johnthetreehugger’s Recent Comments

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  Ms. Wroth, Please redo your attitude. You and urban, urbane, disconnected, people like you, are part of the reason why we have a climate/environmental crisis to begin with. No connection to, relationship with, love for, "the land" = no defense of it, no understanding of it, no work to live with it in a more reasonable way. instead of asking (and i can just hear the snide, valley girl, accent) "does anyone even still care about 'the land'"? you should be asking HOW to connect yourself and the jobless you seem to be so concerned about to "the land". "the land" is what keeps your ass alive. It filters your water, it provides space and nutrients for what soaks up carbon and gives off oxygen, it makes soil, it hosts a stunning array of critters big and small, it is beautiful, it is alive. come down here to Appalachia. Most of the poor folks out in the mountains still have a connection to the land. We know (those of us not on Oxy or strip mining at least) that connecting with the land, caring about the land, using the land, are integral to our health, our jobs, and our children's future. And we know that people in suits who live mostly in cities either run or invest in the corporations that are wrecking "the land" and with it, the climate. Most people will fight for what they love. Planet Earth, jobs and CEO's are essentially abstractions. My friends kids playing in Hick's Creek and me learning the varieties of trees and flowers on that watershed are not. I love that land and I will fight for it. It is much easier to extend love for and defense of an entire planet if you start with your own backyard or favorite life-giving place. If you want to keep yourself disconnected from that which gives you life, fine. Keep it to yourself. I come to this website to read quirky environmental commentary, not snide, urbane disses of concepts that have been central to the last 15 plus years of my environmental activism, and indeed the entire environmental/conservation/preservation movements since their inception. And, just so you know, the environmental movement I joined in the early 90's was waaaay more fun, confrontational, creative, smart, and smart ass than what passes for activism these days. And most of those folks care about "the land", many of them were jobless, had kids and did NOT live in cities. I'm still a little floored at your attitude. It is a sad sign of our collective failures as a movement and as a species.On Does anyone still care about "the land"? posted 1 month, 1 week ago 25 Responses

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  full cycle assessment

  once again, another opportunity lost to talk about the complete cycle of coal - from the mining to the burning to the disposal of the ash - it will NEVER be clean.

  Thanks Al, your home state is suffering the depredations of strip mining and you can't mention that?

  and even if someone miraculously invents sequestration technology tomorrow...

  the complete and utter devestation wrought by mountaintop removal and strip mining means that coal will never be clean.

  thanks for the great take on it tho, Grist. i heard the piece, got pissed, wrote NPR and the Reality Coalition. y'all made me chuckle. Thanks.On Clean coal salesman Joe Lucas shucks and jives for NPR posted 11 months, 1 week ago 6 Responses

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  massive, fraudulent, pathetic excuse for a pundit

  um, excuse me, but y'all can fawn over Friedman all you want... But some of us might do well to remember that he was a cheerleader for the War on Iraq and a proponant of corporate globalization (so called free trade in the form of NAFTA and the WTO).

  so his little shifting with the political winds act is kinda cute, but he really is a corporate lapdog who is given too much credit and influence by people who ought to know better.

  thanks and have a nice day.On I think Friedman is upset with Bush posted 1 year, 4 months ago 18 Responses

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  where is the plan to actually challenge power?

  it seems rather telling to me that all these "thinkers" and their plans to "rebrand" environmentalism never have a section in their "blue" prints about challenging corporate power.

  it seems rather obvious that corporate power is a big part of the problem here.

  c'mon, from the War to environmental racism to mountaintop removal to social inequity and everything in between there are common culprits and they are called corporations. They have the best governments that money can buy in their back pockets and they are running amok across the planet in the name of profit and progress.

  But do these great "thinkers" include any plans to challenge that power in their "new" ideas for citizen movements? I haven't seen any. Is it because they get paid from excess corporate largesse?

  or are they just plain blind to the reality that the free market is all about sacrificing the future for the present?

  Werbach, et al... If you don't have any real ideas about changing the power relations in this country and on the planet then you don't really have squat for any kind of solution to the myriad, complex problems facing communities. And, no, even if the Dems win next November, that will NOT substantially change power relations.

  If working people and greenies had real power, things would change real quick.

  all y'all have a nice day.
  On Adam Werbach follows up 'Death of Environmentalism' with 'Birth of Blue' posted 1 year, 7 months ago 46 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  where is the plan to actually challenge power?

  it seems rather telling to me that all these "thinkers" and their plans to "rebrand" environmentalism never have a section in their "blue" prints about challenging corporate power.

  it seems rather obvious that corporate power is a big part of the problem here.

  c'mon, from the War to environmental racism to mountaintop removal to social inequity and everything in between there are common culprits and they are called corporations. They have the best governments that money can buy in their back pockets and they are running amok across the planet in the name of profit and progress.

  But do these great "thinkers" include any plans to challenge that power in their "new" ideas for citizen movements? I haven't seen any. Is it because they get paid from excess corporate largesse?

  or are they just plain blind to the reality that the free market is all about sacrificing the future for the present?

  Werbach, et al... If you don't have any real ideas about changing the power relations in this country and on the planet then you don't really have squat for any kind of solution to the myriad, complex problems facing communities. And, no, even if the Dems win next November, that will NOT substantially change power relations.

  If working people and greenies had real power, things would change real quick.

  all y'all have a nice day.
  On Adam Werbach follows up 'Death of Environmentalism' with 'Birth of Blue' posted 1 year, 7 months ago 46 Responses