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Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:01:34 -0400
From: Anna-Maria Galante-Ward <•••@••.•••>
Subject: global warming: talk vs. action
To: •••@••.•••
Dear Richard Moore,
I'm sure your heart is in the right place upholding the spirit of
debate. But I want to lay my agenda open as a green activist.
(And you're welcome to post this to your group.)
I am a mom.
I don't see too many other moms cited on your list.
I'm a mom who happened to be trained as a science journalist.
If we can have acid rain, we can have global warming.
After 20 years of unsuccessfully being able to tell the global
warming story, Al Gore's movie was a relief. It was a relief for
someone to show average human beings the big picture. I sincerely
hope he's wrong.
But if he's right, and we don't do something about it, we're going to
regret it.
Because I care about the people who will come after me on this
planet, I'm for erring on the side of caution.
I don't care what's happening on the moons of Saturn. We're not
moving there anytime soon.
I care what's happening right here on Earth.
I am using every network connection, and every opportunity I have to
urge fellow citizens toward sustainability.
What we're talking about is the survival of our species.
The real danger is not global warming, but that we'll all accept it
as a "fact of life" and then forget to adapt to it.
If we don't adapt, the options for our species decrease. They sure as
hell don't increase.
So let's put our precious time and energy toward the best possible outcome.
We've already wasted 20 years yacking.
Let's get the troops out of Iraq.
And let's get the rest of you back down to earth.
She's got something to say to us.
After all, she's a mom.
Sincerely and with respect,
Anna-Maria Galante
facilitator,
Climate Action Now
Nova Scotia, Canada
"It's cold, and we like it that way."
"Windmills? Noisy? What about that freeway?"
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Hi Anna-Maria,
Many thanks for writing. I sense the concern and urgency in your
expression, and I can see you have a good grasp of the scope of our
predicament.
> But if he's right, and we don't do something about it,
we're going to regret it.
I agree. The question is what we can do that will make a difference.
What I've been arguing in my posts is that the actions being taken by
governments, and those proposed by Gore, will not make a difference,
and in many cases actually make the problem worse. More important,
such 'actions' may lull people into slumber, thinking the problem is
'being solved'.
> I am using every network connection, and every opportunity
I have to urge fellow citizens toward sustainability.
Yes, and I recycle, don't have a car, turn off lights, etc.
Unfortunately, none of these individual actions will make a
significant difference. It's a matter of transforming society's
infrastructures, food production, economic basis, etc. Unless we
achieve sustainability, as you suggest, then society remains
unsustainable, which means that more and more things will start
running out, including oil, food, energy, and yes, co2 absorption
capacity. Global warming is just one of the many consequences of
unsustainability. Even if we actually could deal with global warming
--perhaps a new technology that sucks co2 out of the air--we would
still be on the road to ruin from all the other consequences of
unsustainability.
> What we're talking about is the survival of our species.
Yes indeed. I agree. Being unsustainable is like being on a ship
heading toward the rocks. Slowing down the ship a bit will only delay
destruction for a while. The sum of all individual actions can only
amount to a bit of slowing down. In order to turn the ship onto a new
course, we need to transform the way in which decisions are made in
our society, abandon the agendas of economic growth and imperialism,
and devote our national resources and efforts toward developing
sustainable infrastructures, agriculture, etc.
There's a very inspiring documentary from Community Solutions, called
"How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" (http://www.communitysolution.org/cuba).
When the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba found itself overnight with 80%
of its exports terminated, and 80% of its oil imports ended. At the
same time the US increased its embargoes. There was no diesel for
tractors, and no money to import pesticides and fertilizers. Organic
farming was the forced option. Cuba was forced to learn how to become
sustainable, organic, and self-sufficient. Gardens sprung up
everywhere, millions of bicycles were imported from China, and people
began to cope in various ways. There was a very difficult period,
with not really enough food, and the topsoil had been ruined by
modern agricultural methods. But after about three years, Cuba had
made the transition to small-scale organic farming, use of oxen and
horses, greatly reduced energy consumption, etc. They are now better
off than they were with Soviet help, with better and more abundant
food, a healthier and more sustainable economy, and strengthened
communities.
