Wind Turbines - Green or Greenwashing? What should NDP position be?

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Sun, 2010-05-02 19:32

Frustrated Mess Frustrated Mess's picture

Charter Rights wrote:

So we take on one issue enmasse one at a time and put consumer pressure on Big Corp Canada to start paying attention, warning that other Big Name Corps will be next.....

Ah but that is too much work....and we're here to play.....Maybe we'll just leave it for our kids to solve.

Post #100. That's about it.....

It really isn't that simple. Tommy and BG have a point that is supported by one of the most radical eco-writers I have ever read:

Quote:

WOULD ANY SANE PERSON think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday, or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons, or that dancing naked around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”?

Forget Short Showers: Derrick Jensen

Mon, 2010-05-03 00:50

#103

Mike from Canmore

I think environmental action is needed at both personal and large scale industrial levels. Part of the reason why so many of us do not see the need to regulate industry to be environmentally friendly is because we are so far removed from how things are made. When things are made locally you see how decisions impact the environment and society. We see problems better when they're close to home, when we are apart of the process, and when they begin to impact our quality of life. Wind turbines are removed from urban centers so they many urban dwellers don't see the problems with them. All the cheap crap at Wal Mart is made in foreign countries so we are not confronted by the poverty and exploitation of communities who make that crap "cheap." Our garbage gets carted away - we are not confronted on a daily basis with our wastefulness and the environmental devastation. If you want society to start taking responsibility and to start holding corporations to account than you need to restore the relationship between people and the land.

Mon, 2010-05-03 10:02

#104

Charter Rights

Society has been brainwashed to believe that global is more important than local or regional. That is just how big corporations like it since their entire objective is to exploit the source and maximize profits.

A simple refusal - with reasons offered to store clerks and managers - to purchase foreign, or corporate exploited products, would beginn to send the message. And if corporate Canada / USA doesn;t get that then at least we are all doing our part.

Mon, 2010-05-03 10:28

#105

Bubbles

Frustrated Mess wrote:

You see, that is my attitude with gas. It seems, as a culture, we embrace market economies without actually understanding the very basics of market economies, supply and demand, for example. So, why should I conserve gas when the yahoos in the ATVs or the fuckheads in the Hummers will gladly burn it? My conserving gasoline only helps to keep the price from rising as fast as it could for the yahoos and the fuckheads. Which goes to the argument of who supplies energy and how is it regulated? If we leave it to individuals, not only will some be deprived altogether, others, fuckheads, will use Hummers to commute and to visit the beer store.

That is why conservation fails as a voluntary policy. Because those who embarce it will always feels cheated by the fuckheads on whose behalf the world is seemimgly governed and wars are fought.

I know how you feel. That was how I felt about it also, but we have kids around us that learn from their parents and the people around them, I think we as individuals have an obligation to show by them by example that there are alternatives.

Mon, 2010-05-03 11:14

#106

Boom Boom

What little environmental impact the average citizen has will surely pale in comparsion to massive catastrophes like the Exxon Valdez, Persian Gulf, and now Gulf of Mexico oil spills. I saw on CBC this weekend that the Exxon Valdez disaster is still having an impact - 20 years later. And the impact on the environment from the average citizen also pales compared to the Alberta tar sands. Our focus should really be on the large scale polluters, and getting the toughest regulations possible in place.

Mon, 2010-05-03 11:24

#107

Catchfire

Closing for length. Please continue here.

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