Flamingo’s Recent Comments

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  tease

  Recent conversations have convinced me that could happen faster than I thought, but that is the subject of another blog post.

  ...that I hope you will write!On U.S. driving down 11 billion miles in March, the sharpest drop in history posted 1 year, 5 months ago 7 Responses

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  my hope

  is that y'all don't try to shove too much onto one front page, a la Washington Independent  It's hard to track the day's stories that way, hard to catch up on what you've missed, too much information. I like the Gristmill much better than plain ole Grist. As a matter of fact, I never visit Grist, only the mill....  TPM's layout works really well for me, and it's just the right amount of info at one time, with headlines and the main mothership blog as well as sub-blogs with further info. On Grist is cooking up a new site; what do you want to see in it? posted 1 year, 5 months ago 32 Responses

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  addendum

  Can you tell a company you don't want their business because people don't need to buy their sh*t, even if it is really made "green"?On Adam Werbach calls for a new movement of a billion consumers posted 1 year, 6 months ago 73 Responses

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  latecomer to this "dialogue"

  but I had it bookmarked to re-read for the last two weeks and to catch up on comments.

  The one thing I don't see addressed in this discussion is where any of the contrarians to Adam's view proposes any alternative for reaching "billions" like Adam is, God bless him, attempting to do here. Yes, Wal Mart has a f'ed up business model, (they attempted for years to build near my home town and my neighbors spent their own money fighting to keep them away and save the small town culture and economy) but when you're talking about an entity where even the smallest corporate decision can impact millions of people and reduce energy use and carbon dioxide release by spectacular amounts, how in the world can you dismiss that? How dare you, honestly?  What - are you going to just wait for Wal Mart to self- destruct in the face of your moral certainty or sheer number of blog posts? There's progress here with Wal-Mart. Why not take it? Seriously. I'm not saying that nobody here acts on their passions,  but on what scale?  Where are the OTHER ideas for reaching billions in the time frame that they need to be reached? THAT'S the dialogue that I want to have. It's easy to dismiss this perspective on consumerism but what's the alternative, given the world we're living in where Paris Hilton trumps melting arctic ice every time?  

  And come on, people shop and people will ALWAYS have to shop for food and clothes and places to live and for transportation.  Don't we want to give "billions" of those people better choices? Won't that work better than shaming them or making them afraid, if you even get to them at all?

  Now I certainly have questions about how this vision translates into reality. There WILL be an intersection where economic survival will conflict with sustainability of the planet, and many "green" companies peddle stuff we just don't freakin' need - I mean yeah, I can buy bamboo plates at Whole Foods, or some new organic cotton dish towels, but what's wrong with the old ones? or an old t-shirt?  It's a troubling question because people do need to make a living and have a right to do so, and it's better for them to be involved in economic activity that that is more sustainable but how many have that choice at this point?  People have a right to aspire and it's a natural instinct.  I think underneath this "movement" idea is to provide more opportunities to more and more people to  have that choice.  I don't actually see it as much different than the "green" movement and don't really see the point of differentiating.

  This can go very very right or very very wrong. I think the instinct is right - reach BILLIONS, get them to focus on sustainability, get them to aspire to it, make better choices.  The thing is to avoid that deadly intersection where the road turns towards greenwashing. Can you tell a company you don't want their business because people don't need to buy their sh*t?On Adam Werbach calls for a new movement of a billion consumers posted 1 year, 6 months ago 73 Responses

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  Peak oil book?

  Hey, I'm looking for a good book to read on peak oil. Got a rec?On Voting is open for the Orion Readers' Choice Award posted 1 year, 7 months ago 4 Responses