Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterM
Carl,
I think the Earth and its oceans will live long, healthy and thrive regardless of anything we think can possibly do to it.
PeterM
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I hope you're right Peter, but there is a lot of evidence that the oceans are very sick, and not thriving at all, and we are looking at mass extinctions. I'm quoting from the reports I saw today, but they seem credible...
Maybe the problem is consumerism. For a corporation that sells goods to the public to be successful, it must sell more product. To sell, they create the illusion of need through advertising, and they are very clever. The ultimate success of say a computer company might be that everyone eventually owns one of their products. The drain on resources would be enormous, though.
By creating a sense of need and using various other subtle psychological ploys, the consumerism machine is fed as people are influenced by advertising, and so we consume. I know I'm exceedingly well off by world standards, even though I don't own a car, house or land. And I can't blame anyone from the less well off countries for aspiring to have what we take for granted. I'm going to make an effort to consume less, starting with trying to cut my meat consumption by at least 50%. Just little things, but I want to feel I'm doing something.
And if we have to pay $3.00 a litre for petrol, or double the price for electricity, that might make people think, not of the ecosystem but of their hip picket, which seems to be where a lot of people keep their brains and morals. I think it's inevitable that we will learn to consume less, the question is will we do it voluntarily or not, and how much damage will we cause along the way through ignorance and greed?
Stephen