I found out about Blog Action Day while reading Chris Garrett’s blog on New Media (which is on my watch list, for good reason.)
I have to admit that most of the memes that travel through the network of blogs leave me… underwhelmed. But, this one inspired me.
You see, I read an article recently, and gosh I can’t remember where I read it… Ode Magazine?… or somewhere else… (Once I describe the article below, if you know about it, let me know where it is so I can cite it.)
Anyhoo, the article reminded us that when the US entered WWII there was an overnight massive retooling of all industry. Within days and weeks factories that had been producing, for instance, women’s lingerie started turning out combat helmets and flak jackets. Ordinary citizens donated their car bumpers for scrap metal for the war effort.
The point was: it’s this kind of massive retooling that is needed to keep the planet from becoming largley uninhabitable by us humans as well as the many, many other species.
This isn’t about ‘global warming.’ People can still argue that back and forth, but basically, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring I think told us all we need to know about how dangerous the industries are that support our lifestyle. For me, the fact that soil depletion through industrial farming techniques has reduced the amount of nutrition in the food we grow by over 70% is as loud and clear as you can get.
We can’t even feed ourselves, folks.
Now, I know this is just a blog, and we’re just talking. I have no idea what it will take to create the massive retooling and redirection like the US, and others, did for WWII. We can do it. We have the technology, we have the know-how, we have the resources.
We just aren’t making the choice, as a society.
Any ideas on how to make that choice? Would you give up your car bumper for the “war” effort?
4 Responses
I’m only just learning the very tip of what there is that we need to know about this stuff but from what I understand we have to use a multi-pronged attack on the problem; education, government, commercial, ….
Is it “the corporation” film where they say the reason big business pollute is because it is commercially the “best” decision and to be ethical would actually work against the shareholders? It seems because the fines are so low, and so unlikely, the factor them in to the cost of business. If it was made expensive for them to pollute then they would find a more cost effective process.
We incentivise business to kill the planet by our actions. We buy from polluting companies and don’t ask questions. We elect people who don’t care, or care more for lobby money than the environment.
It’s true, Chris. A lot of the costs for pollution are externalized. If corporations and consumers actually had to pay the cost of cleanup that is passed on to governments, or not dealt with, many of our products would cost many, many times more.
For instance, they’ve been trying to get hydrogen-powered fuel cells to be competitive with fossil fuels, and they are getting close. What’s even more amazing is to realize that the fossil fuel industry is subsidized, because they don’t pay for their own clean-up costs, and so hydrogen fuel actually costs much, much less.
Same with concepts behind “green” taxes that you mention, which work tremendously well when they are actually imposed.
You might want to pick up a copy of Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest or his The Ecology of Commerce: A declaration of sustainability which provides a lot of facts and information around these topics.
Thanks for dropping by!
Hi Mark… lots of us are posting… a favorite resource of mine is Native Energy… that’s where I bought myself carbon neutral for the year.
http://www.nativeenergy.com/
Thanks…
Great! And thanks, Anne- I appreciate the link. After I teach (and see you at) The Path to Profitability Retreat I’ll check it out more thoroughly. Maybe you could post that link in The Business Oasis for the community.