to live in smaller places. Is more people in less space really the answer?
The term Eco is being bandied about by everyone. The media filled with ‘ban the plastic bags’ or ‘build a community garden.’
I do wonder. I wonder if it isn’t like the moral machines during WW2. In the UK they had people donate their ‘scrap’ metals…pots, pans etc., to ‘help’ manufacture more weapons and so on for the war effort.
The majority of this stuff just went into the junk heap. But it galvanized people and made them feel useful during a time of helplessness and fear.
I wonder if all our little efforts are really the same thing.
Especially when the bigger picture is so much more complicated.
Like this for instant.
Biofuel. The new way to save our cars. Except now it is starving people. And they say this is not just affecting those in the third world. This hits us too. And not just in the pocket book as costs of food rise..but in real shortages of basics as the producers of these grains turn to the more lucrative biofuel market.
Is this something in North America we have EVER imagined?
We have hybrid cars..but are they REALLY the answer…seems more like a faint nod in the right direction, especially after the demise of the far more sensible Electric Car.
Then we have the US Governments push for the Hydrogen Fuel. Why? Because the fossil fuel companies/gas companies could easily take this over as their own baby…leaving them to run the filling station and the processing and keep the money in THEIR pockets.
It has already been shown to be a totally impractical solution for keeping all our SUV’s on the road.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my big car. I love driving.
I hate transit. Especially in the lower mainland.
I am lazy and not doing my part….I will freely admit that.
I do recycle.
I do only wash with cold water.
I hang stuff to dry.
But I keep thinking that no matter what we all do on the small scale won’t trickle UP to the big boys…the governments, the business..the corporations that really run the world.
Where are the power companies answers to the problems. Why are we NOT using solar and wind power and water turbines…the technology is out there. But the big boys don’t use it.
Why?
I know I sound like a bit of a conspiracy theorist….but you gotta wonder.
I was watching a documentary where they were interviewing some of the THOUSANDS of American Troops coming home with missing arms, legs, eyes, etc.
Thousands.
For what. These young people went into a military for mostly good and honest reasons. They were sent into a totally constructed conflict. A war based on business.
They are coming home in bits.
For what? What are they fighting?
The word ‘Insurgent’ is used primarily to give us the impression that this is a conventional war with one ‘foe.’
But who are they fighting?
And while this goes on and on.
Billions spent. Lives destroyed. I am thinking of the civilians of Iraq. The people trying to feed their kids. And the troops coming back in bits and in body bags.
And while this goes on the airwaves, twitter, facebook, blogs etc, etc is FILLED with discussion about American Idol, The Bachelor, Big Brother…..etc.
The Democratic Race comes popularity and zeal AFTER the reality shows.
Admit it.
And in the meantime it all rolls on.
Canada said no to Iraq. We took on Afghanistan.
That place is a hell hole and a mess.
But I do believe that we need to be there. For the people.
We need to help them.
And then I suppose we will have to move on to the next mess. Darfur perhaps?
All these people. All these places. All the horror.
And we roll on here.
And I wonder what will be.
What world are our children going to be dealing with. How much worse can it really get?
zoeyjane says
do you read michael crichton? (not that you have lots of reading time available)
read state of fear. it’s basically convinced me of the overmarketing and fear-marketing that is global warming now. it’s got me still determined to use cloth diapers, yet no longer as concerned about my goddamn carbon footprint.
corgimom says
Good questions all. I worry for my son and he’s only three. I do think all the things being tried in alternative energy are worth trying and many will be worth expanding; not all of them will work. But our past approach to energy here in the U.S. would have analogous to everyone saying, “Well, Henry has invented The Car, no need to make a different sort of Car.” We’d all still be driving Tin Lizzies!
I do what I can and look for ways to do more–and refuse to worry or feel guilty that someone else is doing more.
corgimoms last blog post..And what a great trip it was!
SQT says
I think we let our fear get the better of us after 9/11 and we entered into a quagmire. But it’s not the first and it won’t be the last.
SQTs last blog post..Oh is this a lovely template or what?