By: Corrina

Corrina — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:36:39 +0000

I forgot about the facebook aspect to this blog, and completely agree with you on this one, im one of those idiots that used to play greenpatch or eco apps that planted trees to save the planet, its only when a friend point out that i was consuming vast amounts of energy on my computer (that were contributing to the problem) in order to solve it, that i realized what a hypocrite i was to be playing them, ive since deleted those stupid apps, to encourage me to spend less of my life looking at a screen and spend more time in conversation, socialising, reading, art, anything more productive. I do like facebook but hate the way its a social site that encourages unsocialness. My friend changed his staus recently to something along the same argument, about how people should stop joining groups and go and do something pro-active. i actually came across a book once called the armchair environmentalist, saving the world without making the effort! I thing i will say in argument for some of these groups is that they do raise awareness, and though some people join groups for the sake of it or to appear an ‘eco-warrior’ to others, it does pass the message on and encourages people to actively do something by saying that there are others who do care about these causes and all is not lost. Or someone might think my friends are all into this cause or have joined this group and theres obviously a reason why so maybe i should pay more attention to it. They may not fully understand the importance of some of these issues but you’ve got to start somewhere. But then your right we dont want to turn consumer sheep into eco sheep we want people to think for themselves and consider these things off their own back, so i’m definately with you on this one.
Look what youve made me do kieran my rants almost as long as yours! I’m going to switch this stupid machine off now, come see me soon and we can have a proper face to face debate lol x

By: corrina

corrina — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:14:38 +0000

I havent read it all yet, but you’ve got a pretty good argument. I happen to like the sight of windmills, but dont agree they can do much good on a large scale particulary if you consider the energy used in the production, maintenance etc… though on a small scale windturbines/farms and solar panels can help commnunities become more self-sufficient and able to live a little more off-grid. i think you’ll like this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8257153.stm a malawi boy who built a windturbine out of junk to provide energy for his village. turbines can help provide energy but isn’t the sole answer, and somewhere along the line its large corporations that are making the money out of the production of them. I did once find a good video demonstrating how you can make your own solar panels recycling old bits of materials such as blacklight tubes. I am partially for turbines they look better then electricity pylons but can also harm wildlife and wouldnt want them in national parks. maybe people just like the hope that they wont have to reduce there own energy consumption. or maybe its about uniting all those who have green views who want to at least try at making a difference. maybe it is about how people want to be seen i know many people who are anal about recycling but still buy overly packaged food from evil supermarkets like tescos, the answer isnt just recycling but reducing consumption in our ridiculous consumer culture. certain plastics for example get sent all the way to china so yeah there being recycled but there causing damage in other ways.
maybe rather than just thinking world-wide or nationally we should be thinking on a local scale. if each city or area grew its own food, cloth and products we would reduce the need for transportation and therefore energy used. Self sufficiency is part of the answer. If they integrated gardening, cooking, sewing, diy etc into schools we could grow our own, cutting the need for transportation and packaging in the first place, if everyone could make there own clothes we could recycle fabrics and garments and not have to rely on sweatshops and highstreet stores, in fact if we were taught many of the traditional skills that have been lost over generations and eras we could do away with the big corporations and companies that contribute so much towards energy consumption in the first place. plus if we were more self sufficient as such we wouldnt need these horrible companies to provide jobs for us, and we wouldnt have to rely on the convience of having people do things for us. the amount of times ive listened to people with well paid full time jobs say they dont have the time to be green, is ridiculous.If we had to live off the land and provide for ourselves people would understand exactly how much energy it actually takes to make products, and maybe become more in touch and reliant on our land and nature and would appreciate and want to protect it. The problem is sitting in our warm heated houses with every appliance avaliable people are too shut off from the outside world to really appreciate how important it is plus people are too selfish. the modern world is about individual and the ego and less and less about communities who work together and support each other.
i dont have a garden to grow my own food and theres a long list of people waiting for allotments, but i would if i could, i buy from local grocers off the market to support the small local buisness, rather than greedy chains. I hardly ever buy new clothes, i buy select items which i lovingly wear till there covered with holes and ripping at the seams and then i patch them up or recycle the fabric into clothes, cushion covers, patchwork throws. i guess im also lucky in that im small and slim enough to receive everyone else’s hand-me downs. Ive received snobby responses to this but there clothes they do the job they keep me covered lol.
Public tansport could be improved and made cheaper reducing the traffic in congested areas, or people could use there feet, many people drive to places that are in walking distance, its why i never desired to drive, its makes people lazy, and i know you kieran are one of those people who use cars for unnecery transport through your city. though i spose when you do walk your breathing in polluted air ie car fumes which isnt healthy either. Sorry ive gone off on a tangent but i guess my argument is to not just to look for alterate ways to produce energy so that our sickening wasteful and consumerist economical culture can continue to thrive, but to take a harsh look at our own lifestyles and consumption, if we all did a little we could make a big difference. If were going to fight against climate change we need to create a shift in society, and start thinking for ourselves rather than leave the world in the hands of those that abuse it.
In relation to the nuclear power argument – im not so sure, you argued you thought turbines were ugly and yet so are these. think about the raw materials used, the cost and the waste, at some point more energy will be used in extraction than will be provided. they extract urianium ores and at some point in the future we will have the problems we have now all over again – we will be diminshing resources. though i cant find the source for this next point, i read that many rely on cool waters from rivers etc in the production, and as climate change increases so are the water temperatures and 20 yrs down the line the power stations will be unusuable. I agree with your argument against wind turbines but fail to see how this is any different, to me its just another goverment strategy to say ‘keep on consuming and providing us with money,as we’ll use technology and resources to save the world in order for us to continue our bad habits’. the goverment come up with these targets to make people believe they are actively trying to conserve our environment, our world and i dont believe they really give a shit, if they did they wouldnt of created a consumerist and reliant culture in the first place. Lets stop relying on them to create new technologies and solutions for us and start working towards the cause ourselves. Its not there sole responsibilty, we inhabit this earth, we add to the problem its our responsibilty, and its our own fault were in this situation in the first place, the majority of problems in this world we have created. im almost tempted to agree on the idea that if climate change continued and eventually wiped out humanity that it would be a good thing, the earth would grow, adapt and evolve like it has many times over, but without us to destroy and harm it. Not that i really do want the human race to die out, i enjoy life, but im just pointing out that we are the problem and that if we continue to harm mother earth then maybe we desrve the consequencies that follow.

Comments on: Environmentalism on Facebook

By: Corrina

By: corrina