Title: how fast can americans change their carbon footpri
protean42 - July 7, 2007 06:48 PM (GMT)
As a European - let me first say that i think all members of g8 countries should be taking fast action to change their daily carbon foot prints.However, it seems to me that American has taken a long time to wake up to the killer impacts of climate change.How long will it take for the majority of Americans to take action- we may have only ten years to act;i do hope that the minority of American people can convince the majority to take action fast. Moreover, i must say thats its nice to hear Mr Gore put forward his ideas - he appears to be intelligent ,articulate and thoughtful- something Bush- could not be in ten thousand years.
thisplanet - July 9, 2007 04:41 PM (GMT)
The following is my opinion. I do not speak for anyone else or for this website.
When was the law in this country changed to treat corporations as a person? I believe that was pre-1900 and that has given lawyers over 100 years to twist every political and environment issue in favor of these corporations and to the detriment of real persons whenever they felt the need or were pressured to account for abusive or destructive behaviors. In the documentary “The Corporation” the behaviors of the “Corporation” are analyzed as follows:
PERSONALITY DIAGNOSTIC CHECKLIST
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ICD-10
MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS DSM-IV
1. Callous unconcern for the feelings of others - YES
2. Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships - YES
3. Reckless disregard for the safety of others - YES
4. Deceitfulness: repeated lying and conning others for profit - YES
5. Incapacity to experience guilt - YES
6. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior - YES
SUBJECT: The Corporation
Diagnosis of Personality Disorder: PSYCHOPATH
At the same time we have become the obsequious minions of these corporations. We don’t have to get our hands dirty with the work of recruiting third world labor at sub-standard wages or exhorting needy nations to release their own natural resources under the guise that these transactions will improve their way of life. Instead of recognizing our complicity, we misinterpret our very comfortable and fortunate lives as a “standard of living.” The word “standard” having several meanings, three of which are: 1)n - A degree or level of requirement, excellence or attainment. 2)n - A requirement of moral conduct. 3)adj. – Of normal or prescribed size or quantity.
This standard we think we have earned and deserve, in actuality, is no more representative other than of 1% of the world’s population. And of which of those three definitions is it representative? Our most fortunate lives suffer the hardships of eating for entertainment, $3/gal gas, and average life spans of 70 or more years. It doesn’t seem to matter even if we are made aware of it that it takes more than 25 acres to sustain the average American’s way of life, FIVE times more than 99% of the world’s population. That ratio is where the statement “It would take 5 planets to sustain the whole worlds population at the level of North Americans.” Is that standard really a level of requirement, or excellence or attainment or even necessity? Is that standard any indication of good moral conduct or what anyone besides ourselves would call normal?
Granted that it takes more than just being told this, it takes more than a casual glance, such as an epiphany like the one Ray Anderson describes in this documentary. But there had to be a desire or need for Anderson to receive the epiphany, it just didn’t pop in to his head as he lied in bed. So if this is true, then regarding your question of “How fast”, I would have to answer, “FAST! But only after the majority of Americans receive their own epiphanies, at least 100 million epiphanies.”
These epiphanies could come a little sooner should the media and government not be controlled by these corporations or as you can learn in Robert F. Kennedy jr.’s book “Crimes Against Nature” that there are many “Wise Use” spawned “environmentally friendly” sounding organizations that foster the misinformation that repudiates the warnings of the majority of the world’s best climatologists and scientists. I would also venture to say that orchestrating the whole damn mess are the heads behind the Federal Reserve, a privately owned bank! Not a government treasury but a self interest oriented group which goes by the official sounding name “The Federal Reserve”. Think about that. FedEx isn’t called “The FedEx” and no one mistakes it for the US Post office either.
As far as “may only have 10 years”, I heard that number over a year ago. Since then, considering how little has changed for the better, next to nothing, and since we would now have to say that we may only have 9 years, and considering that the more important issues for so many seem to be the war in Iraq, illegal immigrants, gay marriage, gun laws, religion in public places, and whatever else, the real answer to your question is “NOT FAST ENOUGH”.
We aren’t going to change unless our Neo-Fascist Government tells us to. Remember this quote?
"Fascism should rather be called corporatism, as it is the merging of government and corporate power."
--Benito Mussolini
Regardless of climate change and America’s dependence on foreign oil, today, July 9, 2007, Kentucky joins 16 other states by raising the speed limit on several highways to 70mph. Who was behind this? I don’t know but I haven’t heard any complaints other than my own. But I know that there will be those minions out there who will obey that new limit with glee. I live out in the country, one mile from Lake Barkley and 15 miles from a small town. What I see happening, contrary to the price of gas, contrary to the warnings of climate change, and contrary to common sense, is this frivolous tendency to speed translating to the smaller roads. 55mph seems like a crawl when you slow down from 70, more often even faster regardless of the posted limit. On the weekends, I see this hyper behavior transition on to the lake when these minions come in droves to take a break from there hectic hard working lives. How fast can American’s change their carbon footprint? I know we can be fast and I know that the next 9 years will go by fast too. In my opinion, 9 years to change for the better is an optimistic view.
