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Opinion
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Our Little Spaceship Is Under Attack
by Michael Atkinson
Politics are an elusive thing - mine run mostly to
environmental concerns. Our little spaceship is under attack.
Our life support systems are degrading. Someone has been
tinkering with the works.
We seem to be selling out our living space for short-term
economic return. The most blatant of these is illustrated by
recent news stories outlining the terms of the Kyoto Climate
Treaty, concerning the output of greenhouse gasses, rumored to
have no small effect on global warming. It seems that the
industrialized nations, obviously the greatest producers of
greenhouse gasses, have decided it is not in their bottom-line
interests to reduce the emissions. One headline reads: U.S.
wants to cut costs of obeying climate treaty, and goes on
to outline a policy of 'pollution credits trading'. This would
consist of buying clean air credits from non-polluting
countries so that the real culprits can continue to pump out
gasses at current levels and beyond. This seems to be cheaper
in the short run and less disturbing to shareholders than
putting the dollars into long-term cleanup. Never mind that
the polar ice caps are melting and polar bears are dying from
reduced habitat - bears don't vote or buy stock.
To me, the root of the problem is two-fold: growth and
absentee ownership. Growth should become a dirty word - more
along the lines of something cancerous rather than
economically desirable. Our entire economic system is
predicated on it and we obviously cannot sustain it forever.
The most succint author I have seen on this subject is Professor
Albert A. Bartlett at the University of Colorado. His
paper titled 'The Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy
Crisis' was one of the first I read. While the title would
lead one to think it is about the oil 'shortage' in the
seventies, it is actually much broader than that. I think
Professor Bartlett might be happy to provide a copy if you
sent him an email at Albert.Bartlett@Colorado.EDU
and requested it. Imagine, Japan is now so concerned about
growth that they are encouraging population growth (primarily
through reproduction, but also, reluctantly, through
immigration) because their economy is starting to slide due to
a lack of growth in consumer markets. And here I thought that
zero population growth in that tiny island nation was good
news. Little did I know.
On the subject of absentee ownership and corporate greed I
can only refer one to David
Korten, and his book 'When Corporations Rule the World'.
Examples are legion of the excesses committed in the name of
appeasing the shareholders, from oil leases to corporate
logging to grazing to mining leases. Take a look at what the
Peabody Coal Company has done to the mesas in Northern
Arizona, and what is happening to the Diné People because
Peabody wants more coal. Research the vast amounts of water
that Peabody is pumping out of the only aquafer in the area to
slurry the coal to the railhead for shipment to the power
plants lighting Las Vegas.
The subject of water is a contentious one here in the arid
West. I am amazed at the damage done to the lands in the West
in the name of water projects to support growth in this area.
The building of Glen Canyon Dam comes to mind. To get an
inkling of what was lost there, I suggest Katie Lee's book, 'All
My Rivers are Gone'. For a broader picture, read Marc
Reisner's 'Cadillac Desert'.
So I spend a lot of time out backpacking in the remaining
'rock and ice' wilderness, where I find the most incredible
scenes - vast sweeps of mountain and forest, and Mother
Nature's intimate little still lifes of rocks and plants. It's
definitely shrinking, and I hope that it will still be there
for my children to tramp around in and marvel at.
--- Visit Michael's website at http://www.mlatkinson.com/brew.
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