a *greater* GAS OUT

Date: Sat, 08 May 1999 09:20:24 -0300
To: Paul A Falvo <pfalvo@chebucto.ns.ca>, Sustainable Maritimes <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
From: Tom Daly <tomd@auracom.com>
References: <Pine.GSO.3.95.iB1.0.990428190033.19772A-100000@halifax.chebucto.ns.ca>
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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At 07:54 AM 30/04/99 -0300, Paul A Falvo wrote:

> it mystifies me to hear environmentalists stick up for cars
>-- one of the biggest environmental problems on the planet. I mean, using
>them is one thing ... but why go to lengths to defend them?

because it's more responsible to have reached a defensible personal
philosophy and be prepared to stand by it than to bury head in sand and
continue use without thought

>More to the point, why does encouragement of environmentally-responsible
>transport meet with resistance? 

It doesn't.  Encouragement of ideals which are not practical, realistic and
applicable for the majority of people does.

>My quality of life is
>damaged by the actions of others, and I'm not happy about it. >:-(

Your quality of life is also created by the actions (and decisions) of
others.  You don't seem too disturbed about that.  I admit, however, that
I'm working on an assumption here that you are typing on a keyboard made by
the same environmentally destructive petrochemical process that mine was,
sold by the same transnational marketing conglomerates dependant on abused
Third World labour to assemble the components, powered by electricity
produced by heavily polluting fossil fuel, massively environmentally
destructive hydro dams, or (worst of all) the nuclear process, and
distributed through wires made of copper mined in some foreign equivalent
of Sysco.  Have you done an inventory of the sources and processes of
production of each element comprising the shelter in which you live?  Are
you warm in the winter and where does that heat come from?  Is the paper
you write on, the books you read, the pamphlets you hand out- not produced
by the same rapacious pulp empire that mine comes from?  The food you eat,
the clothes you wear- all originate in organic ethically pure production
within walking distance (but not on roads or paths whose construction
affected anyone's habitat) ?

>Moreover, i think i have a moral obligation to speak up for all that is
>defenceless and voiceless ... the critters that lose their homes to
>habitat destruction for road-building, and the irreplaceable ecosystems
>that are destroyed for the sake of gas production ... the list goes on. 

then you should also accept the moral responsibility to analyze your own
position in that production and consumption continuum and disengage
yourself from participation in it before pointing any fingers.  Ultimately,
I would suggest that standing outside naked, not moving for fear of undue
interference in 'natural processes', and unable to communicate beyond
shouting distance is not really where you would like to go.

>So i stand by my original suggestion urging people to try and go without
>using gas one day per year. Maybe even make a habit of it ... walk, bike,
>public transit ... even carpool if you must.

And of the 25-odd million people in this country, for how many are these
choices Available? Applicable? Practical?  Where does your information come
from?  I know for sure that none work for me.  My work is a 260k daily
round trip, so walking and biking are not an issue, there is no public
transit, and carpooling makes no sense because I need to move around during
the day, and work between one and four evenings a week.  

Utopian idealism is a wonderful internal personal goal.  Encouraging
practical, realistic, and widely applicable alternatives is something
entirely different.

$.02

TomD

	I must confess that I know nothing
	whatsoever about true underlying reality,
		never having met any.
		     - Edward  Abbey




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