The film suggests that all of us will be hit by peak oil sooner or
later, and it presents the Cuban story as a model of how one society
was able to adapt successfully to that situation. Grassroots
initiatives and creativity were very important in making the
transition, but equally important was the role of government.
Cooperation and self-help at the grassroots level played its part,
and overall coordination of national resources and agencies played
its part. The development of small-scale agriculture was central to
the transition, and that became possible because the government
provided land free of charge to any family or group that wanted to
start up a farming business. If they didn't follow up and farm, then
the land would be given to someone else. The small, private, farming
sector now thrives, with farmers being one of the best paid
occupations, and it operates much more efficiently than the previous
'modern' methods.
This is the scale of the prize upon which we must keep our eyes. We
can only move toward sustainability by making that our primary
national agenda, as citizens and as nations. None of our major
parties or candidates has any notion of such an agenda. They offer
token gestures, which might have some marginal benefit, while giving
their main priority to maintaining what they call economic growth.
The net agenda, regardless of which party is in power, accelerates
our ship of state on its way to the rocks.
There are no easy answers here. One can get a headache trying to
imagine how we might succeed in transforming our national priorities.
So far, we aren't even able to end a horrific war in Iraq, even
though almost everyone now seems to be against it. But if we take our
eyes off the prize, we will end up settling for rearranged deck
chairs, or to use your phrase, we'll be accepting destruction as a
"fact of life".
warm regards,
richard
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Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:20:21 -0800
From: X (also a mom)
To: Richard Moore <•••@••.•••>
[excerpted]
X forwarded>> "And a few days later, German Chancellor and G8
President Angela Merkel vowed to put climate change at the
top of the agenda for the G8 Leaders Summit."
rkm responded>> Scary. When these idiots say they're going to
do something about climate change, you can be sure it won't
be anything helpful.
Dear Richard,
I find your dialogue on climate change interesting, although I know
that there's been a lot of energy gone into climate change denial so
it generally feels like a positive thing for people to be taking it
seriously.
There is a real danger, I think, that some "cures" could only add to
our problems and that we will neglect some really important other
(often related) issues, in fixating ourselves on climate change.
Your dialogue is good in that it is not censored; you went ahead and
shared some of the scathing criticism people sent you. It's also good
in that it challenges orthodoxy, and "groupthink" orthodoxy" is
always something that humans are susceptible too.
Up till now I've been happy to work with the many people around me
whose efforts I respect on climate change and I'll continue to do so.
A lot of what we need to do would tend to decentralize governance,
energy systems and so on, and that is clearly beneficial not only in
terms of climate change... I'm curious to see how people will respond
to your suggestion that urging G8 leaders to do something about
climate change may actually be counter-productive.
... I, myself, would never refer to "these idiots", if only because I
really have not been following European politics and don't know if
they merit such a term. .Also, I do think we need to be wary of
writing off ideas just because of who puts them forward. .. We also
need to be wary of people co-opting legitimate concerns and terms and
using them to promote dangerous agendas. So, there's a tension there.
all the best, X
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Dear X,
Thanks for your thoughtful message.
G8 actions might not always be counter-productive, but lobbying the
G8 will not solve our problems, nor lead toward decentralized
governance. Indeed, in the course of 'taking action', the G8 is
likely to use that as an opportunity to increase global
centralization, further undermining national sovereignty, enhancing
corporate power, etc.. I call the G8 folks 'idiots' as an expression
of rage at their misuse of power, but in fact they are unfortunately
very clever. We can take some comfort from the fact that Russia is in
the G8, and Russia is increasingly taking an independent stand.
Yes, there are many considerations, and our principles are often in
conflict with one another. One must develop discernment in order to
understand what is right action for oneself in the midst of such
complexity. Part of discernment is having a sense of the big picture
of the situation. Another part is being able to think forward and
imagine the consequences of various action choices. My hope is that
the discussions we are having might be able to aid all of us in
increasing our discernment levels.
very best wishes,
richard
--
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