oh Lloyd, given you've avoided Cross Country Checkup your entire life, you just haven't kept up with how callers are screened. Cranks don't really ever get through, unless they have a reasoned argument, at which point, they aren't really cranks spouting clichés and other crankinesses.
I listed to CCC on Sunday, the two hours occuring between Kamloops to Revelstoke: small car, with dogs, lots of food, etc -- all impossible by air, by ebike, by foot, by train as the train no longer does this route. Almost everyone who called in tried to limit their footprint, their consumption, their waste, their plastic, but sometimes -- well, most of the time actually -- it is impossible. Manufactured products and food are always wrapped in plastic. Most of us can't actually afford to buy a heat pump no matter how much their price has gone down. I don't buy any products these days, just food in its raw state; I make everything: clothes, dog food and still find it hard to get by. This seemed to be a common refrain on Sunday.
Your stats that you didn't get a chance to air, seem incredibly rosy. The callers to the radio program kept pointing out the gap between the desire to do the right thing, and the real, on the ground, difficulty in doing so.
Despite being an overused cliche, "actions speak louder than words" is an idea to be encouraged. The e-cycle boom looks like a great example. Reducing by 1% the world's oil consumption is not something to ignore. Hopefully the savings are not lost when you do a full life cycle analysis of their production and use when compared to ICE vehicles. Acknowledging personal responsibility is also something we need to spend a lot more time discussing and promoting. As much as it may seem that we are letting the corporate world off the hook in some way by focusing on our own actions I argue that we are not. These are not mutually exclusive things. By accepting our personal role in the crises we empower ourselves to act in a truly meaningful way that has concrete and immediate results. At scale the results can be astonishing. Taking personal responsibility and changing our behavior does not mean that we have to give corporate leaders a free ride. In fact, if we are diligent in taking both actions simultaneously it is likely that the sum of what we will accomplish will exceed greatly that which me might achieve by focusing all our energy in one direction or the other. There is no greater incentive to a seller of goods or services to improve, or even stop making, a product than consumers' collective decisions to stop buying products as they are now sold or at all. They will try desperately to keep you buying while changing nothing or little beyond their marketing pitch but if we who are the world's wealthiest and greediest consumers each work hard to suppress the insatiable part of our brain that, as an unfortunate by-product of our evolution in a world of scarcity, cries incessantly for more we can change everything. By constantly reminding the reasoning part of our brain that we will not starve if we spend time thinking hard before buying, that it is ok to burn fuel in the exercise of reason real progress is possible. Don't kid yourself, it is hard work and you will be fighting with yourself over it until you drop dead. You will have to knock down repeatedly the internal propaganda machine of your primitive brain that tells you that separating your recyclables or buying the slightly more fuel efficient SUV or whatever other BS story it conjures up lets you off the hook for the all the other crap you do that is killing the planet But it is possible and every time you make the effort you increase the chances you will make the effort again tomorrow and, with a little luck, reap the eternal gratitude of the future.
Beware of lists of actions that are loaded with actions of relatively minimal consequence, distracting attention from the actions responsible for the vast majority of our greenhouse gas emissions.
Consumers (individuals, organizations, businesses, governments) must promptly minimize their greenhouse gas emissions to bridge the gap while we work on long-term green technology and infrastructure. Less heating and less cooling (none between 13C-30C/55F-85F, https://greenbetween.home.blog). Less driving. Less flying. Less meat-eating. Less population growth (2 children max).
Great article. Everything I've been saying for the past 30 years or so.
And I have (really Brent Burns (not the hockey player) does) to promote shopping at second hand stores... https://youtu.be/LzS2cLJSCmw?si=zF0V6f3k3LC48WHP (if it doesn't show just click on the youtube button cause youtube and I have not been getting along to well the last few weeks).
Consuming less while maintaining a disconnected relationship with Earth and the web of life will only go so far. At the heart of the matter is our relationship with our kin whom we share this planet with. If you still see a forest as board feet and fibre, or a mountain rich in copper as a resource to be extracted for human need and greed, has anything really changed? Or have we just slowed down the rate of consumption?
oh Lloyd, given you've avoided Cross Country Checkup your entire life, you just haven't kept up with how callers are screened. Cranks don't really ever get through, unless they have a reasoned argument, at which point, they aren't really cranks spouting clichés and other crankinesses.
