Environment and Reality, by Mike Gold – Braniac on Banjo #276 | @MDWorld
May 28, 2012 Mike Gold 3 Comments
People on both sides of the environment debate tend to take an absolutist view of the topic – either the world’s coming to an end and it’s probably too late, or everything is fine and there’s no proof we’ll kill off our kids before they can pay off the national debt.
Of course, both sides are full of it. Neither side is doing itself any good, and I suspect the “dialog” has evolved past the point of reasonable conversation. The way I see it, the issue of the environment is about something quite different from the apocalypse.
It’s about respect.
I no longer care who and/or what caused global warming or climate change or whathaveyou. It’s a stupid argument, and it diverts our attention from the problem. I no longer care about the melting ice caps and the ever-widening shipping lanes. I don’t care when the oil supply will run out. I don’t care about the liberal agenda, and I don’t care about the capitalist agenda. And I certainly do not care about what the religionists think about all this.
What do I care about? I am fully vested in a very conservative point of view. I care about conserving what’s left of the ecosystem, which as of this writing is still quite a bit. I care about restoring the planet’s health as we have traditionally defined that. I care about doing things in a logical, well-thought out scientific method-based manner that does no further harm.
I care about uniting as a people for our own survival.
I care about showing Earth the respect it deserves. It gives us life, and we owe it some respect.
If it’s a war, Earth is not going to lose. There’s no upset victory in the cards. I might not be inconvenienced much, and my daughter only somewhat. My hypothetical grandchildren will be inconvenienced a lot, and their kids will either be living in a low-budget version of Waterworld or will be killing each other over tubes of non-carbon SPF 5000. But within about a million years, Earth will pretty much look like it did a million years ago. Except Keith Richards will have a new album out.
This will happen unless we start showing the planet a little respect. There’s no time like the present.
Literally.
When not shopping for water-wings, Mike Gold performs the weekly two-hour Weird Sounds Inside The Gold Mind ass-kicking rock, blues and blather radio show on The Point, www.getthepointradio.com, every Sunday at 7:00 PM Eastern, replayed three times during the week (check the website above for times) and available On Demand at the same place, so listen to it already! He also joins Martha Thomases and Michael Davis as a weekly columnist at www.comicmix.com, where he pontificates on matters of four-color.
JosephW
May 28, 2012 - 12:04 pm
The one thing that’s sort of bugged me about the “conservatives” who seem to pooh-pooh the whole environmental/conservationist movement is the fact that this is a good way to make money (something I thought that the current crop of conservatives believed to be a good thing). But, no. Developing cheaper and more efficient solar panels or wind technology? Nope. It’s too costly and won’t bring in enough cash quickly enough. But spend a tens of millions of dollars in the HOPES that there’s a pocket of oil and natural gas 50 miles offshore in water that’s 350 feet below sea level and might last for 5 years of drilling? Sure, go for it. “Drill, baby, drill.” (And, of course, let’s get the “conservatives” in Congress to give us massive tax breaks before we even start looking so that, even if we don’t find enough to make back OUR costs, we’ll still make a massive profit and gouge the consumers. But–we’ll need to make sure that any efforts to promote hybrid cars or help states and communities develop non-oil-based energy programs get slashed because they’re “too expensive.”)
Doug Abramson
May 28, 2012 - 1:09 pm
What I find amazing is the number of GOP politicians that will call you a radical if you’re just concerned with clean air and water. These used to be Republican causes. After all Nixion signed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the EPA into law with bipartisan support. Of course Teddy Roosevelt was a huge proponent of setting aside tracts of wilderness as Federal lands and National Parks to protect them from over development and harvesting. He was obviously a commie.
R. Maheras
May 28, 2012 - 2:49 pm
The problem with extremists on either side is it’s their way or nothing.
You will NEVER see someone on the far left officially endorse ANY kind of drilling or mining of ANY type of fossil fuel.
Conversely, you’ll NEVER see anyone on the far right officially endorse ANY kind of environmental restrictions.
In that respect, both extremes are being unrealistic boobs.
Mike Gold
May 28, 2012 - 3:27 pm
Russ: Note paragraph two, line two, above.
Pennie
May 28, 2012 - 4:31 pm
Mike, I agree with everything you wrote. Insignificant as this may be in comparison to the blog’s main point, this made me grin: “But within about a million years, Earth will pretty much look like it did a million years ago. Except Keith Richards will have a new album out.”
Do the funky cockroach!
Mike Gold
May 28, 2012 - 6:50 pm
Pennie, I didn’t say Keith’s record would be any good.
We’ll never know.