As long as we allow this all to continue, we are the minions of psychopaths.
When was the law in this country changed to treat corporations as a person? I believe that was pre-1900 and that has given lawyers over 100 years to twist every political and environment issue in favor of these corporations and to the detriment of real persons whenever they felt the need or were pressured to account for abusive or destructive behaviors. In the documentary “The Corporation” the behaviors of the “Corporation” are analyzed as follows:
PERSONALITY DIAGNOSTIC CHECKLIST
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ICD-10
MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS DSM-IV
1. Callous unconcern for the feelings of others - YES
2. Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships - YES
3. Reckless disregard for the safety of others - YES
4. Deceitfulness: repeated lying and conning others for profit - YES
5. Incapacity to experience guilt - YES
6. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior - YES
SUBJECT: The Corporation
Diagnosis of Personality Disorder: PSYCHOPATH
At the same time we have become the obsequious minions of these corporations. We don’t have to get our hands dirty with the work of recruiting third world labor at sub-standard wages or exhorting needy nations to release their own natural resources under the guise that these transactions will improve their way of life. Instead of recognizing our complicity, we misinterpret our very comfortable and fortunate lives as a “standard of living.” The word “standard” having several meanings, three of which are: 1)n - A degree or level of requirement, excellence or attainment. 2)n - A requirement of moral conduct. 3)adj. – Of normal or prescribed size or quantity.
This standard we think we have earned and deserve, in actuality, is no more representative other than of 1% of the world’s population. And of which of those three definitions is it representative? Our most fortunate lives suffer the hardships of eating for entertainment, $3/gal gas, and average life spans of 70 or more years. It doesn’t seem to matter even if we are made aware of it that it takes more than 25 acres to sustain the average American’s way of life, FIVE times more than 99% of the world’s population. That ratio is where the statement “It would take 5 planets to sustain the whole worlds population at the level of North Americans.” Is that standard really a level of requirement, or excellence or attainment or even necessity? Is that standard any indication of good moral conduct or what anyone besides ourselves would call normal?
Granted that it takes more than just being told this, it takes more than a casual glance, such as an epiphany like the one Ray Anderson describes in this documentary. But there had to be a desire or need for Anderson to receive the epiphany, it just didn’t pop in to his head as he lied in bed. So if this is true, then regarding your question of “How fast”, I would have to answer, “FAST! But only after the majority of Americans receive their own epiphanies, at least 100 million epiphanies.”
These epiphanies could come a little sooner should the media and government not be controlled by these corporations or as you can learn in Robert F. Kennedy jr.’s book “Crimes Against Nature” that there are many “Wise Use” spawned “environmentally friendly” sounding organizations that foster the misinformation that repudiates the warnings of the majority of the world’s best climatologists and scientists. I would also venture to say that orchestrating the whole damn mess are the heads behind the Federal Reserve, a privately owned bank! Not a government treasury but a self interest oriented group which goes by the official sounding name “The Federal Reserve”. Think about that. FedEx isn’t called “The FedEx” and no one mistakes it for the US Post office either.
As far as “may only have 10 years”, I heard that number over a year ago. Since then, considering how little has changed for the better, next to nothing, and since we would now have to say that we may only have 9 years, and considering that the more important issues for so many seem to be the war in Iraq, illegal immigrants, gay marriage, gun laws, religion in public places, and whatever else, the real answer to your question is “NOT FAST ENOUGH”.
We aren’t going to change unless our Neo-Fascist Government tells us to. Remember this quote?
"Fascism should rather be called corporatism, as it is the merging of government and corporate power."
--Benito Mussolini
Regardless of climate change and America’s dependence on foreign oil, today, July 9, 2007, Kentucky joins 16 other states by raising the speed limit on several highways to 70mph. Who was behind this? I don’t know but I haven’t heard any complaints other than my own. But I know that there will be those minions out there who will obey that new limit with glee. I live out in the country, one mile from Lake Barkley and 15 miles from a small town. What I see happening, contrary to the price of gas, contrary to the warnings of climate change, and contrary to common sense, is this frivolous tendency to speed translating to the smaller roads. 55mph seems like a crawl when you slow down from 70, more often even faster regardless of the posted limit. On the weekends, I see this hyper behavior transition on to the lake when these minions come in droves to take a break from there hectic hard working lives. How fast can American’s change their carbon footprint? I know we can be fast and I know that the next 9 years will go by fast too. In my opinion, 9 years to change for the better is an optimistic view.
As long as we allow this all to continue, we are the minions of psychopaths.
HumanistRuth - December 6, 2007 07:01 PM (GMT)
I agree with Thisplanet, and corporations succeed in part by manipulating us through the mass media. Gore's discussion of the effects of mass media on our minds and public debate in The Assault of Reason is a long-overdue breach of this topic. Most people are in denial about how we're manipulated, in my opinion.
There's a new MySpace group dedicated to this topic. It's the only public forum that I've found which takes mass media manipulation seriously. Let me know if you find other groups.
There's a new MySpace group dedicated to this topic. It's the only public forum that I've found which takes mass media manipulation seriously. Let me know if you find other groups.