How the Rich are Destroying the Earth - book launch, co-sponsored by rabble.ca

57 posts / 0 new

Thu, 2008-11-06 14:51

Boom Boom

I have a corner of the house that has a square lot suitable for building an addition, I had considered a patio, may still do that, but I'd love an indoor pool instead. There are a few home owners here who have installed a hot tub, with the walls, ceiling, and floor well insulated, so as long as the room is kept at a temperature of say 65F year round, there is no need to heat the pool water - just has to be filtered.

When I lived on the island of Harrington Harbour, every home had a basement cistern usually made of one of those above ground pools, because the community water supply was very uneven. If a better water supply were made available on the island (at present it's a series of huge outdoor cisterns collecting rainwater) then those indoor cisterns could be made into hot tubs, for example. [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]

Wed, 2008-11-19 08:51

#53

George Victor

Michelle on How the Rich are Destroying the Earth:

In fact, I asked that very question at the reading, George. How do you get the ultra-rich to give it up without forcefully taking it from them?

His answer was through law and political will. He says that obviously Obama hasn't got the whole solution, but he's on the very start of the right direction by talking about raising the taxes of richest 2% of Americans.

He says that if enough people mobilize enough, the political will can happen to create laws that force the ultra-rich to share the wealth.

I'm not so sure about that, myself.

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I believe your skepticism is very properly placed. Whenever I see "political will" I think of others who have utilized "will", including the Austrian paper hanger...and in France, there was the elan vital of Henri Bergson . All very heady stuff and tending not to deal with the real material world.

Did your continued reading of the book clear this up, Michelle?

Wed, 2008-11-19 08:56

#54

Lard Tunderin Jeezus Lard Tunderin Jeezus's picture

I happened to read Kempf's book and Linda Mcquaig's "It's the Crude, Dude" back to back. Kempf's faith in democracy seemed naive, almost innocent, when considered in the light of Big Oil and Bushwars.

Fri, 2009-12-18 10:54

#55

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

[url=http://climateandcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/confrontingth... the Climate Change Crisis[/url] (24 pp.) would be an excellent place to start.

[url=http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1311]Savage Capitalism - the Ecosocialist Alternative[/url] is a good basic statement.

You could also read [url=http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/lifestyles-rich-and-shameless]Greg Palast's introduction to Hervé Kempf's book.[/url]

You may find some of [url=http://rabble.ca/babble/environmental-justice/john-bellamy-foster-does-i... Bellamy Foster's writings[/url] more accessible than Joel Kovel's book.

Fri, 2009-12-18 10:57

#56

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

Hugo Chávez is trying that approach.

Time will tell if it works.

The problem is that the question of force isn't entirely up to us. As Venezuela (and every other country where the rule of the plutocrats is challenged) has demonstrated, the ultra-rich, and even the just plain rich, will resort to violence to defend their privileges.