I listed to CCC on Sunday, the two hours occuring between Kamloops to Revelstoke: small car, with dogs, lots of food, etc -- all impossible by air, by ebike, by foot, by train as the train no longer does this route. Almost everyone who called in tried to limit their footprint, their consumption, their waste, their plastic, but sometimes -- well, most of the time actually -- it is impossible. Manufactured products and food are always wrapped in plastic. Most of us can't actually afford to buy a heat pump no matter how much their price has gone down. I don't buy any products these days, just food in its raw state; I make everything: clothes, dog food and still find it hard to get by. This seemed to be a common refrain on Sunday.
Your stats that you didn't get a chance to air, seem incredibly rosy. The callers to the radio program kept pointing out the gap between the desire to do the right thing, and the real, on the ground, difficulty in doing so.
Despite being an overused cliche, "actions speak louder than words" is an idea to be encouraged. The e-cycle boom looks like a great example. Reducing by 1% the world's oil consumption is not something to ignore. Hopefully the savings are not lost when you do a full life cycle analysis of their production and use when compared to ICE vehicles. Acknowledging personal responsibility is also something we need to spend a lot more time discussing and promoting. As much as it may seem that we are letting the corporate world off the hook in some way by focusing on our own actions I argue that we are not. These are not mutually exclusive things. By accepting our personal role in the crises we empower ourselves to act in a truly meaningful way that has concrete and immediate results. At scale the results can be astonishing. Taking personal responsibility and changing our behavior does not mean that we have to give corporate leaders a free ride. In fact, if we are diligent in taking both actions simultaneously it is likely that the sum of what we will accomplish will exceed greatly that which me might achieve by focusing all our energy in one direction or the other. There is no greater incentive to a seller of goods or services to improve, or even stop making, a product than consumers' collective decisions to stop buying products as they are now sold or at all. They will try desperately to keep you buying while changing nothing or little beyond their marketing pitch but if we who are the world's wealthiest and greediest consumers each work hard to suppress the insatiable part of our brain that, as an unfortunate by-product of our evolution in a world of scarcity, cries incessantly for more we can change everything. By constantly reminding the reasoning part of our brain that we will not starve if we spend time thinking hard before buying, that it is ok to burn fuel in the exercise of reason real progress is possible. Don't kid yourself, it is hard work and you will be fighting with yourself over it until you drop dead. You will have to knock down repeatedly the internal propaganda machine of your primitive brain that tells you that separating your recyclables or buying the slightly more fuel efficient SUV or whatever other BS story it conjures up lets you off the hook for the all the other crap you do that is killing the planet But it is possible and every time you make the effort you increase the chances you will make the effort again tomorrow and, with a little luck, reap the eternal gratitude of the future.
Beware of lists of actions that are loaded with actions of relatively minimal consequence, distracting attention from the actions responsible for the vast majority of our greenhouse gas emissions.
Consumers (individuals, organizations, businesses, governments) must promptly minimize their greenhouse gas emissions to bridge the gap while we work on long-term green technology and infrastructure. Less heating and less cooling (none between 13C-30C/55F-85F, https://greenbetween.home.blog). Less driving. Less flying. Less meat-eating. Less population growth (2 children max).
Great article. Everything I've been saying for the past 30 years or so.
And I have (really Brent Burns (not the hockey player) does) to promote shopping at second hand stores... https://youtu.be/LzS2cLJSCmw?si=zF0V6f3k3LC48WHP (if it doesn't show just click on the youtube button cause youtube and I have not been getting along to well the last few weeks).
Consuming less while maintaining a disconnected relationship with Earth and the web of life will only go so far. At the heart of the matter is our relationship with our kin whom we share this planet with. If you still see a forest as board feet and fibre, or a mountain rich in copper as a resource to be extracted for human need and greed, has anything really changed? Or have we just slowed down the rate of consumption?