The wonderful southern environmental writer Janisse Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, and others) has a new piece in Orion magazine of interest to Gristmillers, called "Altar Call for True Believers," where she wonders why even the so-called choir seems to be failing at making great strides toward sustainability. It starts out with this startling vignette about greens and air travel:
If I ever preached to the choir, this luncheon was it. The sixty people in the room were professed environmentalists, all of them on the advisory council of an earth center at a college that advertises itself, rightfully, as strongly committed to environmental responsibility. Seated to my right was a friendly but road-weary woman who had arrived minutes before from Chicago. She had rented a car at the airport and driven straight here.
"When will you return home?" I asked.
"I'll go back this afternoon," she said.
My white cloth napkin lay folded in my lap. Two silver forks waited to the left of my plate. In minutes I would rise to speak at a meal for which and only for which one woman had flown from Illinois to North Carolina. In fact, I was speaking about the climate crisis. Could anything I said be worth those 750 pounds of carbon dioxide blasted into the atmosphere? Fifty-nine other people had journeyed here by various conveyances. Surely I was in part responsible.
Calling all radicals: Unite for Kerry-Boxer
Dispassion as the world ends: The absent heart of the great climate affair
Comments
View as Threaded
JMG Posted 6:25 am
24 Aug 2007
People LOVE saying "When I was in [Carthage, Washington, New York, Seattle, ...] last week talking to [Al, Senator X, ...]" letting you know of their importance and of the momentous affairs that are so delicate that they must conducted in person.
Point out the sheer counterproductivity of jet travel for environmentalism and you'll be called everything from a "hair-shirt environmentalist" to a stooge of Rush Limbaugh. Apparently flying around to discuss the climate crisis is ok; questioning that premise is absolutely not.
Save the world: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% annually.
Permalink
Jon Rynn Posted 9:16 am
24 Aug 2007
Permalink
Erik Hoffner Posted 12:14 am
11 Sep 2007
According to the website, the LongPenTM "virtually eliminates the need for excessive traveling and commuting and almost any promotional or publicity-based industry can benefit..."
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/08/15/longpen-tri ...
"Celebrities who hate unnecessary travel because of its impact on the environment may be a big market for the device..."
The Orion Grassroots Network: 1000+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
Permalink