Cook, cook, sizzle, sizzle.
An Opening Line ....
From today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
There is an article titled "Electric Supplies A Worry in West." Here is a quote that got my attention:
Phoenix added more people—and more air conditioners—than any other city in the country last year. As a result, on a typical 100-degree-plus summer day, Phoenix and surrounding cities now use more electricity than Manhattan.
This is typical of the paradox taking place around the world. This is important for all of us, so please read this carefully:
We are caught in a vicious cycle: Global Warming means more power (often from coal burning plants) for air conditioners. More air conditioners, and air conditioners working harder, means more power demand, and MORE Global Warming.
Now, add to this the craziness of rapidly developing cities in the desert, like Phoenix, where people use mass amounts of electricity so they can be cool and comfortable in their desert homes. If there are more "rolling blackouts," of course they will blame it on us evil environmentalists for making it difficult to build more coal plants.
Now, add to this the exploding U.S. and world population. The United States population was 177 million when I was born in 1960; now it's at 295 million. This means more cars, air conditioners, appliances, factories, etc... Many people just want to solve the problem by stopping immigration. But that is only a Band-aide solution to addressing the overall world population crises.
We humans are multiplying like crazy, pumping millions of tons of carbon into the sky, sucking up the world's resources, and doing things to our planetary home that may cause irreparable harm. Yet, even the most passionate environmental activists don't make the connection between babies and environmental ruin. I guess no one wants to be thought of as an extremist or weirdo. I mean, who wants to stand up at a public hearing and say, "Everyone needs to have fewer children, so that we don't have to widen roads, build more power plants, and destroy green space." While it makes perfect sense to me, many citizens and local politicians would freak out. "OH NO, you can't tell people how many children they can have. Why, why, that's just too personal." And sadly, the good Religious Conservatives want to cut off or restrict family planning funding and ban comprehensive sex education — it's almost as if they are condoning population growth when the Earth is already starting to crack under the pressure.
Will It Really Help?
While I love being in the environmental movement and I LOVE my fellow tree-huggers, I must admit that 95 percent of the issues we work on are responding to population growth. Right now my local Sierra Club Group is trying to stop some bad rezonings, trying to prevent a road widening, etc.. See, most of what we do is try to mitigate the impact of GROWTH. A fellow environmentalist contacted me today about two cell phone towers proposed for the Chattahoochee River Recreation Area. While that is a valid concern, it does point out something I see with a lot of my fellow Sierra Club members — they see their role as merely protecting public lands. So, when the rest of the country is completely packed with high-density developments, at least we will have a few small islands of green thanks to their good work. I'm not knocking the more traditional environmentalists, I'm just saying that you can protect your little park and win the battle, but we will all ultimately lose the war to save our Planet.
A Letter With Edge
I am a former member of Population Connection. I let my membership drop simply because I don't have the money to support all the worthy causes out there — I wish I did. Anyway, they sent me a really edgy letter and it's so good that I think I'm going to rejoin. Allow me to quote from Population Connection president John Seager:
Look at what's happening. Global warming threatens our very Planet. We're witnessing species extinctions not seen since the days of the dinosaurs. One billion people live on less than $1/day. Overpopulation kills 20,000 children every single day.
Today, we have a national government that denies science at every turn. George Bush has embraced the know-nothing crowd, a bunch that opposes sex education, wants to ban contraception, and believes in creationist nonsense.
Pretty ballsy, huh?
Word of the Day
I love this word. It is a major reason why we are in our current mess. We humans just like to pass on our way of living, even if it no longer works.
meme |mēm| |mim| |miːm|
noun Biology
an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation.
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