Jeremiah Avery
May 29, 2012 - 8:18 am
I still like George Carlin’s take on environmentalists: “They’re just trying to make the world safe for their Volvos. The Earth is fine, the people are f**ked.”
Rick Oliver
May 29, 2012 - 10:33 am
As much as I dislike Pascal’s wager; this is a similar situation. The potential downside to acting like there is no problem when there actually is one is pretty severe, while the potential downside to acting like there is a problem when there actually isn’t one is that you’ll have to make some modest changes to your lifestyle that turn out to be unnecessary.
Mike Gold
May 29, 2012 - 12:00 pm
Yeah, Carlin was a much, much better writer than I’ll ever be. My whole piece could be summed up in those eight words.
Jeremiah Avery
May 29, 2012 - 12:24 pm
We could really use him nowadays. Truly missed.
If people focused more locally (park clean-ups, local recycling drives, etc.) I think that would make more of an impact. People seeing the benefits, both environmentally and financially, would possibly help with perceptions regarding that not everyone who wants to be able to breath without choking is some off-kilter weirdo.
Likewise, not everyone can afford to go out and buy a hybrid so it’d be a refreshing change if some of those who do own one would stop being sanctimonious and badmouthing someone who’s yearly income probably couldn’t pay to fuel the vehicle.
R. Maheras
May 29, 2012 - 12:44 pm
I’ve been waiting for my hydrogen car since the mid-1970s.
Then again, if all motor vehicles were hydrogen-powered, the large amount of added water vapor exhaust added to the atmosphere could increase global warming because water vapor is a much more potent greenhouse gas than is CO2.
And wind farms sounded great, until erected in great numbers. Now there’s some concern that they may actually change climate patterns by artificially moving air mass through non-traditional means — especially at night.
She-ooot! If it’s not one thing, it’s another…
Reg
May 29, 2012 - 3:06 pm
“She-ooot! If it’s not one thing, it’s another…”
Russ, those are extremely revealing examples of when ‘the best laid plans’ create more problems.’ I’m sure the ancient Atlanteans could relate.
Personally, I’m waiting for the fusion nut to be cracked.
Mike Gold
May 29, 2012 - 3:25 pm
Hydrogen is going to be a tough sell to some — “Oh, the humanities!” — but the only real solution is a comprehensive mix: wind, solar, hydrogen, hybrid, natural gas (is there an UNnatural gas?), nuclear (even though it pisses off the Paranoid Left) … the whole enchilada will be needed to meet global demands. We must also pay more attention to our habits: energy efficient appliances, keeping tires inflated (even though it pisses off the Rabid Right), city planning to minimize the need for car use — although that will, in part take care of itself: I strongly suspect we will have very few supermarkets and shopping malls by the mid-2020s
Every once in a while I whip out my digital copy of the Burnham Plan for Chicago, authored in 1909. It was a brilliant view of the city’s growing needs and how to build towards those needs. In turn, the city — commercial, civic, social — by and large rallied behind it and made that place one of the most efficient cities for decades to come. And, like all such plans, it wasn’t even fully implemented! Today, ALL cities need such a plan, along with the support needed from all aspects of the community to make it work. Combined with the whole enchilada noted above, we just might save the planet, the barons of commerce, and our lifestyle.
At least for a while. Before greed takes over. Fuckin’ Ayn Rand…
Fusion’s cool. Great Asian fusion joint near me.
Rene
May 30, 2012 - 5:19 pm
The environment is one of those left-wing causes that never much appealed to me, I have to confess. Perhaps because it’s one the causes where people on the Left are almost as annoying as the people on the Right.
Like, people that are opposed to genetic engineering on general principle, because “you don’t mess with Mother Nature”. And if you eat genetically modified food, you will develop some new kind of cancer, just because messing with nature will bring down the wrath of the Goddess on you, Mary Shelley-style. I just hate Luddites. It’s every bit as cowardly superstitious as Christianity.
Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t let the crazies poison the well. Environmental preservation is important and worthy fighting for, but I can’t stand being confused with those guys.
R. Maheras
June 1, 2012 - 9:27 am
We’ve been eating “genetically modified” food for thousands of years via cross-breeding, or cross-selecting certain types of food to enhance desirable characteristics.
The only difference today is the level of sophistication we have at our disposal. We can target certain characteristics directly and don’t have to wait for Mother Nature to do it for us.
And me, you’re damn right I’d love to see mammoths or giant sloths running around again. After all, it was our forefathers who killed them off in the first place.
Mike Gold
June 1, 2012 - 9:50 am
And just think of all the fuel we can make out of mammoth shit. Now THERE’s a solution we don’t see on the table. I blame it on that Steven Spielberg guy.