Sunday, March 29, 2009

Excuse Me, But I Have To Shovel More Global Warming Offen My Sidewalk

Environmentalists Hail Earth Hour as a Big Success. Of course, when the lights came back on, and the sun rose the following day, the Earth was still littered with garbage, humans still felt the need to convey themselves about in gas guzzling and air polluting vehicles, so how much of a success was it really? Was anything really done to alleviate global warming climate change?
Driving through my neighborhood last night on the way to the grocery store, the only houses with lights out were the ones unoccupied due to mortgage foreclosure. What we have is another one of those token gestures by the cultural elite, like lapel ribbons or mandatory "volunteerism" where we are asked to make sacrifices that they won't have to make because of political connections or carbon trading scams where they can continue to pollute as much as they want by buying carbon credits from suckers people like you and me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating the continuation of the poisoning of our planet, I'm just saying that when corporate types get on board with something like this, there's probably more in it for them than just improving their image. So, please, shop when you feel bummed out, turn out your lights when they want you to, and salivate like a fucking dog every time they ring a bell. But to only do something about the planet only when they suggest (or can make a profit from it)makes them look as powerful as you look silly.

2 comments:

Demeur said...

Well we could always drive to the bank. Pull all our money out and stuff it under the mattress. Park the car. Turn off all the power. And finally stop eating one day a week. That last part sure wouldn't hurt a bunch of us in this country.
End result they get no profit and the whole thing continues collapsing.

Tom Harper said...

Even if this event was just empty symbolism, I hope it made a few people start thinking about these issues -- the ecological impact we're all having.

Your opening line -- "Of course, when the lights came back on, and the sun rose the following day, the Earth was still littered with garbage, humans still felt the need to convey themselves about in gas guzzling and air polluting vehicles" -- reminds me of that song Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire, 1965). One line went "you may leave here for four days in space, but when you return it's the same old place."