environmentalism etc.....

in conversation the other day with a friend of mine`s daughter, she expressed her desire to help save the world in a number of ways. this position is admirable if not misguided, but when espoused by someone who holds themselves out as intelligent, educated and reasonable bothers me for a number of simple reasons.

firstly, the world needs no saving.

it may become incapable of sustaining life as we know it at some point, but there is very little we can do to effect change on this giant cooling ball of molten iron spinning through the vacuum of space.

secondly, she said she wants to build a home that will do less to damage the environment.

i told her not to build a new one at all, but to apply her own strategy and recycle.

buy an old one.....

her ego couldn`t get around that one.

if we stop building new homes and new cars and recycle the old ones, we would do a significant amount to reduce the stress that making things causes.

but we would lose jobs....but that`s a seperate issue.

the girl`s really just another consumer in disguise, needing a high moral position to justify her need to have a new car and a big new (morally sound) home.

thirdly........we are buying bigger cars again because we need safe comfortable trasportation for our families. would you want the wife and kids in a "smart" car racing trucks at 70 mph on the highway?

i didn`t think so.

and how do we reduce the amount of cars on the road.

stop living in suburban ghettos miles from shops and schools.

live closer to things and walk or take the bus.

if you care to reduce the use of things.

otherwise stop fooling yourself into thinking that you want to save the world to justify your consumer choices.

what you really want is a high paying job in the emerging green industry, and you will probably get there once you get your mba and your doctorate in environmental politics.

and one day we`ll have this conversation again.