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Post by red on Jan 24, 2007 16:00:37 GMT -5
I thank gpickle for his initiative in getting this new section started. It is about time a distinction is made between bicycles that replace a motor vehicle and bicycles that dangle from the back of one! I have never done anything spectacular with my bicycle. I had never done anything spectacular with my car either, when I owned one. I used to drive to work, the grocery store, the hardware store etc.; I now ride to those places. This may sound unimpressive, but still, it saves a few tons of carbondioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year, saves all the energy that would have gone into the production and operation of a car, improves my health and happines, saves me a lot of money, enhances the quality of life in my community and I get to eat more cookies and ice cream without getting too fat! Now, that's impressive. -  |
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Post by red on Feb 3, 2007 22:10:09 GMT -5
This is my first car-free winter in Iowa City and the weather has been somewhat trying during the past week or so. However, seeing several bicyclists each time I ride to town at near-zero temperatures and the tire tracks left by still more in the snow or in the after-snow has been a great encouragement and I have been able to ride on, despite the new and strange way, in which my lungs have been hurting. I may be a dreamer and then some, but evidently, and happily, I am not the only one. I thank thee, my fellow riders; I am honored to leave my humble tracks next to yours. - |
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Post by gpickle on Feb 19, 2007 22:59:27 GMT -5
Reading the New York Times online I came across an article about these carbon offset companies and how happy they are making polluters everywhere. It made me have one of those, "If you REALLY want to save the world you have to kill yourself", moments. The carbon offset business is really taking off and it promises to alleviate the agonizing guilt that people feel when driving their gas guzzling car/truck to the mall to buy stuff that was made of petroleum in China. It works like this. After you do something you send a business (the NYT looks at Climate Care, Inc) money which they use to save the world by planting trees or donating high efficiency lightbulbs to poor people or something. Then the diety of your choice will come back and we all take our clothes off and nobody is ever sad again! Yeah! I think I'll pollute even more! Thanks carbon offset, Inc!
So, the trouble is that just like wars in distant lands and keeping your drivetrain clean, IT DON'T WORK! And even worse, it just might make things worser! First off these businesses ENCOURAGE pollution by telling folks they can buy their way out. Second, the things they do to offset the emissions are ineffective. The trees need lots of care in order to become big CO2 suckers and some of them die before they get to the point of proper suck. Consider this, stolen from the NYT:
The reality, said Jutta Kill, a climate campaigner at Fern, an organization monitoring the carbon market, is that villagers living along the boundary of the park have been beaten and shot at, and their livestock has been confiscated by armed park rangers because of disputes over ownership of the land.
So there you go, polluter, feel no guilt about poor people in Uganda being assaulted on your behalf! Climate Care, Inc is even partnering with Land Rover if you can believe that (I almost had a hemorrhage when I read this - I could feel the strain behind my eyes) to offset the first 45,000 miles driven! Maybe if folks keep track of how many rabbits, squirrels, deer, kids, etc are lost under their massive tires squish Climate Care could start a cloning program to replace them! Yeah!
gpickle
car-free yet still caring
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Post by red on Feb 20, 2007 0:30:45 GMT -5
Cheer up, gpickle! I think this is good news. Remember, it used to be "What do you mean 'the environment'?" Then, it became "I love my truck and to hell with the environment." It is a huge step toward conservation, if these people have started to feel guilty about driving gas-guzzling vehicles. I do not think any informed environmentalist is giving any money to the carbon-offset companies or is starting to drive a Land Rover because of the carbon-offset promotion. I also do not think that these companies can divert much money from established, legitimate environmental organizations. If these companies are "taking off," then there must be a large number of newly-converted environmentalists, who, as of yet, do not know very well what to do about their growing concerns and are ripped off by these companies. The fact that there are now bogus environmental organizations, just like there always have been bogus charities and churches, is an indication that more people are willing to support environmental causes, which attracts these pests. Keep in mind that it is absolutely voluntary to donate money to the carbon-offset companies. Therefore, do not be discouraged to see an illiterate pick up a romance novel at the grocery store. Instead, be happy for him, pat him on the back and show (and shove) him the way to the library. - |
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Post by gpickle on Feb 20, 2007 9:50:02 GMT -5
Don't misunderstand, I love the attention environmental issues are getting but I hope that the attention will lead to meaningful action, not clever marketing schemes to designed to make yet another buck as our planet and all its inhabitants suffer. According to the NYT article in 2006 110 million was doled out to the Climate Care Inc's of the world, just another case of consumer culture.
Yesterdays Daily Iowan had another fine example of businesses jumping on the Green Bandwagon of Profits with a full color glossy insert from the good folks at TARGET pointing out to college students that walking or skateboarding or biking are much cheaper and better for the participant and the world than driving or even taking the bus. Thats swell, but the very same insert also pointed out that your dormroom is looking "So 2006" and you should get to TARGET asap to buy a bunch of new "hip" junk because you care about the world and stuff, apparently. Am I bitter and jaded? You bet I am and it is going to take more than people just beginning to realize that there is a problem and starting to feel guilt for my feelings to change. I need to see some action already!
gpickle
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Post by chenshui on Jun 23, 2011 1:58:10 GMT -5
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