EnviroLink Forum

Hi everyone! I'm just an average working guy with a family, and no advanced education, who has only developed an understanding of climate and environment issues during the last 10 years. Prior to that, I was pretty conservative in my thinking on most issues, and a lot of my resistance to manmade global warming was due to the fact that the carbon problem is not going to have an easy quick fix like the aerosol problem a couple of decades ago.

I think that's why a lot of people on the right, who are strongly attached to laissez-faire economic theory started becoming more resistant to global warming in the last 20 years. If it was just a matter of switching from oil to some already available (and cheap) energy source, there would be no Koch Brothers, related oil barons, and their assorted disinformation campaigns. BP already took a look at going green ten years ago and decided there was no money in it (or at least not as much as oil) and decided to double down and just drill deeper...like in the Gulf of Mexico for example.

But, I am not only skeptical about dirty energy industries; my skepticism also includes what is being called now "Big Green" or Green Capitalism. Can we keep running economies based on a capitalist model, or any other market-driven economic model and still reduce carbon emissions? Not to mention deal with the other related problems of capitalism's need for endless growth like resource depletion, topsoil erosion, declining availability of fresh water? I don't see it as a possibility, especially when our growth-dependent economies are combined with a global population that is much larger than can be supported without oil-based industrial agriculture.

So, what are the solutions? And is it possible to achieve any meaningful results in time, considering how many people will resist even slight changes to the way we do things now? I have spent too much time arguing with rightwingers that I used to be allied with, and want to spend a little more time reading what others have to say who are at least onside with environmental issues...and that's why I'm here.

welcome to the forum
I feel that leftist thinking is actually the source of much of the problem but also the creation of corporations by giving them the rights of a human (can own land and have bank accounts for example). Before these two developments, businesses remained local and remained subservient to the humans who fund and profit from the business. Taxes are only needed for the socialist idea that governments need to provide care for the people in trouble. I am all in favor of laws to prevent the unfair exploitation of people but feel the best way to help a person is let them start their own business. Government red tape and tax forms are what keep most people from starting small businesses... that should not be the case. The change from people growing their own food and making their own money at home to living in suburbs and driving miles to occupy skyscrapers and huge factories is a new thing and accounts for much of our society's energy use and pollution. There is a new movement that I am getting involved with: the "maker" movement. This is where groups of people share equipment access to make their own stuff (either personal use or to sell). With the advent of on-line sales and free information (look at open source and copyleft models of intellectual property), global businesses of 1 or a handful of people are possible and easy. These maker equipment cooperatives are showing up around the world very quickly. I am on the board of one being formed in my city. It was an idea only in one person's mind last December and we are planning to move into a physical space before mid-September... and already have donated equipment and a year's worth of membership from many people. This will help reduce global energy use greatly and quickly. Making your own food is the biggest way to cut energy use and the recent drought in the USA and increasing fuel costs could cause food prices to skyrocket. This is good news IF people start growing there own food. Community gardens, greenhouses, market gardens, farmers markets, and a push for local food will all have huge impact on global energy use.

ps I will add that my prediction for the future is not as dire for humans as predicted but real harsh on biodiversity... but that nature will heal it's self quickly too. The real disaster that I see is starvation and wars and general lawlessness from crop failure and high energy prices and the resulting devastation to the financial sector. Health issues from the weather may also come into play as water treatment plants fail to work as advertized, power outages cook seniors in there homes, and sewage spreads disease.

Welcome!!! The desire to have cheap energy (monetary) as any cost (environmental) is a hard thing to overcome. Short term concerns generally are greater than long term concerns, which is why we see people working at jobs they know will kill them in time. They deal with the short term only.

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

_________________
With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

Welcome to the forum.

_________________
'Where mercy, love and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too'

http://holy-lance.blogspot.com

According to one speaker, we are dealing with three predicaments (not problems, as those have solutions): a debt-ridden global economic crisis, the threat of peak oil and generally a resource crunch, and the effects of environmental damage, including global warming. Given these, the only thing that one can do is to decrease resource consumption and localize, e.g., learn skills such as permaculture, food growing, preparation, and storage, using renewable energy, etc., and working with nearby communities, family members, etc.